May 28, 2008

Chris Walla Field Manual [2.5/5] As the yang to Ben Gibbard’s yin, Chris Walla’s always been Death Cab For Cutie’s second-most-appealing member, creating the sometimes ethereal, often emotive soundscapes that broke the band to the mainstream while someone else from the band got the credit for Death Cab’s songwriting. On his first solo record, it...

Say Hi The Wishes And The Glitch [3/5] Memo to bands everywhere: Joke names? Not such a good idea. Turns out the time I’ve spent intentionally ignoring who I thought were some poop-joke pop-punk band I could’ve been spacing out to sophisticated, pysch-tinged Rogue Wave-style indie rock. Perhaps it’s maturity that drove main dude Eric...

Ida Lovers Prayers [4/5] You can hear the country infiltrating Lovers Prayers on occasion-the lazy-day shuffle of “Worried Mind Blues,” for example, or the close country harmonies that pretty much define “For Shame Of Doing Wrong.” But if you’re looking for a drastic overhaul of Ida’s sound to go with those stories of a New...

The Helio Sequence Keep Your Eyes Ahead [4.5/5] With Silversun Pickups and Band Of Horses accruing acclaim and attention for their moody, sparkling indie-pop, it’s easy to overlook the fact that Portland duo the Helio Sequence have been quietly dancing around in this style for years. Keep Your Eyes Ahead, employs a deft combination of...

The Big Sleep Sleep Forever [4/5] With their second album, The Big Sleep throw away the textbook and concentrate on the last half of the math-rock equation. This brooding Brooklyn trio’s winding arrangements build tension in jagged, noisy, overlapping riffs, minor-chord melodies and a steadfast pulse, relying more on their wiry, caterwauling textures than...

Atlas Sound Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel [4/5] Atlas Sound is Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox’s solo project, and his debut, Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, veers gently from his meal ticket’s angular, silvery-mauve shoegaze-rock attack. While the overall tone is more blissed-out and...

American Music Club The Golden Age [4.5/5] This album doesn’t have the reunion hype that helped make American Music Club’s Love Songs For Patriots such an event. What it does have is songwriting, setting the stage with “All My Love,” a downtrodden pledge of devotion that wears its mood like Leonard Cohen in the rain....