Between the unbelievable songcrafting talent, the waning but emotionally vibrant vocals, and the inexplicable ability to hypnotize anyone within earshot, Illinois is a nearly flawless album, and Sufjan Stevens’ best work to date. · Read this record review »
From the first sweeping bow strokes and whistle tones of the instrumental "untitled", a mood is set, and one's ears and mind are primed for the album ahead. Atmospheric whirls of strings and voices interweave and swell, cutting off just as they take hold to make way for the album's first landmark, "A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left". · Read this record review »
Watery keys and the slow scuff of brushes move us through the often heavy-hearted affirmations that rise and break in fevered codas. Hearing I Am a Bird Now is like method acting, its dramatic revelations forcing you to conjure your own internal sentiments. · Read this record review »
Sheff re-imagines the world of Hardin's Black Sheep Boy into one that is, ultimately, his own, and one you will want to immerse yourself in again and again. · Read this record review »
Kevin Barnes’ Of Montreal, in their seventh album, continues in their skewed experimentation with 60s pop in the vein of Brian Wilson and Ray Davies, but this time there are also a few latter-day influences involved, including everything from High Llamas to Brian Eno. But Sunlandic Twins and Of Montreal as a band aren’t just a sum of their influences, and the album is a sonic and lyrical stunner from start to finish. · Read this record review »
Picaresque would have bombed if it weren’t so utterly and completely sure of itself in these and other ways. It is a near-perfect album—one to listen to again and again, to utterly lose yourself in, to play for friends who’ve never heard of the Decemberists. · Read this record review »
Consistently both catchy (“Touch the Sky,â€) and soulful (“Goneâ€), but never homogenous (seriously, it’s an album that features the vocal stylings of both Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and Gil-Scott Heron), Late Registration somehow lives up to the otherworldly hype. · Read this record review »
With Blueberry Boat, we saw a band capable sustaining the excitement of last side of Abbey Road for 74 minutes. It was a hell of a ride, sure, but it left some to wonder: how would the Fieries do in the confines of a three minute pop song? EP is the answer to that question. · Read this record review »
“Banshee Beat†takes its time to get going but once it does it reveals itself as one of Animal Collective’s most meticulously constructed songs to date. And “Turn Into Something†closes the album with a bang and is one of the better mixes of their noisy and poppy side as the upbeat verses contrast with a blast of noise in the chorus. · Read this record review »
Whereas the tracks on their previous albums were for the most part all about one sound which varied between tracks (one could tell which tracks were meant to be rockers and which were mellow), Broken Social Scene manages to meander about in all those moods within individual songs and does so fantastically. · Read this record review »