Editorial Review

Florida’s brilliant singer-songwriter Sam Beam expands Iron & Wine from solo project to a gaggle of friends and family on slide guitar, percussion, and backing vocals on his second album. Fans need not worry--the hushed immediacy and rich melodies remain the focus--but new flavors abound. For instance, the strange "Cinder And Smoke" sounds like a collaboration (with banjos of course) between America, Robert Wyatt and Low. Meanwhile, "On Your Wings," "Free Until They Cut Me Down," and "Teeth in the Grass" showcase a brooding, earthy, Southern-rock-on-laudanum side that the band had previously only demonstrated in concert. It's rare when an artist who's become known for bedroom recordings makes the transition to the studio to produce work that's better--Daniel Johnston, Lou Barlow, and Liz Phair all made their defining moments crouched above a cassette recorder at home. But Beam is the exception to the rule, as he has easily bested himself on the second Iron & Wine album. Read more

Reviews (117)

ZZZZZzzzzzzz...
Oh my, what can I say about this whispery little train wreck.It's third-rate coffee house music that struggles to be heard over conversations (as it should be).In the quiet sanctuary of my den, it's revealed for all it isn't.It isn't clever, musically or lyrically, and just drones along seemingly forever.My audiophile friends would like it because the sparse notes and little extraneous noises would make their overly analytical and fatiguing systems sound magical.
There are things that drift away
Our Endless Numbered Days is a quite marvellous album. Sam Beam's gentle, poignant songs about love, life and the changing of the seasons are simplicity itself. Played out mainly on picked acoustic guitar or banjo, but with added piano and percussion when the occasion calls, the strength of Our Endless Numbered Days is undoubtedly Beam's gorgeous, hushed voice. It infuses the album with a wistful sense of loss and longing, and is beautifully underlined by the interplay with the (female) backing vocals. Lyrically there is an elemental, almost biblical, resonance to the songs which I haven't come across before. The album's timelessness can certainly be attributed to the fact that it could have been written at any point over the last hundred years: there are no references to late 20th or 21st century life that I can think of.
Just drift away
this album ( and his other albums) make me feel the way Norah Jones did a few years back. this is the type of sound that you want to listen to while you drift away with aglass of wine. absolutely amazing ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Indie Rock    2. Lo-Fi    3. Pop    4. Rock    5. Rock/Pop    6. Singer/Songwriter   

Editorial Review

Given these tumultuous times, one would expect Ani DiFranco to confront strife head-on, but on this, her 18th album, she tunnels beneath the headlines toward deeper emotional, psychic, and institutional conflicts and causes. She begins by channeling her inner Joni Mitchell, pouring out a quartet of jazzy confessions lightly dusted with electronica, musique concrete, and keyboard drone, but urged forward by Todd Sickafoose's warm acoustic bass. His throbbing, be-bop lines are this spare but somehow atmospheric album's musical soul. As DiFranco's voice bobs and weaves around those rhythms, the personal poetry makes the politics hit harder--and vice versa. She celebrates marginalia and makes peace with a world in flux. She conveys the heat of across-the-café infatuations and grows anxious over her subconscious desires. When she locks her sights on contemporary culture, she sends a scattershot spray against celebrity cults, network news, biotechnology, Yucca Mountain, stolen elections and, of course, patriarchy. But she's a gifted enough poet and musician to keep the album from collapsing into radical rhetoric and psychobabble. The spoken-word title track begins in Hiroshima and ends in a declaration that feminism is not about equality but about "reprieve"--an amnesty from fear and hate, in other words, and an affirmation of life. In the context of a death-driven culture, her decision to bear children, "to split herself in two," becomes the most "radical thing you can do." None of her manifestos, however, would ring true if it weren't for her imaginative, even playful singing and her ever-more accomplished acoustic guitar playing, sometimes classically graceful, sometimes purely urgent. Read more

Reviews (16)

