100+ Items Found For sub pop usa spcd 595 (showing top 100 results)

Q (3/93, p.99) - 3 Stars - Good - "...Here, grunge was simply a post-punk restoration of the Detroit '69 formula, and groups were free to develop without A&R scouts sleeping on their doorsteps..."21.05504

Rolling Stone (p.71) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "On Thibodeau's Sub Pop debut, his voice is as delicate as Juliana Hatfield's, threading wispy notes into haunting ballads that crib from the backwoods folk of acts like Iron and Wine. The result evokes a makeshift jam session in an Appalachian cabin..."CMJ - "The blatant pastoral purity will transport listeners....Thibodeau, always on his toes, turns the tides and calls upon thunderclap electric guitars to produce a disquieting yet triumphant rumble in the distance."Mojo (Publisher) (p.101) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[C]ryptic/mystic worldview are still the main attractions, whether they're filtered through waltzing gypsy jazz, backwoods banjo portraiture or smouldering, amped up desolation."11.94027

Rolling Stone (p.68) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "On cuts like 'Eraser,' which take cues from BLEACH-era Nirvana, Randall whips out gnarly riffs while Spunt bashes on his drums, singing about living paycheck to paycheck and trying to escape his lot in life."Rolling Stone (p.96) - Ranked #50 in Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums Of 2008 -- "[A] thrilling string of two- and three-minute guitar rants..."Spin (p.51) - Ranked #13 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2008" -- "Randall's guitar shifts between glittering instrumental swells and diesel fuzz..."Uncut (p.94) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "NOUNS is a success: delightfully dazed, good-times punk for a new generation of California dreamers."Alternative Press (p.135) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "No Age turn the drab and grayscale into things of beauty -- whether it's noisy static, comet trails of distortion or tranquil bits of shoegaze-punk."CMJ - "NOUNS never gets tiring. It's over quickly, before you can remember much of the blissful blur you just tried to consume in one gulp..."Mojo (Publisher) (p.106) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A]n enticing tangle of frazzled noise and partly obscured melodies, playfully pulling the fluorescent din of Husker Du, My Bloody Valentine and Dinosaur Jr into fresh shapes."Clash (magazine) (p.63) - Ranked #34 in Clash's "The 40 Best Albums of 2008" -- "The Sub Pop-released NOUNS is one of 2008's best punk long-players..."11.90275

Option (5-6/92, p.89) - "...clear recording and dynamic performances...sheer listenability..."Melody Maker (7/13/96, p.51) - "...the finest rock LP of the decade....nothing less than rock raping pop, a ferocious deflowering of Motown's romantic ideal..."11.88413

Mojo (Publisher) (p.101) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he playing is crisp, and 'Motorbike Girl' from 1989's SUCTION is a mondo pop classic."11.88413

Uncut (10/02, p.112) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...needling avant-funk...a band who can appeal to both fashionistas and fanzine-sellers equally."NME (Magazine) (8/3/02, p.32) - 6 out of 10 - "...Sounds like the start of something special."11.88312

Alternative Press (p.90) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t's still the gorgeous, lush melodies and layered soundscapes that speak the loudest."Billboard (p.33) - "The new instrumental diversity especially shines on the song 'There Is a Wind,' where clashing cymbals and a mesmerizing keyboard melody mesh with LaValle's rich vocal harmonies."Clash (magazine) - "[W]ith some songs here edging towards a kind of elegant, and very pretty, pop."11.87158

Rolling Stone (p.67) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "'Fireflies in a Steel Mill' is a gorgeous indie-boy lullaby with bouncy horns making a nice old-school filigree..."Entertainment Weekly (p.70) - "With its airy harmonies, nature narrative, and weeping slide guitars, SUN is the sound of a kid with his feet on Hollywood Boulevard and his head in the Sierras." -- Grade: B+Uncut (p.96) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "With its tiered harmonies, soft-echo guitar and carefree shuffle, there's a distinctly mellow vibe to these Cali-pop songs that suggests John Sebastian fronting The Eagles."Magnet (p.94) - "[S]unny, twangy pop occasionally colored by bright horns....Sennett teeters between precious and wild."11.87127

