Pop

Kill Rockstars Nestled somewhere between atmospheric noise and indie pop is the San Francisco band Xiu Xiu, which has released an album that is purposely weird and catchy.   The group’s latest, “Women as Lovers,” has some of the same droning and experimental songs Xiu Xiu is known for, like “In Lust You Can Hear […]

  Sony The sticker on the plastic case bills “Taking Chances” as Dion’s “long-awaited new album,” which is puzzling because the Canadian wheeze bag released her previous album, “D’elles,” in May. Though “D’elles” was in French and distributed primarily in our northern neighbor, thinking about ravenous, Dion-starved fans panicking as weeks tick by with no […]

  Geffen   I’ll admit I took one look at “Inside Out,” the debut album of actress Emmy Rossum’ the starlet-in-peril of “Poseidon,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” “The Phantom of the Opera”‘ and thought that, like Katharine McPhee’s freshmen effort, the best thing about it would be the photos.   But surprise, surprise: The classically […]

  Upbeat This new Cake release? It stinks. And I don’t mean the songs, but the package itself’ a scratch-and-sniff affair with a scent so permeating, there’s no need to scrape to get a whiff of what those around the office only can guess is like grape Pez gone bad.   But to the music: […]

  Sub Pop Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil’ who needs ’em? With the sweet, soulful sounds of The Go! Team, the black of the day can be chased away by just pressing play.   Following up “Thunder, Lightning, Strike,” its acclaimed 2004 debut, this unique six-piece band from England unleashes another sugar-laced dose of party rock, seemingly […]

  Astralwerks “Beyond the Neighbourhood,” the latest album from London electronic indie-rock band Athlete, is a fun and sometimes morose cinematic pop record. Although Athlete has only been around since 2003, it has made a huge critical impression in the United States and Europe.   Combining tasteful doses of electronic glitch pop, dancey drums and […]

  Rhino Grammy-winning English pop-progressive-rock band Genesis is back at it, touring again and releasing records after splitting and partially rejoining in 2006.   Around for 40 years, in some form or another, Genesis has seen several lineup changes, successful solo careers and chart-topping, award-winning songs and albums.   Its latest offering, “Turn It on […]

Capitol Always super-poppy and catchy, Norfolk, Va.-based band Mae has released its third full-length album, “Singularity,” easily its most polished to date.   The sheen, mostly due to producer Howard Benson (Relient K, My Chemical Romance) comes at a price, however, but that likely won’t be a dearth of record sales.   “Singularity” sounds great […]

  Geffen According to the band’s official Web site biography, Sound the Alarm formed when the members were only 12 years old, which was only a year ago, by the looks of the photo on the back of the band’s release.   The band was discovered by Grammy-nominated producer Howard Benson, who was responsible partially […]

yle=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt”>Track three, “Before You Were Born,” is more upbeat, with a country shuffle, fast guitar picking and a reverby vintage Telecaster twang. The last song on the CD, “Silver Trees,” is beautiful and lonesome, with a crying harmonica punching and piercing through acoustic guitars. At least half the songs on the disc […]