Twilight Singers
Twilight Singers Powder Burns [4/5] Album No. 4 from Greg Dulli’s other band was almost literally born in the eye of a hurricane. The tapes had to be rescued from a New Orleans studio after Hurricane Katrina hit, and the former Afghan Whigs frontman continued recording in the shattered city. Only four songs were reportedly...
The Stills
The Stills Without Feathers [4/5] In the spirit of self-reinvention, the Stills have shaken off the arch gloominess of their 2004 debut album and leapt into sunny major-key bliss on Without Feathers. Evidently, surviving a massive lineup change and embracing their inner Canuck (specifically, the Band) have brightened up the NYC-via-Montreal band somethin’ nice: “Oh...
John Ralston
John Ralston Needle Bed [4/5] Fueled by Pabst Blue Ribbon, no sleep and too many cigarettes, John Ralston recorded Needle Bed across five days in 2005 without actually intending to finish the thing–but it’s a good thing he did. Now reissued by Vagrant to commemorate Ralston’s recent signing to the label, the formerly self-released Needle...
Micah P. Hinson
Micah P. Hinson The Baby & The Satellite EP [4/5] Micah P. Hinson isn’t your average 20-something–unless you call getting tangled up with a former Vogue model and her hard drug habit, serving jail time for forging prescriptions and consequently being disowned by your fundamentalist Christian family “normal.” But as The Baby & The Satellite–eight...
Gomez
Gomez How We Operate [3/5] For the past eight years, Mercury Prize-winning Brits Gomez have nursed their eclectic American rock fetish to compelling, if bipolar, effect, and on their fifth studio album, How We Operate, the group keep their winningly inconsistent formula intact. Though singer/guitarist Ian Ball’s songs flirt with jaunty, danceable pop (see “Girlshapedlovedrug”),...
The Forecast
The Forecast In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen [4/5] While the pop-culture lens focuses on Hawthorne Heights, HH’s unheralded labelmates the Forecast are quietly hitting their stride. Last year’s Late Night Conversations was the best Victory Records debut album no one noticed, and it’ll be a shame if In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen meets...
The Fiery Furnaces
The Fiery Furnaces Bitter Tea [5/5] Bitter Tea was originally recorded as a companion piece to 2005’s Rehearsing My Choir, the audio family reunion narrated by this NYC-via-Chicago sibling duo’s grandmother. This time around, the Fiery Furnaces’ narrative spotlight falls on singer Eleanor Friedberger, whose soulful recollections, whether real or imagined, are downright serene. When...