Given the songwriting chops Butler flashes here, there’s no explanation as to why he’s never gotten to sing a single song with Arcade Fire.
McMurtry steps back from the opener’s heady storytelling style for the remainder of the album’s first half, adopting a more personal mode.
The Decemberists’ new album, What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, is built on a series of wild stylistic vacillations.
Although the 13 songs on Classics were written between 1930 and 1974, very few of them are old-fashioned time warps.
Alpha Mike Foxtrot presents a comprehensive survey of Wilco’s long, strange evolution.
Storytone introduces the world to Neil Young the crooner, which is probably not a side of him anyone thought they ever needed to hear.
The covers on With a Little Help from My Fwends tend more toward pointless sabotage than creative rearrangement.
The Best Day finds Moore playing energized, accessible guitar rock that retains many elements of Sonic Youth’s inimitable sprawl.
...And Star Power emulates not only the musical styles, but also the loopy concepts of so many classic bands.
Sukierae ruminates heavily on growing up, marriage, fatherhood, and the alternately blissful and uneasy life of the Tweedy family.
Justin Townes Earle’s Single Mothers is at its best when it’s at its most deliberately spare.
Moonshine in the Trunk is composed of one part willfully idiotic pandering and two parts loose, fun, and rocking party country.
Like the band’s best work, Brill Bruisers keeps you on your toes with its unrelenting minutiae.
Live from Atlanta comes as close as possible to capturing the live Lucero experience.
Get Hurt is a shockingly misguided assemblage of over-processed hair-metal guitars and ‘80s adult-contemporary keyboard swill.
Evoking an old-school ‘70s LP, Hypnotic Eye’s 11 tracks clock in at a snappy 45 minutes.
The Black Angels’ Clear Lake Forest is more redolent of the Whiskey A Go-Go than Max’s Kansas City.
Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires’ Dereconstructed sounds like a continually exploding bombshell.
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