Spin (9/01, pp.168,170) - 8 out of 10 - "...You'll find song after song about self-immolaiton and going out in a blaze of glory....let's face it, combat 'rocks', and Deniz Tek's insane clone poseurs tapped into masculinity's dark heart..."Q (11/01, p.143) - 4 out of 5 stars - "...Superbly rigorous and raging..."Magnet (9-10/01, p.115) - "...The choiceset of the choice....an eclectic musical blend of garage, psych and surf making it as a proto-punk artifact..."11.86882

Spin (p.86) - "[With] soaring, impassioned vocals; expansive dynamics, circular riff patterns; and driving guitars."Q (12/94, p.147) - 3 Stars - Good - "...Sunny Day Real Estate have the most potential of the emotionally expressive melodic grungers...to emerge in Nirvana's wake, though the band eschew Cobain's anthemic pop focus for a more undulating, splintered surge of guitar/vocal..."Alternative Press (3/02, p.96) - Included in AP's "Essential Punk Influences '02 Style" - "...Provided the template for second-wave emo....Musically it was Nirvana's dynamics matched with Slint's angualr chops..."Musician (6/94, p.84) - "...Sunny Day Real Estate manage to merge the drive of early U2, the acrid, aching melodicism of Dinosaur Jr. and a touch of the wicked, weird, un-pop of the Flaming Lips....The whole affair is deliriously, deliberately erratic--aural clutter that's at once distracting and inviting...."NME (Magazine) (1/26/02, p.23) - Included in NME's "Most Influential Emo Records Of All Time" - "...The first truly commercial album of the genre..."Record Collector (magazine) (pp.108-109) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[U]nique...with its bare-boned, visceral raw heart honesty..."11.86683

Uncut (1/02, p.86) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...An album with all the muggy intensity of their forefathers, but with a pop sensibility sometimes lacking in the earlier bands..."Alternative Press (12/99, p.98) - 3 out of 5 - "...musical goulash prepared with a variety of ingredients plucked from the backside of rock history....sexually suggestive lyrics, garage-sale-amp guitar tones, just-good-enough musicianship and a boisterous frontman..."Magnet (p.81) - "WHATCHA DOIN' slinked and swaggered like a streetwalkin' cheetah, its live vibe making it a leather-jacketed mashup of FUN HOUSE and KICK OUT THE JAMS."11.86531

Spin (p.92) - "Transcending twee with overdriven amps, frankly sexual lyrics, and superior songwriting, the group finally found a global audience thanks to Kurt Cobain's patronage..."Pitchfork (Website) - "With their dirty mouths and pretty faces, pop perspicacity and knack for making a bloody racket, there's no questions the Vaselines were worth rescuing from obscurity."Record Collector (magazine) (p.97) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Nirvana's cover of both 'Molly's Lips' and 'Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam' confirmed The Vaselines' place in the annals of contemporary music."11.86531

Spin - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[S]taying true to their party platform, songwriters Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee remain the Ramones of sunbeam, patty-cake pop..."Billboard (p.40) - "[T]he band's use of playful lyrics is just as effective here as in its early days."Mojo (Publisher) (p.92) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]here is perhaps unforeseen musical competence afoot -- less Velvetsy chaos, more artful Nancy & Lee country twangage. Good fun..."Uncut (magazine) (p.108) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "'Turning it On' has the correct quantities of innocence and knowingness, served with a drizzle of Morricone twang."11.86531

Rolling Stone (12/25/03, p.109) - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Best Albums of 2003"Rolling Stone (4/17/03, p.102) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...A cuddly little new wave reverie..."Uncut (6/03, p.92) - "...Gibbard's refined, feather-light vocals waft delicately over Tamborello's indie electronica, creating a wide-eyed world out of bittersweet love songs and autobiographical daydreams..."CMJ (12/29/03, p.4) - Ranked #2 in CMJ's "Top 10 of 2003"Mojo (Publisher) (5/03, p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...GIVE UP is anything but a pop oddity - it's the real thing..."11.86531

