ABE VIGODA: REVIVER (PPM) ** Abe Vigoda's music comes at you peripherally, the way unrelated noises almost mesh as you're falling asleep. The melodies, chord changes and rhythms sometimes seem to be coming from separate rooms, while the vocals sometimes seem to be coming from next door. ...more

March 13, 2009

A group of college friends get together to play music, their greatest ambition to possibly play a gig outside of their hometown. ...more

January 16, 2009

GLASVEGAS: GLASVEGAS (COLUMBIA) ***½ Glasvegas recalls early, angry Elvis Costello or a Scottish incarnation of The Arcade Fire or Okkervil River with big ambitions, urgent vocals, soaring choruses and jangling guitars. ...more

January 16, 2009

RA RA RIOT: THE RHUMB LINE (BARSUK) ***½ Sadly, the first some of us heard of Ra Ra Riot was when drummer John Pike died following a performance last year, around the time the band's eponymous EP was released. As it is, though, "The Rhumb Line," serves both as a fitting tribute to Pike and as a proper introduction to the band. ...more

September 19, 2008

Tossing the word 'war' into an album title almost certainly signifies a political slant in 2007. But the key to Stars' fourth album is 'bedroom' - the battlefield on which the songs' morning-after and night-before skirmishes take place. ...more

October 12, 2007