January 6, 2010

COMEDY YOUTH IN REVOLT (Dimension) STARS > Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Jean Smart, Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta, Zach Galifianakis, Fred Willard, Justin Long, Ari Graynor DIRECTOR > Miguel Arteta RATING > [4/5] OPENS > JAN 8 Ever since Arrested Development (otherwise known as the funniest show...

MUTEMATH Armistice As the press machine’s wheels begin to turn on Armistice, MUTEMATH’s sophomore album, one angle guaranteed to be beaten into the ground is that the New Orleans-based quartet–frontman Paul Meany, guitarist Greg Hill, bassist Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas and drummer Darren King–scrapped an entire album’s worth of songs (16, to be precise) at the encouragement...

David Bazan Curse Your Branches [4/5] It’s been three years since David Bazan released his debut solo EP, Fewer Moving Parts, and even longer since he stopped playing under the name Pedro The Lion. However, those of you still paying attention should know that Bazan is crafting the best music of his career. Curse...

As Tall As Lions You Can’t Take It With You [4/5] Though commonly associated with emo, Long Island, New York’s As Tall As Lions always stood apart. They never sounded like the bands with whom they shared stages, and they never fit the stereotypical Long Island sound. While their peers found inspiration in ’90s...

Pissed Jeans King Of Jeans [4/5] After the total sonic destruction and abandon of 2007’s Hope For Men, this Allentown, Pennsylvania, quartet weren’t in for an easy ride with their third full-length. Thankfully, it crushes with more speed, weirdness and sheer sonic weight than Hope For Men and the band’s punkier debut, 2005’s Shallow....

Nurses Apple’s Acre [3/5] Try as you might, there’s no easy way to pigeonhole Portland, Oregon’s Nurses; the band’s sparse, off-kilter sounds occupy their own little niche. This doesn’t mean that comparisons are impossible. Their freewheeling oddness recalls early Deus; their droning vocal harmonies could be made by the Polyphonic Spree as the members...

Metavari Be One Of Us And Hear No Noise [2.5/5] Metavari are stuck in a drawer full of early Death Cab For Cutie melodies and emotive electronica. While this could make for a troublesome combination of the predictable and the well worn, the group are able to play their music with strong conviction and...

Lightning Dust Infinite Light [4/5] King beardo Stephen McBean gets all the attention in perma-bonged psych rockers Black Mountain, but discerning fans know the band’s secret weapon is tremolo-voiced singer Amber Webber. Lightning Dust–comprised of Webber and Black Mountain drummer Joshua Wells–began as a side project, but blossom into their own crazily beautiful thing...