Rolling Stone (12/25/03, p.110) - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Best Albums of 2003"Rolling Stone (11/13/03, p.94) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...The Shins...have not only assimilated several decades of Brit rock, chamber pop, and DIY punk but have nonchalantly slipped those influences into their own intricate yet durable musical designs..."Spin (12/03, p.133) - "...The Shins are reverent and reverential, practically documenting their source material with footnotes..." - Grade: BEntertainment Weekly (12/26/03-1/2/04, p.140) - Ranked #4 in Entertainment Weekly's 2003 "Records of the Year" - "...[The band is] sharp enough to set Mercer's radiant tunes and keening, affectless voice to the crispest and meatiest of indie rock."Q (4/04, p.120) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[I]ntelligent, melodic and offbeat - without falling into the trap of being goofy. Have indie rock's saviours arrived?"Uncut (4/04, p.107) - 4 stars out of 5 - "10 perfect songs constructed from wit, electricity and the broken bones of the heart."Uncut (p.76) - Ranked #39 in Uncut's "Best New Albums of 2004" - "[With] killer melodies that were as voluptuous as they were wholly original."Magnet (11/03, p.109) - "...A sonically bolder production with fewer effects and more hooks per square inch than a flyrod factory..."CMJ (11/3/03, p.9) - "...Making for perfect mixtape material, the quartet now returns with a quieter sophomore effort--one that suits the hunger for a soft, melodic album to provide comfort in the privacy of bedroom listening..."Mojo (Publisher) (4/04, p.98) - 5 stars out of 5 - "An existential obstacle course. A meditation on the ineffable mysteries of love. An incredible pop record. The second album by The Shins is all this and more....It's a tour de force of concision..."11.8624

Alternative Press - "[With] a slower, more methodical approach that lets these pop gems blossom out in thin ribbons....Whatever the inspiration -- spectral or otherwise -- it has done wonders for the band."CMJ - "There's nary a misstep on the album; every song packs the emotional punch of a heartbreak."Billboard (p.37) - "'This Orient' utilizes a poppy guitar pattern before launching into an atmospheric shoegaze-inspired chorus."Mojo (Publisher) (p.96) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[With] inventive, interlocking figures that glint and burble, recalling Can's Michael Karoli or skewed African highlife as readily as Battles or Interpol."Mojo (Publisher) (p.55) - Ranked #25 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2010" -- "[W]ith splintered, restless guitar melodies. Quietly epic."Pitchfork (Website) - "At every turn, TOTAL LIFE FOREVER is inviting. Much more alive than earlier efforts, it's an album with a complexion that constantly changes with time."Clash (magazine) - "[A] massive leap forward for the band. The music writhes with a renewed ambitions, capable of moving from near ambient strains of electronica to propulsive African funk in a drum break."Uncut (magazine) (p.86) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]hey've moved their frenetic, intricate pop on to create something more subtle and long-lasting."11.8624

Rolling Stone (pp.62-63) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "'Birdies Singing' sounds half like a honky-tonk put-on, it's impossibly charming, proof positive that Stoltz can make masterful retro reproductions without taking himself too seriously."Entertainment Weekly (p.134) - "[K]indred, retro lo-fi pop-rock....Think Beatles, Beach Boys, Kinks." -- Grade: B+Uncut (p.90) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[H]is home-recorded approach reaches imaginatively beyond glossy pastiche....His heroes should be flattered."Mojo (Publisher) (p.104) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Stoltz still fashions a warmly textured tapestry of walloping drums, ornate keys, squishy electronics, liquid guitar and sundry other elements....2006's album of the year may have arrived early."11.86218

Alternative Press (7/00, pp.100-1) - 4 out of 5 - "...Adept at balancing melody within the slashing, distortion-ravaged barre-chords of [the] guitarists....proving with their frantic and incriminating punk that they have sold their souls for rock'n'roll."Magnet (8-9/00, pp.85-6) - "...[This] kicks ass!...Get this, play it f***ing loud and be the first on yer block to be labeled a public nuisance."CMJ (6/5/00, p.3) - "...Filled with menacing rock riffs and a snotty attitude, IN NAME...revels in anti-social behavior....[they] have an eye for detail and an ear for badass rock."Melody Maker (7/4/00, p.65) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Full-on punk from Seattle. Blood on the sleeve, the vocals, the mellotron. More akin to early Stones than Iggy Pop."11.86218

