July 31, 2007

Sage Francis Human The Death Dance [4.5/5] Sage Francis has been immersed in hip-hop since he was 8, but he lives in the same world you do. The Rhode Island rapper references My Chemical Romance and hates being called emo. Mostly, though, he rhymes like a champ. On album opener “Underground For Dummies,” Francis relives...

Wilco Sky Blue Sky [4/5] Stripped of the experimental, feedback-drenched qualities of 2002’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and 2004’s A Ghost Is Born, Sky Blue Sky sees Wilco revisit their mid-’90s A.M. roots. However, it’s apparent it takes deft skill to sound this simple. The traditionally sharp edges are intentionally dulled on frontman Jeff Tweedy’s eloquent...

Weatherbox American Art [4.5/5] Doghouse Records must slip something in their A&R reps’ Vitamin Waters daily; from the Get Up Kids to the All-American Rejects to Say Anything, the label has consistently discovered new talent and delivered scene-changing records. And not to get all hyperbolic on you, but prepare to look back on American Art,...

We Are The Fury Venus [4/5] It’s tempting to use lots of fancy words that start with “A” to describe We Are The Fury-amalgam, alloy, ambimusical (okay, we made that one up)-but whatever words you use, there’s no denying that WATF have seduced the postured kink of the late-’70s glam scene into a heavy petting...

Patti Smith Twelve [2.5/5] Recent Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee/legendary NYC musician Patti Smith included cover songs on revolutionary 1970s albums such as Horses, so she’s no stranger to making other people’s songs her own. But it’s clear from listening to Twelve, an all-covers record featuring twelve remakes of classic songs, that Smith’s...

Sherwood A Different Light [3.5/5] You can actually hear the sunshine on California band Sherwood’s second record, most of which they unsurprisingly penned in even sunnier Mexico. Their jangly pop songs, which sound far more refined and mature than they did on their 2005 debut Sing, But Keep Going, shimmer with an optimist sensibility, even...

Devils & Angels [2.5/5] Pop music can be a surprisingly sticky wicket: Write great pop songs, and you’ve got a legitimate shot at joining the Billboard big boys; write good pop songs, and you become the perpetual next big thing. Since their 2004 indie debut Everyday Behavior, some important folks have obviously decided that Orange...

The Fucking Champs VI [3/5] Yeah, they’ve been putting out pretty much the same album for the last 10 years, with pretty much the same cover photo for the last seven, with pretty much the same NWOBHM-style guitar harmonies on each one, but AC/DC and Motörhead have been repeating themselves for over 30 years apiece...

Nine Inch Nails Year Zero For Year Zero, Nine Inch Nails chairman Trent Reznor sets his machinery on “kill” and points it toward authority and herd mentality, dicing up guitars and laptop synths like an Enron paper trail. After the raging overture “Hyperpower!,” the mood is set by “The Beginning Of The End,” where Reznor...