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1. Volcano Choir “Island, IS” (Jagjaguwar)
2. Portishead “Chase the Tear” (amnesty.org.uk/portishead.co.uk)
3. Hot Chip “Take it In” (EMI)
4. Vistoso Bosses “Delirious” (Collipark/Interscope)
5. Au Revoir Simone “All or Nothing” (Moshi Moshi)
6. A Sunny Day in Glasgow “Shy” (Mis Ojos)
7. Atlas Sound “Sheila” (Kranky/4AD)
8. AnCo [...]

Bat For Lashes Two Suns (Astralwerks/Parlophone) Sounds like a modern British and/or old American western version of the best Tori Amos album that never happened.
Bear In Heaven Beast Rest Forth Mouth (Hometapes) Post-wave-psych-pop-rock-tronica?  This album is great.  And I’m quite pleased the @marathonpacks review pointed it out to me.
Beirut March of the Zapotec/Holland EP (Ba [...]

Yeah, I know, another list. This one was a lot easier to compile (especially the top 10) than the albums list. It was a decent year for videos overall (and for David Cross, who appears in 1/3 of them), one in which Gondry held serve for me as the G.O.A.T., Spoon showed that they still [...]

There’s been an obvious trend the past few years for post-post-punk bands to name themselves with an eye toward the militaristic and/or political–Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol–nominally (not ideologically) aligning themselves with the originator of the trend, Army of Lovers. No, wait, Gang of Four. Anyhoo, Sweden’s Lucknow Pact is named after a [...]

Devendra Banhart’s new record Cripple Crow is fantastic–unfortunately, the same cannot be said for his new video for the great song “Heard Somebody Say” (.mov). It’s not bad–far from it–but I suppose I expected much more bizarre rural chicanery, and got bizarre urban chicanery instead. It’s polished, but amateurish at the same time. And I’m [...]

After a week-long respite in the Florida sun, I’m back, with a list inspired by my pal Irving of the 10 best singles so far this year. As I compiled it, I noticed that my ideal top ten is replete with up-tempo, danceable numbers–my ideal, parallel-universe Billboard chart.
1. The Decemberists “16 Military Wives“–At a typically [...]

At the halfway point (or a little after), I thought I’d issue my halftime top ten (then I saw the stalwart largeheartedboy’s own version–I swear I had this almost done last week). Anyhoo, here goes:

Spoon Gimme Fiction–A remarkable work from the most iconoclastic songwriter around today. A longer piece on this album will come [...]