Craig Finn — Clear Heart Full Eyes

The Hold Steady’s songwriter steps out on his own to write some songs about loneliness.

Indie
Matt Carney
I think the best way to compare the songwriting material in 40-year-old Craig Finn’s first-ever solo album with the excellent stuff that constitutes his catalogue with Brooklyn-by-Minneapolis rockers The Hold Steady is to just embrace the truth that you can’t have fun all the time.

 

Monday, January 30, 2012

Horse Thief — Grow Deep, Grow Wild

Indie
Matt Carney
Local psych-rock outfit Horse Thief’s first album, “Grow Deep, Grow Wild,” blasts open with a Gothic church organ undercut by some very subtle guitar scratching for texture.

 

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Ryan Parker — In Circles

Indie
Matt Carney
About two-thirds of the way through “What Is Light,” the eighth track on Oklahoma City singer/songwriter Ryan Parker’s “In Circles,” a melodic, piano-driven, chorus-less series of verses gives way into a worldbeat rhythm that evokes a living-room drum circle. This is the part where he asks about the light.

 

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Los Campesinos! — Hello Sadness

Don’t be sad, indie kids: Los Campesinos! will cheer you up with their most dramatic, mature album yet.

Indie
Matt Carney
While their fourth LP in as many years doesn’t peak quite as high as their 2008 debut, “Hold On Now, Youngster ...” (which was hallmarked by an absolute crusher of an indie-pop single in “You! Me! Dancing!”), Los Campesinos! have crafted another terrific record in “Hello Sadness,” a compelling, aggressive, twee listen.

 

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

M83 — Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

French imagineer captures hipsters’ nostalgia, invites them to explore broad, cinematic soundscapes.

Indie
Matt Carney
Massive music is in.

 

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Body Language — Social Studies

This band is properly named.

Indie
Joshua Boydston
If Body Language breaks out like it has the potential to, the Brooklyn-based four piece surely would owe a heavy debt to Passion Pit; it’s a similar formula with the twist of adding a female vocalist … although that feels but a step removed from Michael Angelakos’ signature falsetto.

 

Monday, October 24, 2011

Twin Sister — In Heaven

NYC indie-pop dreamers concoct a solid debut album after an infectious single.

Indie
Matt Carney
Ever since “All Around and Away We Go” reminded me of Talking Heads last summer, I’ve kept my eyes out (and many fingers crossed) for flashes of Twin Sister’s name across the blogosphere. Much to my delight, it showed up last summer alongside fellow NYCers’ The Pains of Being Pure at Heart on a touring bill aimed at the Midwest, with a stop at OU’s campus (not three minutes’ walk from my house) right smack in the middle of it.

 

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

St. Vincent — Strange Mercy

Born Tulsan, Annie Clark’s third record is alluring and fearless.

Indie
Matt Carney
Right away, “Chloe in the Afternoon,” the first track on St. Vincent’s new album, distinguishes itself as superior to both the band’s previous LPs, 2007’s “Marry Me” and 2009’s “Actor.”

 

Monday, October 10, 2011

Portugal. The Man — In the Mountain in the Cloud

Belongs ‘in the’ trash.

Indie
Matt Carney
Billed as a psychedelic indie-rock band, I think Portugal. The Man is kind of neither.

 

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

WU LYF – Go Tell Fire to the Mountain

Indie-rock with a voice that’s certainly … memorable.

Indie
Matt Carney
It’s rare for a debut album’s two most distinct features to conflict so aggressively, and for a band to command them with as much confidence as does WU LYF. This really is an impressive freshman effort, one that commands your attention for its nearly 50 minutes, spread out thick over 10 songs.

 

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Wilco – The Whole Love

Wilco’s relevant again!

Indie
Matt Carney
As far as Wilco albums go, 1999’s “Summerteeth” and 2004’s “A Ghost Is Born,” are two of the band’s most beloved, but rarely by the same fans. The former, the group’s third full-length, is a joyful romp of Americana indie rock and pop, bubbling along on a turgid undercurrent of relational struggle, drug abuse and loneliness.

 

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Superchunk – Foolish

A well-deserving ’90s indie classic gets a timely re-release.

Indie
Matt Carney
A few weeks ago I negatively reviewed the packaging of a pair of reissues from Experience Hendrix LLC. Note that I enjoyed the albums’ actual sonic contents, which definitely proved themselves to be two of the best Hendrix documents on the (flooded) market.

 

Monday, August 29, 2011

Collections of Colonies of Bees — GIVING

Wisconsin instrumental post-rockers return to old form after their Volcano Choir collaboration with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon.

Indie
Matt Carney
Clocking in at just under half an hour, Milwaukee-based Collections of Colonies of Bees recorded a lyric-less gem in their latest offering, “Giving,” strong enough an effort to challenge the current incumbents Explosions in the Sky as our best post-rock build-up instrumental band.

 

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Small Sur — Tones

Doing more with less.

Indie
Matt Carney
Baltimore, Md. is so very rich with quality music right now. Bands like Beach House, Wye Oak and Animal Collective (AC relocated to NYC, but some of their first media coverage came from Baltimore City Paper) have established themselves as national-caliber indie acts with large-scale sounds to boot.

 

Monday, August 8, 2011

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks — Mirror Traffic

Pavement legend still plenty feisty.

Indie
Matt Carney
So what happens when you pair a couple of 1990s indie legends, setting the one known for bizarro, folky hip-hop at the control panel, and the one who famously dissed Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots behind the microphone?

 

Wednesday, August 3, 2011