Spin (p.106) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[W]hen Dan Fetherston's martial drums and Adam Rizer and Michael Pace's choral vocals begin the slow rumble of 'Children's Crusade,' the moment feels as revelatory as it is cathartic."Alternative Press (p.150) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Brooklyn's Oxford Collapse cruise effortlessly from shoegazey dream pop to classic college rock to Schlitz-soaked Americana."CMJ - "Hormones, energy and killer drumming will have you thinking this album came straight from the late '90s/early '00s when emo reigned supreme."Kerrang (Magazine) (p.50) - "BITS is conservative but not affected and this allows them to unleash the odd catchy tune when they feel like it."Paste (magazine) (p.65) - "On 'Electric Arc,' two high-strung tenors swap manic lines over a wanton throb with silvery guitar riffs, while 'Vernon-Jacson' and other songs feature noodly post-Pavement arpeggios."11.85904

Uncut (10/02, p.101) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...STAB spits and cracks like greased fat in a fryer...classic Stonesy riffage...gooses up new-wave skinny tie cool..."Alternative Press (8/02, p.68) - 8 out of 10 - "...STAB THE UNSTOPPABLE HERO becomes a splendid garage-rock adventure, with Cheap Trick giddiness...sometimes nerds can rock out, too."Magnet (8-9/02, p.70) - "...adroitly welded slabs of buzzing big guitar to chilling vocal harmonies the way Arlo does. It's powerful stuff..."CMJ (6/02, p.13) - "...Good, old-fashioned indie rock...the album gallops along with upbeat, spunky tunes, decked out with plenty of crashing cymbols, woo-woo harmonies and an exuberant rhythm section....A welcome return."Mojo (Publisher) (1/03, p.75) - Ranked #3 in Mojo's "Best Underground Albums of 2002"Mojo (Publisher) (8/02, p.108) - "...An exuberant, often obscenely catchy form of retro pop-rock..."11.85904

Rolling Stone (p.106) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Barlow's new approach made for one of the best indie-rock albums in a year full of stellar ones -- and Sebadoh's greatest work."Rolling Stone (12/1/94, p.126) - 3 Stars - Good - "...Sebadoh are Lou Barlow's Velvet Underground, wrapping his confessions in fuzz, hiss and distortion and setting them alongside complementary songs by bandmates....Individual songs offer slightly different perspectives..."Spin (p.80) - "BAKESALE was the catchy, coherent 1994 breakthrough -- a missing link between Nick Drake and Sonic Youth."Spin (12/94, p.78) - Ranked #16 in Spin's list of the `20 Best Albums Of '94' - "...Sebadoh's cleanest, most pro recording to date..."Spin (9/94, p.136) - Highly Recommended - "...a consistent, even professional pop-rock record....Like the young Elvis Costello, he flirts with emotional fascism twisting love-song cliches into clever negations..."Q (11/94, p.124) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...The tone is conversational, the choice of words precise, yet natural. Sebadoh may have arrived at a potentially very popular midpoint between R.E.M. and Nirvana..."Alternative Press (10/94, p.95) - "...Sebadoh continue their streak of winners on BAKESALE, an album brimming with edgy, off-kilter pop....It's that self-aware wink that keeps so much self-doubt from becoming grating....There's really not a bad song on here..."Musician (8/94, p.85) - "...the overall effect is lightly, pleasantly numbing. Which is part of their appeal, one suspects..."Village Voice (2/28/95) - Ranked #20 in the Village Voice's 1994 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll.Mojo (Publisher) (1/95, p.53) - Included in Mojo's "25 Best Albums of 1994" - "...their most consistent long-player yet with brisk, riffing nuggets....Sebadoh are surely poised for greatness."NME (Magazine) (12/24/94, p.23) - Ranked #27 in NME's list of the `Top 50 Albums Of 1994.'NME (Magazine) (8/27/94, p.39) - "...Set alongside Barlow's fearless lyrics, quality control is no longer an issue for this band..."Record Collector (magazine) (p.96) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[E]asily their most accessible....There are certainly moments of aggressive clarity here..."11.85797