Another masterpiece!
It seems Ani Difranco is getting better and better as she grows up. This particular record is mellow, deep, thought provoking and musically brilliant.
More of a Man Than Most Men Will Ever Be...
Invariably a looming epitome of political awareness and self-reliance, the very pregnant Ani Difranco is in rare form with her latest studio album "Reprieve." Quite a varied collection, and the first after what has been for her a long absence (the outstanding "Knuckle Down" came out in January 2005), Difranco sounds revitalized and acutely in touch with herself. In each lyric and guitar strum resides a sense of purpose and unquestionable passion.
Brilliant
Ani rocks.However, this CD is even better than the rest.The songs are woven together perfectly, with funky techno sound-effects hinting in the background, each song digitally mastered, gently flowing to the next.During one particular song, we even hear a dog barking, far way...This entire collection is amazing, both as a compilation of songs, as well as individually.I received the CD in the mail a few weeks ago, right when it came out, and I have literally been listening to it non-stop ever since.It's downloaded to my IPod, my ITunes, and on both my computers; I keep the actual CD in my car's stereo.And I can't seem to get enough of this music, even after listening to it, time and time again.And unlike CDs of other artists, I loved this CD immediately.It's simply brilliant.SHE is simply brilliant.I never knew she could get even better than her other music, than her other CDs.There is something unique about this one: it's literally a work of art.She has risen to new heights, folks.Amazing stuff... ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative Folk    2. Anti-Folk    3. Pop    4. Rock    5. Rock/Pop    6. Singer/Songwriter    7. United States of America    8. Urban Folk   

Reviews (364)

A Pleasant Change
In the atmosphere of so much music labled as particular genres like "rock" or "pop", here comes a very different sort of band that doesn't seem to care about such distinctions. The band was luckily able to gain recognition, due to some promotion on MTV's "Advance Warning" program and radio play on alternative stations. Though "The Funeral" was released in 2004, it could've very well been released in any other era. It carries with it a sort of timeless quality that's not modern, but not entirely antique either. This effect is achieved through the variety of musical instruments, use of lyrics of a poetic quality, and the sincere earnestness found in the vocals.
It works for me
Some bands you have to dig for, or Amazon suggests to you and you buy...Either way its a joy to find these gems.This album is a great listen from beginning to end.Love the melodies, love the lyrics, love the passion.If you find great pleasure, as I do, from music that moves your soul you must get this album today.

need to be nice
I just trashed a bunch of other bands, so I figured I ought to say something nice. This is a great album. It has an intensity that seems impossible, given the amount of chaos going on in within it. The singing is a bit weak, but the band's enthusiasm makes up for it.
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Subjects:  1. Indie Rock    2. Pop    3. Post-Rock/Experimental    4. Rock    5. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

If the idea of basement tapes made by Billy Corgan and Doug Martsch appeals to you, say hello to your new favorite band. Silversun Pickups are fairly early adopters of the 1990s revival, but they're not grunge dorks or anything, and they're from L.A. so they dress nice. Their music updates the anthemic but gauzy heavy rock sound that Veruca Salt and the Smashing Pumpkins had down pat. Thankfully, they strip it down and add plenty of finely distorted guitar leads to the whole thing. It's nice. With a spacey, laid-back sound due in no small part to knob-twiddlers Tony Hoffer and Dave Cooley, repeated listens are mandatory. Just don't pass out on the couch. Read more

Reviews (21)

Don't understand the hype.
..I've given this a listen to about 5-6 times now and can't understand the fuss. While there are some great tracks on the album like Melatonin and Lazy Eye I find most of the album just sounds so contrived and has a lack of originality. Similarities to Smashing Pumpkins are obvious but in this day and age of musical regurgitation that doesn't bothers me. What did bother me was the contrived and cringe-worthy lyrics..it just sounded like an "I'm too cool 15 year old" singing in front of the mirror...

