Falling somewhere between Ween, Midnite Vultures, United State of Electronica, and MC 900 Ft. Jesus, the Awesome Cool Dudes need to be seen, much like the first and third examples mentioned, to be fully appreciated. Their often hilarious and always entertaining live sets perfectly complement their insanely catchy songs, with the band more often than [...]

Belgian pop crooner Sioen has created a great, hook-filled little pop record with Ease Your Mind. Those that remember the unfortunately quickly vanished debut from Owsley, and/or own more than one record from either Squeeze, The Odds, Crowded House or The Sugarplastic will no doubt find much to like here. It’s full of delightful melodies [...]

Remember back in those heady days of June 2005, when it seemed like the world was our oyster and we could do whatever we wanted, including making an obscure Brooklyn-based band into the next Arcade Fire? Ah yes, we’ve become so jaded in these last 6 months. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are now appearing [...]

If there’s a (life) style of music that’s been unfortunately relegated to museum exhbit status, it’s that renegade, honky-tonk rock n’ roll perfected by the Rolling Stones on Exile on Main Street. Drug-addled debauchery still has its place in rock, as window-dressing for the depressing Dandy Warhols and the raison d’etre for Babyshambles, but [...]

Hopping around Europe since his teens, producing sessions for Ladytron, April March, Pizzicato Five and, most notably, Air (with whom he toured as bassist), Parisian musical gadabout Bertrand Burgalat finally got around to issuing his first proper solo album in 2000, The Sssound of Mmmusic. Compilations and other music duties delayed the release of [...]

There’s no better way to start off a week, my mother used to say, than with some lifelike dismembered limbs contrasted starkly against crude computer animation. That, and a hearty stack of pancakes. Mmmm…pancakes. The video is for Xiu Xiu’s “Muppetface” (mov), and it’s easily one of the most memorable I’ve seen this year. It’s [...]

Tweaking folk and rock music conventions much like fellow Icelandic contemporary Bjork adapts just about every other style of music to her muse, home-country superstar Mugison has created a bizarre yet accessible album of outsider art-pop in Mugimama: Is This Monkey Music? Serious, heartfelt sentiment is bulldozed by shards of dissonance and highlighted by [...]

After several subsequent listens, the “whoo-hoo-whoo-hoo’s” that initially attracted me to “This Party’s Over” (mp3) have taken on nearly opposite meaning from the initial one. The music created by The Narrator contains Dischord-ian elements of populist urgency, delivered through a wall of dark, smart Chicago-style post-punk. The cliche-anvil “rewards repeated listens” thuds to the [...]

Okay, a new Kweli and Doom track is reason enough to put off my self-imposed Thanksgiving hiatus (I’m exhausted). I love the fact that formerly “underground” mix tapes, for at least a decade the heartbeat of hip-hop, are now seeing “official” release. It gives highly productive artists (75% of the hip-hop community) the opportunity to [...]

marathonpacks will return on Saturday, November 26. Have a great Thanksgiving!