Q (p.126) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] purely musical delight....War, violence and death have rarely been sung about so tenderly."Alternative Press (p.152) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] musically tender, lyrically brutal outing at least as potent as the best moments on Yo La Tengo's I CAN HEAR THE HEART BEATING AS ONE."Magnet (p.108) - "[With] plenty of mellotrons and other keyboards, the type that are central to the sonic architecture so characteristic of returning producer Dave Fridmann's planetarium-pop experiments."The Wire (p.55) - "[A] sparer, more abrasive mix of loops, drum machines and distortion....It's a bold move, yet one that plays to their strengths, highlighting the tension and restraint that has long underpinned the group's material."The Wire (p.35) - Included in The Wire's "50 Records of the Year 2007".CMJ (p.39) - "[They] remain one of the most prolific and affecting musical partnerships of the past two decades, striking a perfect balance between Sparhawk's foot-note guitar playing and Parker's terse drumming..."No Depression (p.112) - "Low employs guitars almost solely for color....Melodies don't' come much more beautiful than the album-closing 'Violent Past'."Mojo (Publisher) (p.102) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The sublime combination of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's trance-inducing voices are still their trump card....A record that sounds like absolutely no one else on the planet."11.85591

Rolling Stone (p.74) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[S]ynth-powered rock that's both primal and chaotic....Check out 'Kissing the Beehive,' 11 minutes of fist-pumping prog-rock march rhythms with heraldic synthesizer chords and a disco hat-undertow..."Spin (p.100) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "AT MOUNT ZOOMER sound deliberately weirder and grander....It's an exhilarating mix that sounds like no band but Wolf Parade."Spin (p.46) - Ranked #37 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2008" -- "[B]ehind the more intricate arrangements lies a pastiche of '70s-tinged glam, prog, and pop that sound thoroughly modern."Entertainment Weekly (p.67) - "ZOOMER is a perfectly decent collection of piano-riddled pomp and sprawling, raucous songcraft..." -- Grade: BQ (Magazine) (p.145) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "AT MOUNT ZOOMER finds them making a great leap forward, its surfeit of innovation defying easy categorisation."Paste (magazine) (p.70) - "Hadji Baraka's spacey synthesizer embellishments remain subtle, but are more crucial than ever before in this cavernous, craggy context. Post-punk has seldom sounded so refined."Pitchfork (Website) - "[T]here's something about Wolf Parade's fragility that's profoundly relatable, and the sense that the entire operation could fall apart at any second -- that we're all tottering on the bring of total dissolution -- is as thrilling as it is terrifying."11.85591

Rolling Stone (p.80) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Trading low-fi ruggedness for gorgeous Americana pop, they conjure Dylan circa JOHN WESLEY HARDING and proggy ELO..."Spin - "Singer Eric Earley's fantastical yarns match the band's grandiose genre muddling..."Alternative Press (p.122) - With a piano that echoes like it's in a cathedral in 'Heaven And Earth,' Earley weds nature with humanity."CMJ - "Like that of many of the great blues-rock classics, such as Van Morrison, Muddy Waters or the Stones, Blitzen Trapper's structure is solid and very traditional."Billboard (p.32) - "Beatles-esque piano and string arrangements dominate the melancholy 'Heaven and Earth.' But it's the title track that best showcases Blitzen Trapper's ability to quickly shift musical gears."Paste (magazine) - "[W]ith pristine harmonies set to late-60's psychedelic scuzz. The result is another opus-de-Americana washed in experimental folk-rock..."Pitchfork (Website) - "[F]ull of haunting songs doused in harmonicas, saloon pianos and dusty guitars."Clash (magazine) (p.34) - Ranked #42 in Uncut's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2010" -- "[I]mmensely well-crafted Americana with a strong Beatles fetish at its core."Uncut (magazine) (p.113) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he 12 artfully crafted songs here suggest Blitzen Trapper should now be judged in the elevated company of Wilco, Brendan Benson and The Raconteurs."11.85591