You'll be picking it up over and over and over and over and over and...
Silversun Pickups get a lot of Corganishishness thrown their way for the sake of vocal inflection, but on their new record "Carnavas," they've pinned down that elusive "love in neutral" tone that only bands like My Bloody Valentine have managed in the past, and spitshined it with a melodic Guided by Voices sheen, yielding white noise-pop that sparkles from the glint of all the fuzzy edges.
Best CD of 2006
I can't quite put my finger on what they sound like. Yeah, some emo/shoegazer in there. Maybe a splash of Pumpkins but I don't see the overwhelming Corgan references. It's really a unique CD. As soon as I heard a 30 second clip I felt I was home. Simply the best CD I've bought in a long time. Probably since Radiohead's Hail to the Thief. That's it. It's like Radiohead if they were a rock band and with more coherent vocals. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Dream Pop    2. Indie Pop    3. Indie Rock    4. Pop    5. Post-Grunge    6. Rock    7. Rock/Pop   

Reviews (3)

I want to live in a yellow house...
Have you ever been to a model home in a midwestern suburban housing development in the midst of being completed? These houses, constructed inside and out to look as though the most pleasant families in the world have been happily inhabiting them for years, create the kind of warmth and familiarity that one could be convinced can never exist elsewhere. Nowhere else except perhaps in the cascading strains of "Yellow House". Much comparison has been made between The Grizzlies and The Beach Boys and Animal Collective...but I hear bits of Eno at his most jilted, Vashti Bunyan at her most tender and even, yes, Aphex Twin at his most melodic. This is not experimental music for pop fans, nor is it pop for fans of experimental music. This is intriguing music at its most populist...tuneful, expansive, exposed and redemptive.

best album in a decade
I both envy and feel sad for anyone who has not heard this album.I envy you because when you first listen to this album it will awaken beauty in your life and I feel sad that you have yet to expierence it yet.I haven't fallen for an album like this since flaming lips, yoshimi. you can sure find influences in thier music, I hear beatles and beach boys but there is also a very distinct quality, untapped in modern music, I can't place it,but it is haunting and this album stays with you for a long time. I work nights in badgad, its the soundtrack of my deployment and brings beauty to a horrid situation. thank you grizzly bear. its exilirating to say the least. Easily the best album of the year and in my top 5 of the decade so far.

yes get it and see them live
a song excerpt may help you get the genre, but to really get IT you should hear the whole album, go for the whole ride, and listen to how the delicately balanced songs progress with geometric precision, then are broken with magnificent grizzly guitar tantrums and textural spasms that manage to be both futuristic and timeless.dont write them off as a freakfolk experiment. grizzly bear is a really great band. you must see them live too. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Experimental Rock    2. Indie Rock    3. Pop    4. Post-Rock/Experimental    5. Rock    6. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

How do you condense 15 years of music down to 76 minutes? In the case of this survey of the second phase of R.E.M.'s career, the answer is: Exceptionally well. The dangling carrot for diehards is two new songs; the rapid fire "Bad Day" hurtles along like the kissing cousin of "It's the End of the World as We Know It," while "Animal" is anchored by a majestic drone reminiscent of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows." In a surprising, but gratifying move, the rest of the program shortchanges the band's breakthrough, Read more

Reviews (164)

good but what if.
With the remarkable IRS compilation just released, the question has to be presented...could this cd have been as good as that one is?
Too much missing
No "Radio Song", "Turn You Inside Out", "Crush with Eyeliner", or, most shockingly, "Shiny Happy People"? Guess I'll wait a few more years for Warners to put out a better best of, like IRS just did of REM's early years.

