(Nettwerk, 2006) Having, the third full-length album from west coast indie popsters Trespassers William, is a bit of a departure for the band. Whereas they previously sounded rather like a dreamier, indier Cranberries or Natalie Merchant, Having finds the band resembling a spacier, slower, reverb-soaked Frou Frou. Not that such comparisons can really […]

Bettye Lavette never really made it big in the music industry, although she came close with a top 10 single in 1963 and a top 20 in 1978, but for the last forty years, LaVette has had one of the most powerful, emotive voices in soul music. Bettye’s getting a bit old now, but […]

Parry Gripp was apparently the lead singer of Nerf Herder, who were famous for doing the theme to the Buffy The Vampire Slayer television show, and being named after a Star Wars insult. Anyway, this album is freaking brilliant. Basically, in response to a request to write a jingle for a waffle commercial, […]

Four seconds into Hard Normal Daddy, I laughed. I thought for sure Tom Jenkinson, a.k.a. Squarepusher, was going to do a note for note cover of the theme to The People’s Court. Thankfully, that’s not the case. The first track, “Coopers World,” is essentially classic jazz fusion, sans the improvisation. A […]

Spoon set themselves up for failure with their 2002 release. The arrangements are strikingly sparse, the percussion is incredibly simplistic, and the musicians avoid any displays of virtuosity. There isn’t really anything conventional about “Kill the Moonlight” at all, in fact, and that is part of what makes it so impressive. […]

The majority of pop music does not age well, ending up sounding pretty silly less than ten years after its creation. The mark of a classic album is its ability to sound fresh and relevant years after its original release. All the great ones sound as good today as they did when they […]