Alternative Press (p.116) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "In many ways, No Age have successfully distilled the pop essence of early-'90s Sonic Youth: no mean feat..."CMJ - "No Age's third album resides in the area between punk and dance music, which makes for a record that sounds both viscerally rebellious and deliciously danceable."Mojo (Publisher) (p.97) - 4 stars out of 5-- "Drummer/vocalist Dean Allen Spunt drawls with fragile cool, lending an edge to the summery lilt of 'Common Heat'..."Paste (magazine) - "[T]he sonic collage is as rich and satisfying as ever. In the mid-album fuzz-fest 'Dusted,' myriad textures of guitar melody waver over a marching drum loop."Pitchfork (Website) - "[A] grown-up, downright respectable record....EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN finds No Age matching a new, nuanced approach to their expansive noise."Clash (magazine) - "The album is a bold step, Spunt and Randall striving to write songs they would be psyched to listen to, and moving in a direction that will fail to disappoint fans of earlier releases 'Nouns' and 'Weirdo Rippers'."Uncut (magazine) (p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he vibe is miasmic and whacked-out, with several tracks more like soundscapes feeling their way to a focus, rather than songs."11.85591

Uncut (p.79) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[S]inking further and further into one-note, time-twisting, blissed-out doom, with notes hanging heavy and long like thunder clouds on a summer night."11.84023

Spin (4/96, p.113) - 6 - Reasonably Good - "...STRAND shifts the perspective from observer to lover; these are songs about wanting someone around, but not too close....This is indie rock about independence, and its ambivalence is mental and musical..."Magnet (p.74) - "With sophomore album STRAND, the Spinanes transcended their ragged Northwest-indie roots and gave Gates' smart songwriting a dreamy, atmospheric sheen."NME (Magazine) (3/2/96, p.49) - 6 (out of 10) - "...dreamy can often be translated as just `dull,' but the Oregon duo stop you nodding off by vigorously booting...conventional [lo-fi] ideas....The beauty of STRAND is The Spinanes don't...scream and kick their legs to evoke emotion, not when Rebecca can bring a lump to your throat by just breathing in your ear..."11.84023

Q (11/99, p.126) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...a down-at-heel take on a selection of songs from his favourite artistes....A simple and frequently beautiful album."Alternative Press (1/00, pp.90-1) - 3 out of 5 - "...asserts the fact that an album of interpretations can reveal as much about an artist as a collection of original material..."Magnet (1-2/00, pp.70-1) - "...[an] inspired and evocative collection of cover songs....paying tribute to some criminally overlooked acts..."Mojo (Publisher) (11/99, p.114) - "...the songs that inspired him....Lanegan's performance is as impressive as his record collection. An excellent album."11.84023

Rolling Stone (10/31/96, p.66) - 3-1/2 Stars - Good/Excellent - "...[Earth's] artistic goal [is] to turn '70s-style hard rock and heavy-metal licks into jagged, minimalist pieces that echo the stately grace of medieval and Renaissance church music..."Melody Maker (7/20/96, p.49) - "...a spectacularly graceful, minor-chord monolith thown up in the path of hysterical, climax-oriented rawk....boundary-crossing stuff..."11.84023

Q (10/99, pp.154,156) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...If you believe in the evangelical power of rock...then this is for you: a howling celebration of self-knowing musical stupidity....For those heavy, heavy drinking sessions."11.84023

11.84023

Rolling Stone (8/6/98, pp.71-72) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...Lanegan faces his trail of terrors without apologies or self-pity, but with a kind of bruised dignity....Lanegan looks for redemption wherever he can find it--in the hazy memory of lost lovers, in prayers and in hallucinatory death visions..."11.84023