Recurring Best
There are endless ways to assemble an R.E.M. anthology, let alone one from any other group, but this selection is marvelous. It is not only put together for their best work; it is arranged like an album. Many fans have lamented the absence of some big songs, like "Shiny, Happy, People," but this collection works well together.
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Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. American Underground    3. College Rock    4. Jangle Pop    5. Pop    6. Rock    7. Rock/Pop    8. United States of America   

Editorial Review

To listen to Ray Wylie Hubbard's Read more

Reviews (6)

Dirty and Mean with good guitar work
The whole album has that old southern blues rock grind, but it doesn't lose the Ray Wylie effect.Good guitar work throughout the entire album.As most of Ray Wylie's songs they are songs of blood, sweat and grease with a touch of sin and redemption.He and Gurf Morlix really sound like they are having fun playing together and that always makes an album special to me.
Love at first note...
I can't get this cd out of my player. I love Austin music and Ray is the best. The swampy, sultry sound can take you away. The lyrics are amazing and certain lines stick in my head. Amazing stuff and a far cry from 'Up Against the Wall Redneck Mothers' although I like that too.

Middle-of-the-night music, fuel for bonfires, dice, and showdowns
Ray Wylie Hubbard's "Snake Farm" is one evil, growling monster of a record, a finely focused muscular effort that effuses grit, malice, and funk. The sound ripples with thick, raw grooves that compliment the subject matter: the devil, women, redemption and damnation, hexes, and guitars. Clearly, this stuff is middle-of-the-night music, fuel for bonfires, dice, and showdowns.
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Subjects:  1. Americana    2. Country-Rock    3. Folk    4. Folk & Traditional    5. Outlaw Country    6. Pop    7. Rock & Roll    8. Singer/Songwriter    9. Swamp Blues    10. Texas Blues   

Editorial Review

The word "confessional" is frequently applied to folk of all stripes, including folk-rock and folk-pop, which is where Jewel comes in. Even within the bounds of folk, however, her music is more nakedly confessional than most. (Too nakedly, some have carped.) Along with a coterie of Nashville pros, she began her latest musical journey by laying down another introspective song cycle in the vein of 1995's Read more

Features

• Enhanced

Reviews (92)

"Another Gem from Jewel !"
Another Gem from Jewel!
&Dreaming is a Good Thing Cause it Brings New Things to Life

A Turning Point in Jewel's Career
I have had a long musical relationship with Jewel.I feel like she's been a part of my life forever.That's not the reality, but it is true that she is very much responsible for getting me into music.I'm a college student now and music is a huge part of my life.Everything from the Beatles to the Clash to Tori Amos is beautiful and timeless to my ears and I will continue to nurse my addiction to CDs for the rest of my life.None of this would be true if it weren't for Jewel.
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Subjects:  1. Adult Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Pop    3. Rock    4. Rock/Pop    5. Singer/Songwriter    6. United States of America   

Editorial Review

There's the requisite number of gorgeously melodic and deeply heartfelt songs here--the addictive "Sweet Surrender," the Hollywood-style ballad "I Love You," the sad, profound "Angel," the flat-out spectacular "Witness." McLachlan's not prolific, but this short, bittersweet album proves again that what she and producer Pierre Marchand do release is cut from the finest of cloth.Read more

Features

• Enhanced

Reviews (589)

One of the greatest albums, ever.
OK people, I'm very, very versed in a many different genres of music, and frankly I'm not generally not into "coffee house music" or "VH1-style songwriters". My favourite modern records are not anything like one another except that almost every one is not known by the masses. "Surfacing" is certainly the most "commercial" of all my favourite records that have been released in the last 10 years. surfacing-sarah mclachlan
This is an album which I had on tape. No more tape players in cars these days, so I replaced it with a cd. The service was very good, prompt, well packaged and in Australia within two weeks. A great album.

1 Brilliant Song
There are pretty much only two things I can say for this album. One is that Sarah has a pretty voice. The other is that Adia is an absolutely brilliant song. It's the only track I really like, and indeed the only Sarah McLachlan song I really like. It is just so beautiful, one of my all-time favorite songs. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adult Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Alternative Pop/Rock    3. Pop    4. Popular Music    5. Rock    6. Rock/Pop    7. Singer/Songwriter   

Reviews (9)

ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!!!
The 13th Hour, along with all of MIDNIGHT SYDICATE's cd's are definately worth the purchase! Anyone that actually has listened to this cd knows that it's awesome! Disappointing or even falling flat definately not! ED AND GAVIN god bless you,and everyone involved in creating the greatest music now and for years to come. congrats!!!!

