The Like Young
The Like Young Last Secrets [3/5] Like the White Stripes, Chicago husband/wife duo the Like Young have a familiar setup: Amanda Ziemba on drums, Joe Ziemba on guitar, piano and synthesizer. But unlike that formerly married platinum-selling duo, the Like Young play punkish, garage-friendly indie pop with hooks that come quickly and easily. They also...
Islands
Islands Return To The Sea [3/5] Having already deconstructed pop-song formulas so charmingly as Unicorns, frontman Nick Diamonds and drummer J’aime Tambeur ensured that whatever they did for a follow-up would struggle to stay out of its predecessor’s shadow; and with Islands, the Montreal duo’s new band, they prove it. “Swan (Life After Death),” Return...
Elf Power
Elf Power Back To The Web [3/5] When a 12-year-old ex-Elephant 6 Collective band whose privately owned record label (Orange Twin) doubles as a land-conservation project say they’ve been listening to Gypsy music and Middle Eastern folk, one assumes they’re gearing up to drop a load of psychedelic hippie bullshit on the world. But Elf...
Kimya Dawson
Kimya Dawson Remember That I ? You [5/5] If Kimya Dawson hadn’t discovered the guitar, odds are good she’d be permanently parked on her therapist’s couch. The Moldy Peaches cofounder and anti-folk icon has plenty to worry about, and she’s not afraid to lay it all out on Remember That I ? You, her fifth...
Crystal Skulls
Crystal Skulls Indie rock’s Parrotheads get lost en route to paradise. [3/5] Led by ex-Pedro The Lion touring member Christian Wargo, Seattle’s Crystal Skulls are still pairing their sexy wit and cynicism with a loose, Jimmy Buffet-goes-indie-rock vibe; but this time around, it seems they’ve left some of the melody behind. Every track on the...
Aloha
Aloha Avant-indie pop with bingo muscles. [4/5] Since the 2003 arrival of multi-instrumentalist T.J. Lipple (keyboards, marimba, drums), Aloha have been growing less jazz-tinged and more traditionally rock-focused. On Some Echoes, which finds the multi-state East Coast quartet dabbling in everything from indie pop to classic minimalism to progressive rock, they also seem to be...