Q (6/02, p.112) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...It's hardly a bumper pack of anthems, but the pain is accompanied by passion and it's hard not to scream along."Alternative Press (4/02, p.68) - 8 out of 10 - "...The Catheters explode in a flurry of trashy guitar riffs and ear-splitting cymbal splashes...[they] expertly contrast loose and open rhythms with...piercing yelps..."Magnet (6-7/02, p.80) - "...These ratfink mofos resurrect the tasteless spirit of Stiv Bators..."CMJ (3/11/02, p.10) - "...Don't fear that the Seattle-based band has grown-up and lost its forceful punk sound....there is a hint of melody...underneath the band's speedy roar and...nihilistic, straight-from the garage vocals..."Mojo (Publisher) (April 2002, p.97) - "Raucous, ramshackle and sounding like they record in a wheelie bin....[they] follow a grand local tradition of mixing up primal garage howl with tuneful punk rock brio..."NME (Magazine) (6/1/02, p.37) - 8 out of 10 - "...Superbly direct and unrelentingly raucous. With brilliant rock'n'roll groups coming out of the walls like blood in a horror movie, The Catheters are quite possibly your even newer favourite band..."11.84023

Q (10/01, p.128) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Superbly idiosyncratic stuff..."CMJ (8/27/01, p.12) - "...Lyrically and musically over the top....strangely beautiful..."11.84023

Entertainment Weekly (No. 836, p.61) - ""...VanGaalen makes an excellent new-school Neil Young for the GARDEN STATE generation...." - Grade: B+Uncut (p.116) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[A] collection of introspective folk balladry, divergent electronics and clanging, distorted alt. rock."Magnet (pp.110-111) - "[M]oments of perfection make VanGaalen's meanderings seem a necessary part of the whole appealing coincidence. It's a beautiful accident worth witnessing."11.84023

Spin (p.60) - Ranked #39 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2005" - "[F]or indie rock that's obsessed with history, that decayed-reel production feels right."Entertainment Weekly (No. 842, p.95) - "...APOLOGIES is the stuff fanzine dreams are made of..." - Grade: B+Magnet (p.112) - "Wolf Parade hails from Montreal, courts a post-punk-informed sound, has a vocalist whose quirky tenor yelp recalls David Byrne and attained early buzz-band status on the strength of its energetic, emotional performances."Mojo (Publisher) (p.96) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[I]t's a turbulent, ever mood-shifting listen - perhaps rather of its time....Engaging, inventive and emotionally charged..."11.84023

Uncut (1/04, p.108) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]he sad-angel beauty of Seattle's Rosie Thomas is alive..."Mojo (Publisher) (10/03, p.120) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Thomas' aesthetic of guitar strum and elemental piano is well suited to her high, fragile singing style..."11.84023

Rolling Stone (p.94) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]hey deliver a bluesy sprawl full of meaty punk riffs and Stooges-schooled abandon that still outpaces less-inspired slop-rock bands."Uncut (p.105) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The familiar sludgy by dynamic guitars are enlivened this time round by swinging soul horns..."Mojo (Publisher) (p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "With its indelible songs and bug-eyed intensity, this album makes you wish that more bands could be so irreverent."11.84023

Spin (p.110) - "[They] have a dense, playful, wide-screen sound that means to overwhelm, and often it does." - Grade: B+Entertainment Weekly (pp.78-9) - "The Helio Sequence have a glorious oversize, overstuffed, sound." - Grade: B+Magnet (p.95) - "[T]he Helio Sequence alternates between danceable, hippie space jams and sleepy chill-out tunes, all shot through with a healthy dose of psychedelia."CMJ (p.35) - "LOVE AND DISTANCE plants its roots firmly in psychedelia and '80s shoegaze, intertwining elements of Britpop throughout....A record rife with diversity and innovation..."11.84023

Rolling Stone (No. 969, p.110) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "[T]he best yet [from Iron & Wine]....[Samuel Beam] expands his minimal, mostly acoustic arrangements with unusual percussion, slide guitar, keyboards, violin, distorted electric guitar and multitracked harmonies..."Spin (p.86) - "Though tender and beautiful, his austere, mournful sketches of lonesome prairie life offer sepia-tinted portraits of heroic Christian suffering." - Grade: A-Uncut (p.106) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Embellishing the elegance of the last album with softly propulsive percussion and electric guitar, WOMAN KING heaves in on the canter of velvet hooves....Twenty-five minutes of luminously beautiful music."Mojo (Publisher) (p.97) - 4 stars out of 5 - "The usual Iron & Wine ingredients - banjo, slide guitar, translucent voice delicate as a windblown autumn leaf - are augmented by electric guitar, violin, piano and percussion."11.84023

