The album sounds beamed in from an earlier decade, but it runs deeper than nostalgia.
The Court & Spark freely bleed a peculiar type of alt-country soul, staining their songs with a dark tension and a loose, rambling feel.
The self-titled debut from Daniel Powter sounds exactly the way Maroon 5 would sound were Adam Levine not scoring so much A-list ass.
Ammunition may not be a call-to-arms, but its introspective, sturdy songcraft promises to endure.
The album’s poke-it-until-it-bleeds attitude is all good fun to a point.
The Elms perform their bar-rock with impressive conviction and admirable skill, but there’s ultimately nothing distinctive about their sound.
There’s no refuting the utter beauty of Adem’s songwriting.
So Amazin’ proves to be anything but.
While “not being phoned in” doesn’t make something great by default, it also indicates that Pearl Jam is back on track, so to speak.
Every Man For Himself is every bit the crafted material an American Idol album is.
The album is more of a blues record than a blues-rock one.
If you didn’t know who Eugene Mirman was before you experienced En Garde, Society!, you will when you’re done.
Swedish imports the Sounds are mired in the ’80s and don’t care who knows it.
Bring It Back finds a happy family unleashing sonic sunshine, spilling out of the speakers with unchecked abandon.
Cannibal Sea, the band’s third full-length, unfurls like a lazy afternoon peppered with involving conversation.
The Back Room flows like an obsidian wave from first song to last.
The only dust that should surround this breathtaking debut is that of the crowds rushing to pick this up from store shelves.
The parade of ’80s-aping acts marches onward with the cleverly monikered I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness’s ominous debut LP.
Pay the Devil is a well-intentioned homage to a brand of music now seemingly alien to those in Nashville and elsewhere.
Given the extraordinarily brief shelf life of most imported art-rockers these days, these currently bright Stars could flame out tomorrow.
It’s hard to think of a better single-disc collection to represent Johnston’s prodigious catalog.