rock

ces of What” isn’t particularly inspiring, and neither is “The Handshake,” but the album’s closer, “Future Reflections,” is digitally upbeat with successful studio effects on the vocals, a high-pitched organ warble and a Sixties pop-rock bass line.   MGMT has managed a clever mix of pop eccentricity on “Oracular Spectacular,” which proves more fun on […]

Domino Cass McCombs’ latest album, “Dropping the Writ,” is a weird, fiery mix of lonely droning songs that combine parts of underground folk and experimental basement rock ‘n’ roll.   His previous album, “PREfection,” met with Internet acclaim and parallels to the Velvet Underground and The Smiths.   The Lou Reed vibe is there, especially […]

  Geffen Tom DeLonge’s post-Blink-182 project of Angels & Airwaves didn’t take long to follow up its 2006 debut. Radio stations still were playing its singles from that when “I-Empire” hit stores. The bleed-over is appropriate, as “I-Empire” doesn’t stray from the sound that made its predecessor so surprisingly winning; in fact, it has the […]

  2008   Distorted guitars and cascading cymbals introduce the first song on Edmond rock band So Far Good’s new self-titled CD.   The opening song, “The Drive,” gives way to softer melodic verses before increasing both the tempo and volume into a full-on promenade of guitars and brisk, punchy drums. Deft palm muting by […]

  Reprise   Making heavy music is a tricky affair, and it seems nearly impossible to make any fan of the genre happy. There is something indefinable in good metal music that is equal parts awesome and hilarious. Mot

  Island It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since U2’s “The Joshua Tree” came out and finally converted all the dumb people who didn’t buy “War” into fans of the pioneering, epic Irish rock band.   To mark the occasion, re-mastered tracks from “The Joshua Tree” will be released on Nov. 30 in […]

  No strangers to deconstructing rock, the members of Radiohead have done this consecutively on their lastthree albums. Thom Yorke’s voice still serves as a siren at the end of the world on the band’s latest release “In Rainbows.”   Gone from his voice is the paranoia that permeated on “Kid A,” which “In Rainbows” […]

ColumbiaEasily his best work since “The River,” Bruce Springsteen’s latest record “Magic,” is an energetic, nostalgic rock album that is equally catchy in spirit and profound in scope.   The album opener and first single, “Radio Nowhere,” is largely driven by the backing (and sorely missed since 2002’s “The Rising” ) E Street Band. “Is […]

  Geffen Four years since its last “big” release, Puddle of Mudd tries to rival the success of “Come Clean,” which sold more than three million copies in 2001. The band’s last attempt, “Life on Display,” failed miserably, to say the least. So what’s different this time around? Drummer Greg Upchurch and guitarist Paul Phillips […]

Equal Vision Once upon a time, New York’s Coheed and Cambria was an uncommon gem: quirky and odd, with the piercing falsetto of singer/front man Claudio Sanchez backed with thick guitars, strange time signatures and rhythmic, syncopated drums.   While listening to early Coheed, you got the idea that these guys listened to Rush, Pink […]