It’s difficult for a band to sell themselves as sexy firebrands when they can’t muster enough magnetism to last for at least one whole album.
You Are All I See succeeds as an evolutionary step beyond Active Child’s synth-drenched origins.
The album is a clear move away from the darkwave dance pack and into musical nonconformity.
Little Dragon doesn’t break much new ground on their third album, but that’s beside the point.
No musician has mastered the slippery genre called “bedroom music” quite as well as Ernest Greene.
An explanation for the continuing endurance of Buddy Holly’s musical legacy can probably be boiled down to one word: simplicity.
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon has come a long way since his curiously beautiful debut, For Emma, Forever Ago.
There is no way to describe Gang Gang Dance’s fifth studio album without touching on its accessibility.
Here We Go Magic are masters at creating highly emotive songs from an assortment of small and sometimes non-musical sounds.
The album is a blend of unadulterated electro-pop, ’80s air rock, New Age synths, and unapologetically romantic teen lyricism.
Fleet Foxes find a way to consistently balance the added level of nuance with their natural inclinations toward epic songcraft.
Explosions in the Sky’s sixth studio album is business as usual.
While Person Pitch rippled with punctuated sound, Tomboy is a cyclic plateau.
The additions of Vig, Smear, and Novoselic end up doing little except reminding listeners of better days.
The album abandons the ambient syncopation and experimentalism of Living Thing in favor of energetic, straight-to-the-point melodies.
Mind Bokeh is fluid and formless, committing to pop structure and melodies one moment only to eschew them the next.
No amount of charisma from Linnea Jönsson can mask that the album is nondescript, generic indie-pop.
The album is not so much a stylistic departure as it is a stark transformation of mood.
The album is the musical equivalent of curling up into a reflexive fetal position and entering a calmer, more pensive world.
The album is aided immeasurably by Barwick’s ability to sustain its rich aura while avoiding self-indulgence.