Archive Search Results

1. Chatter

   Looking for Trouble

   Jemina Pearl breaks free of Be Your Own Pet on Break It Up.

   By Ray Cummings

   Published: January 14, 2010

   Jemina Pearl is congested. She punctuates conversational pauses with coughs trailed by an apologetic "excuse me," hardly resembling the fearsome, fearless lioness her old...

2. Playbill

   Sian Alice Group

   By Ray Cummings

   Published: September 17, 2009

   59.59, the debut from England's Sian Alice Group, is a bit of a trap. When front woman Sian Ahern's lilting, beguiling voice is paired with the band's orchestrally captivating...

3. Chatter

   Back to the Dead

   Black Leather Jesus's Richard Ramirez resurrects the Dead Audio Music Festival.

   By Ray Cummings

   Published: July 23, 2009

   Richard Ramirez isn't just a member of Houston's Black Leather Jesus — he is, with Jovan Hernandez, the co-founder of the not-quite-annual Dead Audio Music Festival. The...

4. Rotation

   Crocodiles: Summer of Hate

   By Ray Cummings

   Published: June 11, 2009

   New Wave pop glimmer, meet noisy, lo-fi reverb; you'll be working together closely on Summer of Hate, the debut from San Diego's Crocodiles. Intimately, one might say —...

5. Rotation

   Lissy Trullie: Self-Taught Learner

   By Ray Cummings

   Published: May 28, 2009

   There's a dry, tomboyish cool to Lissy Trullie's brand of songwriting — the same quality she brings to her modeling work. She's emotional, but neither excessively or...

6. Rotation

   Dan Deacon: Bromst

   By Ray Cummings

   Published: April 16, 2009

   You either love or loathe Baltimore's Dan Deacon. You either thought the runaway yammerings-on of "Wham City," from 2007's reviewed-to-death Spiderman of the Rings, were...

7. Rotation

   The Lonely Island: Incredibad

   By Ray Cummings

   Published: April 9, 2009

   Did Saturday Night Live honcho Lorne Michaels save his show by annexing the comedic talents of The Lonely Island? It's probably too soon to say, but there's no question that...

8. Rotation

   Single File

   By Ray Cummings

   Published: January 22, 2009

   Single File Foxboro Hot Tubs, "Dark Side of Night": I know, I know — big-time rock superstars get restless and bored. So between radio-friendly unit-shifters, they go on...

9. Rotation Single File

   Single File

   By Ray Cummings

   Published: January 8, 2009

   Evan Miller, "Or from a Tree Descending": Miller's electro-acoustic guitar strums out a thoughtful, or one might say inquisitive, pattern: several quick discursive paces that...

10. Rotation

    Pavement: Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition

    By Ray Cummings

    Published: January 1, 2009

    Eleven years on, Pavement's penultimate long-player still sounds like the product of two inevitable, related factors: the onset of maturity and a heightened sense of...

11. Music

    Deerhunter's New Double Album Strives for Elegance

    Captured by the Game

    By Ray Cummings

    Published: November 27, 2008

    Every musical era yields a few contentious, controversial malcontents with enough raw talent to back up their braggadocio, baggage and bullshit; this decade has already seen a...

12. Rotation Single File

    Single File

    By Ray Cummings

    Published: November 27, 2008

    Beyoncé, "Diva": I Am...Sasha Fierce — this Independent Woman's latest multimedia event — is front-loaded with snoozy ballads one can fast-forward through...

13. Rotation Single File

    Single File

    By Ray Cummings

    Published: October 23, 2008

    50 Cent, "Get Up": "You got a Bentley coupe booty, baby / I wanna drive" — 50's a smooth ladies' man, at heart! "I have the savoir faire / I'm the reason everybody here"...

14. Rotation Single File

    Single File

    By Ray Cummings

    Published: September 11, 2008

    Fall Out Boy feat. Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes, "Catch Me If You Can/Proclamation of Emaciation (demo)" — More exceedingly winky corporate emo about being totally...

15. Rotation Single File

    Single File

    By Ray Cummings

    Published: August 7, 2008

    Beck, "Orphans": You know, I'm liking this tune a lot more than anything off Guero or The Information — and producer Danger Mouse might know Mr. Hansen even better than...

16. Rotation Single File

    Single File

    By Ray Cummings

    Published: July 24, 2008

    Clipse, "Fast Life" — So it's official: This hyper-articulate Virginia crack-rap duo can flow sick over non-Neptunes beats. It must be said, though, that Scott Storch's...

17. Rotation Single File

    Single File

    By Ray Cummings

    Published: July 10, 2008

    Annie, "I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me": This trend of text-message abbreviations invading pop — thanks, Pink and Fall Out Boy — has gotta be stopped! Otherwise,...

18. Rotation

    5ingles: The Breeders, Mariah Carey, Lupe Fiasco, Madonna, Hannah Montana

    By Ray Cummings

    Published: April 3, 2008

    The Breeders "Bang On" — Kim Deal would like you to know that she's lonely in the biblical sense, but wipe that smirk off your face — we don't mean it that way...

19. Playbill

    Thao, with Xiu Xiu

    By Ray Cummings

    Published: April 3, 2008

    There's a freewheeling, can't-stop-won't-stop joy to Thao Nguyen's brand of indie pop that makes We Brave Bee Stings and All — the Washington, D.C.er's new album, with...

20. Playbill

    Dead Meadow

    By Ray Cummings

    Published: February 7, 2008

    "I can't tell if we're running from, or coming to," muses Dead Meadow singer/guitarist Jason Simon on the folky, elegiac "Ain't Got Nothing (To Go Wrong)," his decentered voice...