The Romantic Period Is Not Resting in Peace
I got this for Christmas, and I love it.In addition to what many others here have said, it's a dreamlike (sometimes nightmarish) rendition of a tour of a haunted Victorian mansion.It is mostly done with what sounds like classically trained musicians using the most modern of instruments, creating the effect of the Romantic period invading our modern world.

An Eerie Treat for the Imagination
The name Midnight Syndicate has become synonymous with incredible creepy, haunting, atmospheric soundscapes, and for good reason. Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka have a highly noteworthy ability to combine ominously elegant sound effects and eerie, ethereal orchestrations into a memorable melange that is most certainly a treat for the ears and the imagination.
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Subjects:  1. Electronic    2. Goth Rock    3. Miscellaneous    4. Soundtracks    5. The ultimate Halloween soundtrack blending Midnight Syndicate's signature gothic orchestration, 80's-influenced horror movie music and chilling sound effects that draw you into the halls of a haunted Victorian mansion with a sinister history.   

Editorial Review

One can't listen to Muse without hearing Read more

Reviews (295)

by far the best rock album of 2004
like i said above by far the most unique, original, amazing rock album of 2004.

I am not a child so do not disregard it just because it says i am
Ha. These reviews make me laugh at the stupidity of what is becoming of people nowadays. Most people disregard this music and say it is in imitation of radiohead. and of course, that supposively is horrible. I enjoy Radiohead, but they are not nearly as great as they are made out to be. Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Guns 'n' Roses, Iron Maiden, and the Who, are probably the most overrated bands of all time. They seriously arent that great. Muse and Radiohead have a lot of similarities, but muse just isnt as flat-out boring as Radiohead is. In fact, I believe that any person who thinks Radiohead is the God they are made out to be is just following a trend. Do not listen to the reviews that insult Absolution because of Radiohead. I would pick muse over radiohead anyday. Muse is actually exciting instead of bedtime music. I can not pick out the better songs, because they are all amazing in their own way. However, my most listened to songs on the cd are time is running out, hysteria, stockholm syndrome, sing for absolution, falling away with you, and apocalypse please. Definantly worth checking out, as any of their cds are. and for those who like radiohead more, fine, go listen to radiohead.

Muse makes me hopeful for the future of rock
I received a copy of "Absolution" about two years ago for my birthday (thanks, Cliff) and I immediately liked it.However, as I was listening to it a few weeks ago I had an experience that I had not had in quite awhile: a familiar but long dormant "click".Not only did I like the album, I spontaneously "got" it.Excited by this new perception, I fed my curiosity with a YouTube session that confirmed my suspicions: Muse is a brilliant band that distills some of the most artistic music of the `90s and combines it with long-standing rock traditions to formulate a distinctive 2K "electric" rock sound.
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Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Neo-Prog    3. Pop    4. Rock    5. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

The fifth proper album by the Chicago-based roots-loving group is their slowest, weirdest, and best. Some of these hazy songs are pretty little pop jams, while others are more experimental things stitched together haphazardly, all the wires showing. If you want to hear a group that "pushes the envelope" while never forgoing the pleasure principle, Califone is exactly that. It's so nice to hear people who could so easily form a (really good) jam band forego such lucrative tendencies for more foreign, complex, and subtle pleasures. "Black Metal Valentine" and "A Chinese Actor" are stitched-together Read more

Reviews (2)

fresh and old califone
this a very good collection of songs that have elements from every type of califone album.While I dont think it is their best ever..its a lot better then HKB.This album is an excellent sampler to califone. I like all their styles so I am happy with it, hasn't left my car cd player since i got it. The 3rd listen is when the beauty really emerges. go get it! viva la 'fone!