Entertainment Weekly (2/01/02, p.107) - "...Thomas is a moonlighting comic with an earth-angel voice who channels fragile melismas through heartachy tales sketched with acoustic guitars and pianos. Sometimes poignant, always pretty....As tears of a clown go, it's moving stuff." - Rating: B+Q (3/02, p.128) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...She's possessed of a fine, pure voice, somewhere between Emmylou Harris and a young Joni Mitchell..."Mojo (Publisher) (April 2002, p.102) - "...Thomas is...inclined to quiet, powerful ballads in a neo-traditional style..."11.84023

Q (8/01, p.135) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Much like Steve Earle or Leonard Cohen, he has the talent to transform life's dissappointments and regrets into a work of real wonder and beauty."Uncut (8/01, p.94) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...FIELD SONGS is profound in wisdom and emotion..."oAlternative Press (7/01, p.74) - 7 out of 10 - "...Vocally, Lanegan is in top form....his best work yet..."Magnet (6-7/01, p.99) - "...His most fully realized work to date..."No Depression (7-8/01, p.126) - "...An album full of doomed gothic romance, pharmaceutical and drunken reverie, and blurry, sepia snapshots....you'll be hard pressed to find anything more tempting than FIELD SONGS all year..."Mojo (Publisher) (7/01, p.112) - "...Brutal, bleak, and Lanegan's finest hour yet."NME (Magazine) (12/29/01, p.59) - Ranked #27 in NME's 50 "Albums Of the Year 2001".NME (Magazine) (6/9/01, p.41) - 8 out of 10 - "...This is soul music. Not necessarily by genre...but by the virtue of the songs that lay their author's soul bare....pitched somewhere between the last moments of clarity drifting off on junk-filled dreams and the ganzwing desperation between fixes..."11.84023

Mojo (Publisher) (p.86) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]here's sufficient quality here to suggest that The Constantines will one day make an all-the-medals classic."11.84023

Alternative Press (4/02, p.77) - 7 out of 10 - "...[The album's] first side slowly mellows from...catchy indie rock...to...resigned...before climaxing with...extended guitar vamp..."11.84023

Spin (12/03, p.128) - "...Check out the spacey, intimate title track...and know that somewhere safe and quiet, Nick Drake is awfully proud..." - Grade: A-Entertainment Weekly (9/12/03, p.152) - "...This five-song EP is full of gorgeous, intimate melodies..." - Rating: B+Mojo (Publisher) (3/04, p.100) - 5 stars out of 5 - "More loneliness and beauty....[T]here's so much packed into this superb EP."11.84023

Mojo (Publisher) (8/03, p.114) - 4 out of 5 stars - "...[A] prime slice of outsider art to delight noiseniks and punks alike..."11.84023

Rolling Stone (9/19/02, p.104) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...The band sounds as dense and murky as ever....Even that psychedelic dirge intro is a hypnotic charmer..."Uncut (9/02, p.114) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...their mischieviousness is...shot through with purpose, gumption and riff-raunch action...Mudhoney's primitive garage thrash is...more primed than ever..."Magnet (8-9/02, p.83) - "...Good enough to make longtime fans crank the volume..."The Wire (9/02, p.66) - "...What's immediately apparent form the opening track...is just how much more expansive their sound has become..."CMJ (8/16/02, p.7) - "Unabashed, heavy and incessantly bold, this is the rock album that you've been waiting for..."Mojo (Publisher) (1/03, p.75) - Ranked #19 in Mojo's "Best Albums of 2002"Mojo (Publisher) (9/02, p.104) - "...their eighth LP is among their best...TRANSLUCENT hangs together like a champ. Mudhoney are back."NME (Magazine) (8/17/02, p.32) - 7 out of 10 - "...This is a thunderous return to form..."11.84023

Uncut (p.95) - 4 stars out of 5 - "These are great, clever, slovenly rock songs, as strong as those on '99's career-topping DESTINATION 2000 - or, indeed, those of their more garlanded peers."11.84023