Review: The Who - Tommy:

Upon first listen its everything I expected and a little more. I had seen the film about 10 years ago, but didn't pay attention to the music. It was helpful because as the music played I could visualize the story. I don't know that it's an album I'm going to pop in every week, but rather will have to "be in the mood" for it.

Stream clips (and a few full songs)

Purchase for $12.65

Review: The Who - The Who Sell Out:

Upon first listen I really like a lot of these songs and can even get over the 'commercials', but 23 is a lot of 3 minute pop songs, if you catch my meaning.

Stream about half the album and clips of the rest

Purchase for $5.92

Review: The Who - A Quick One:

Upon first listen it's evident why no one mentions this album when discussing the greatness of The Who.

Stream most of the album

Purchase for $8.95

Review: The Who - The Who Sings My Generation:

Upon first listen it sounds like quite the Beatles or Stones rip off, but I know better things are to come. It's almost like cheating.

Stream some clips and some full songs

Purchase for $7.54

Review: Verse - Rebuild:

Upon first listen I wonder where I've been. I'm usually up on the kings of hardcore (Mental, et al), but this band managed to pass me by. I recently attended (few months at this point) a Bane show where Verse shirts easily outnumbered every other band (possibly combined). I know I had to follow the lemmings and check it out, I just didn't expect it to deliver so well.

Stream Tear Down These Walls and a couple of tracks from their new album due August 1

Download Tear Down These Walls and What This Means

Purchase for $8.27

Review: Under Byen - Samme Stof Som Stof:

Upon first listen I feel like I fell into a trap. An innocent post over at Stereogum was raving about this Danish band and even linked to a few songs. After quickly skimming through a few I tracked down the release. But it's just as boring as virtually every other post-rockish album out there.

Stream Af Samme Stof Som Stof, Den Her Sang Handle and Pilot

Import for $19.95

Review: Beach Boys - Pet Sounds:

Upon first listen it's a rare record in the fact that it seems to live up to its historical hype without the usual nostalgia that seems to go with it. I admit, this is the first time I have ever listened to Pet Sounds and the first time I have ever heard most of these songs. But I have come away a bigger convert of Brian Wilson than I was prior. This is certainly the best pop album I have ever heard and it's obvious it has influenced thousands of bands since its release 40 years ago.

Stream the original version is both mono and stereo

Check out the Pet Blog, which is celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Pet Sounds with a series of Podcasts.

Review: Supersystem - A Million Microphones:

Upon first listen if this guy had a weird or annoying voice, every blog would love it. But because he's got a fairly normal voice, I'll be in the minority of those who absolutely love this album.

Download White Light

Purchase for $10.47

Review: Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates of Dawn:

Upon first listen it's not as cohesive as the rest of the Floyd catalog, but that's to be expected from a debut. It's also a bit more out there, again to be expected via the presence of Syd Barrett. Still, I can see why it (and he) has its fans, but when comparing it to Dark Side, Animals, The Wall, Wish You Were Here it just pales.

Stream the entire album

Purchase for $9.95

Review: Tom Petty - Highway Companion:

Upon first listen it seems like Mr. Petty is attempting at rewriting some history, as there are several classic anthems on this disc worthy of addition to his greatest hits collection.

Stream the entire album

Purchase for $9.72

Review: Muse - Black Holes and Revelations:

Upon first listen this disc is hit or miss. They hit when they're just ripping off Radiohead, but miss when they try and stray from the proven formula.

Stream the entire album

Purchase for $9.72

Idlewild

New album by OutKast (kinda) has leaked.

Review: Jurassic 5 - Feedback:

Upon first listen this disc perpetuates the stereotype that almost every hip-hop/rap album has 3 good tracks, but is unlikely to have more. On said 3 tracks, they attain an almost Kool and the Gang-styled sound, which is old school, yet modern. The rest of the tracks are straight out of "Hip-Hop for the MTV Crowd" school of thought.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $7.99

Review: Guns Up! - Outlive:

Upon first listen this hardcore band has a nice blend of sing along lyrics and excrutiatingly brutal breakdowns. It takes a lot to impress me when it comes to hardcore and punk as they are both such monotonous genres, but this band did a fairly solid job.

Stream Outlive and You Break

Purchase for $8.49

Review: Guillemots - Through The Windowpane:

Upon first listen lead singer Frfe Dangerfield has a very interesting approach to delivering his lines as they're almost a half step slower than the rest of the song. It works sometimes and doesn't sometimes, but in the end I really liked this record. It's simple, understated and unique.

Stream Madeup Lovesong #43 (as well as a few other non-album tracks)

Purchase for $15.95

Review: Golden Smog - Another Fine Day:

Upon first listen this record is a pretty fun and casual listen. It's not going to become your favorite (or mine) of the year, but this alt-country supergroup of sorts just gets in the studio and has some fun.

Stream the entire album

Purchase for $9.49

Review: French Kicks - Two Thousand:

Upon first listen it wrapped me up, forced me to listen to it and made me feel all warm and fuzzy. The production is a breath of fresh air as it sounds polished, but not overdone. The musicianship is talented and tight, not not to the point of monotony. It's one of those records that could fall apart at any time, but manages to stay together, benefiting the listener. Oh, and I didn't like their previous LPs or EPs.

Download So Far We Are

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $9.78

Review: Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst:

Upon first listen there are 20 songs on this album and only 4 or even possibly 5 are worth a damn. Even with Dan the Automator behind the board it still fails to hold my attention. Perhaps it was revolutionary as some have claimed, but ten years on it sounds stale.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $9.99

Review: Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most/So Impossible EP:

Upon first listen Mr. Confessional manages to maintain his uber-emoness while still finding room to mature his trademark sound. Specifically, the eventually-reinvented Hands Down off of the EP which is leaps above the rest of his body of work.

Stream The Places' entire album

Stream the So Impossible EP

Purchase The Places for $9.90

Purchase So Impossible for #3.41

Review: Dashboard Confessional - Swiss Army Romance/The Drowning EP:

Upon first listen it becomes apparent just how emotionally persuasive a man and his guitar can be. It's also apparent that I'm late to what could have been a really fun party.

Stream Swiss Army Romance

Purchase Swiss Army Romance for $7.76

Purchase Drowning EP for $8.00 (currently out of stock/out of print)

Review: Coheed and Cambria - Kerrang!/XFM UK Acoustic Session:

Upon first listen it's evident that some of their work succeeds in an acoustic setting, but others, such as the originally-bombastic Welcome Home leave a little more to be desired. Still, it succeeds as a whole, giving you a brand new way to listen to their songs.

Available only on iTunes (for now)

Review: M. Ward - Post-War:

Upon first listen it seems as though it's more of a collection of songs than a cohesive album, which is a bit of a change for M(r). Ward. Still, if you like him, you'll like this, just maybe not as much.

Download To Go Home

Purchase for $9.99

Review: Stella (US) - American Weekend:

Upon first listen it's more atmospheric pop/rock that doesn't do much to separate itself from the already crowded genre.

Stream the entire album

Download NYC

Download Nashville

Download Breakdown

Download New Age Special

Purchase for $15.00