Dan Slessor

Yours Truly, The Commuter On Jason Lytle's solo debut, the artist better known as the voice and driving force behind defunct indie darlings Grandaddy delivers a richly textured work that is lovingly crafted and affectingly poignant. With spacey synthesizers, Elliott Smith-meets-Neil Young vocal melodies and the occasional rock-out moment, there's a strong sonic similarity to […]

Monolith The full-length debut from Sights And Sounds is the kind of record you'd expect a band to make at the peak of their career. Beautiful and expansive, the Canadian four-piece–featuring Comeback Kid's Andrew Neufeld on vocals-construct layered and intensely atmospheric works drenched in gorgeous melodies. The resulting album is perhaps the perfect distillation of […]

Currents EP If you feel that too many records of recent have lacked hooks, it's because Chicago's Treaty Of Paris stole them all. Packed from start to finish with glorious melodies, the six tracks that comprise Currents grab you immediately, and it's the kind of record that makes you want to dive for the "repeat" button almost […]

Apple’s Acre 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 were falling off […]

Hell Chose Me If you want ugly then look no further, for they don't come much nastier thanHell Chose Me. On their third full-length, San Diego's Carnifex are clearly out to wreak maximum damage on anyone within earshot of their furious assault, bluntly demonstrating that there's a hell of a lot more death than 'core […]

Similies Matthew Cooper has been releasing deeply moving music under the Eluvium moniker since 2003 (as well as putting out the Miniatures album under his own name in 2008), and Similies, Eluvium's fifth full-length, is every bit as magnificent as what has come before. Through the use of warm electronics, piano and organ, feedback drones, occasional acoustic guitar, […]

From Hell…With Love Released as a low price CD/DVD combo, From Hell… With Love captures Seattle goth-punk quartet Aiden's performance at Chicago's Bottom Lounge this past January, and it does a pretty good job of conveying the Aiden live experience. The 10-song set leans heavily on 2009's Knives but gives a nod to choice cuts from their back catalog. […]