Another amazing album from an amazing band...
If you have enjoyed previous Califone albums you will enjoy this one as well.No need to review this, it is a perfect album.Go buy it now! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Pop    2. Rock    3. Rock/Pop   

Features

• Original recording remastered

Reviews (3)

If It's Not Broke
I love the record. But was really disappointed in the remastering.
Hey, where's IN THE STICKS??
First off, I need to say something about the impact that this album has had on the course of popular rock music, both at the time, and still today. From the moment the PRETENDERS first album came out, it was hailed by critics and fans as an immediate rock and roll classic. Perhaps because of the various styles each song explored, while still having a unique sound as a band, you could tell right off, that this was not going to be a gimic band that would come out with a couple of albums and disappear. With talented musicians, the intellegent lyrics tinged with eastern spirituality, and the post punk energy matched up with cutting edge new wave sound production, this band had it all. One song is reggae (PRIVATE LIFE DRUMMER), one song has jazzy, avant guarde time changes thruout the song (TATTOOED LOVE BOYS), you have beautiful ballads (LOVERS OF TODAY) next to high energy punk (PRECIOUS), top fourty BRASS IN POCKET pop perfection, and just a general sense of COOLNESS that vibrates all thru this record. One can tell a good album, because it transcends its time, and whatever the current sound might be, to reach back in music history, and grab parts of all that came before, while still breaking enough new ground, to point towards future possiblities. PRETENDERS did that. So, the real question is, you have the CD already, maybe the LP as well, so do you fork over up to 25$ for a new copy?
Great album X 2
As it was, Pretenders stood as a bona fide classic. The original CD issue wasn't too bad in terms of sound, but this remastered version restores some vocal subtleties that were missing on the old disc. More importantly, there's a second disc containing sixteen rarities -- demos, unreleased songs, and live tracks. Most fans will agree that the original Pretenders lineup was the best, so having more songs to treasure from that version of the group is something to celebrate. The songs on disc two aren't essential, but many of them (like "Cuban Slide" and "Swinging London") are fun, and the demos give an idea of how the songs on the proper album evolved. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Hard Rock    2. New Wave    3. Pop    4. Pop/Rock    5. Rock    6. Rock/Pop   

Features

• Explicit Lyrics

Reviews (25)

best album I've purchase in 2006
This album is AWESOME....This is one of the few cd's where I can listen to every track on the album...I love every song on the album....If you don't have this album, you must get it.....If you don't like ROCK, you will, after listening to this album....This is a must have.....TWO THUMBS UP...

Best work yet
Personally my favorite Papa Roach album. The songs on this album are emotionally charged and make you move. ..To be Loved, Alive, I Devise my Own Demise, and Crash make you move while My Heart is a Fist, Roses on My Grave, and Time is Running Out aremore emotional. My favorite on the album is Roses on my Grave with it's mix of orchestra music and intensity. I can't listen to this CD without singing along with everything I have.

2nd best record
I think it contains to much slow songs , I like the first 4 energized songs but the rest of them I get tired of listening to them for a while. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative Metal    2. Hard Rock    3. Pop    4. Rock    5. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

It's all about the power chord and the sing-along chorus. With the exception of the stark title track, Christopher Carrabba's once-prominent acoustic strumming is now in short supply. Along with Scott Schoenbeck, John Lefler, and Mike Marsh, the Dashboard Confessional mastermind cranks it all up on his fourth full-length: the guitars, vocals, drums, the works. Consequently, some listeners have been tossing around the letter "U" and the numeral "2." It's a bit of a stretch, although the album Read more

Reviews (52)

Lifelong Fans will be a little dissapointed
Let me start this review by saying that i have been a hardcore dashboard fan for over 6 years back when it was just Chris and his guitar. I have always loved dashboard, and even when A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar came out i was still very impressed. This album however fell short of the normal Dashboard glory.
<3
I waited all summer for this cd and it was worth it. This, alongside the soon to be released Sam's Town, will probably be my favourite albums this year. The only song I initially disliked was Slow Decay, but I looked at the lyrics and now I love it. It just sort of scared me at first, because it is so different than any other DC song.