Review: Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene

Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene: It's less instantly accessible than You Forgot It In People, but it's far more rewarding, with it's slightly-buried vocals and nearly-flawless production.

Download 7/4 Shoreline via Cloak and Dagger

Purchase for $10.19 (it used to be called that)

Review: Kanye West - Late Registration

Kanye West - Late Registration: Didn't wait for the hype to die down on this one and it suffers for it. The message is better and more thought out, but the production lacks more than Dropout and the delivery is under, well, delivered.

Stream Diamonds From Sierra Leone and Gold Digger

Purchase for $10.49

Review: Kanye West - The College Dropout

Kanye West - The College Dropout: Sometimes, it's good to let the hype of an album to die down before you end up listening to it. In spite of this, Kanye West delivers on most of the hype. There are obviously some tracks that fail in all regards and the skits are lame, as most rap skits are, but it still manages to deliver.

Stream about half the album

Purchase for $10.99

Review: Elbow - Leaders of the Free World

Elbow - Leaders of the Free World: Falling somewhere between the excellent Asleep in the Back and the decent Cast of Thousands. The problem with the this and the previous album is it's monotonous delivery. All the songs run together. Not to say it's bad, but it makes better background music than anything else.

Stream an acoustic version of the title track

Purchase for $11.85

Review: Various - Listen To Bob Dylan (Because He's Cool)

Various - Listen to Bob Dylan (Because He's Cool): You should in fact listen to Bob Dylan, because he is cool. But you should not listen to this tribute, because it is not. Bob Dylan is a very tough man to cover and few of these artists do an adequate job.

Stream the majority of the album

Purchase for $11.69

Review: Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft

Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft: Solid, if unspectacular, indie-pop that's a bit pyschadelic and a bit forgettable.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $9.99

Review: The Spill Canvas - One Fell Swoop

The Spill Canvas - One Fell Swoop: Despite their sometimes-sophmoric lyrics, this is not only one of the best comtemporarily 'emo' albums released in a long time, but also one of the best albums released this year.

Stream the vast majority of the entire album
Purchase for $10.89

Review: Skeletons and the Girl-Faced Boys - Git

Skeletons and the Girl-Faced Boys - Git: Uncompelling, electronic music with emotionally distant vocals.

Stream See The Way, Git and These Are Seagulls Who Live In Parking Lots
Download Git
Purchase for $13.00

Review: Shook Ones - Sixteen

Shook Ones - Sixteen: Ever wonder what Kid Dynamite would have sounded like had they been harder and less melodic? Neither had I. Until now.

Download Please Read

Purchase for $11.00

Review: Harvey Danger - Little By Little

Harvey Danger - Little By Little: Some of the finest guilt-free power-pop released in recent memory.

Download the entire album (torrent) in either mp3 or ogg (!)

Purchase the album in a variety of packages (Album, shirt, buttons, sticker for $24) (Album, buttons, sticker for $14) (Album and sticker for $12)

Review: Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star 4: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness, Vol. 1

Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star 4: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness, Vol. 1: I had the review all written in the event this CD was as good as it could be. That review will not be seen at this time.

Stream Welcome Home and The Suffering

Purchase for $11.98 (or $16.98 and get a shirt)

Purchase the Graphic Novel for $20.00 or the Novel and the CD for $25

Review: Leaves - The Angela Test

Leaves - The Angela Test: I fell like it?s 2002 again with all of these Britpop bands (Elbow, Coldplay, Leaves, Doves). And while the others listed turned in disappointing follow ups, Leaves has turned in the best. It's not spectacular, but it's not bad, nor (as is the case with the others) worse than the album proceeding it. If anything, they maintain what they had in Breathe.

Stream the entire album

Hold off on buying it until it's released in the States (unless you like paying import prices)

Review: Deahtray - Deathray

Deathray - Deathray: Cheesy, cheesy pop that sounds so fake.

Download Only Lies, 10:15 and Legionnaires In Doubt

Stream two minutes of My Lunatic Friends, Legionnairs In Doubt, Now That I Am Blind, Scott and This Time

Purchase for $10.97

Review: The Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir

The Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir: I like albums that tell a story. This is such an album. The problem is, it's a story with music in the background. There's a man (talking from the perspective of a woman) literally telling the story for much of the album. There are parts sung in the traditional manner, but even those parts sound like poor imitations of the Fiery Furnaces.

Download Seven Silver Curses

Purchase for $15.99 (get a limited edition 12" with purchase) (Code furnace15 will get you 15% off before October 8th)

Review: The Ramones - Weird Tales of the Ramones

The Ramoes - Weird Tales of the Ramones: There's only so much Ramones one man can take. And this three-disc set certainly pushed by the 34th (and final) track on Disc 1. It's great to have these songs, but I think I'll just make a nice 12-14 song Best Of myself (even if it means it's only 22 minutes).

Stream six tracks from the set

Purchase for $47.70

Review: Murphy's Law - Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law - Murphy's Law: I'd rather just listen to Black Flag.  
Stream Shut Up and What Will The Neighbors Think? 
Purchase on eBay

Review: Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill Acoustic

Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill Acoustic: It just changes the songs too much. They were such angry, impassioned songs that now lack the ability to stand on their own two legs. She should have performed them a la Dashboard Confessional in order to maintain the passion and emotion.

Stream Hand In My Pocket

Purchase for $11.03

Review: Mewithoutyou - Catch For Us The Foxes

Mewithoutyou – Catch For Us The Foxes: A great ‘punk’ album. Certainly influenced by the likes of Nirvana and Fugazi, but it’s got undertones that spread as far as Slint and the pAper chase. Solid effort that will receive repeat listens.

Stream Paper Hanger and January 1979

Purchase for $10.48

Review: Dredg - Catch Without Arms

Dredg - Catch Without Arms: With a pretty cool name, I was expecting better. What I got was 'woe is me' lyrics sung by a voice that has too much faux dramaticism and production that is helped too much by Pro Tools.

Stream Bug Eyes

Purchase for $7.54

Review: Doves x2

Doves - Lost Souls: Spacier and airier (is that a word?) than The Last Broadcast. Makes for an unfocused listen.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $10.35

Doves - Some Cities: Just going through the motions.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $11.03

Review: DangerDoom - The Mouse and the Mask

DangerDoom - The Mouse and the Mask: Any time MF Doom raps, it's going to be good. Danger Mouse has some good production skills and he is name dropped all over. Together, they make one of the best rap releases this year. Made even better if you like Adult Swim (which I don't and could have done without the skits).

Download Mice Meat

Album not out until October 11th and is not available for purchase yet

Review: Blood Brothers - Crimes

Blood Brothers - Crimes: The guy's got an annoying voice, but I can get used to that (and I did over the course of the CD). The production is a little slick. I remember listening to one of their earlier albums a while back, and never revisiting. While this one may fare the same fate, it's not because it's bad, but because it fails to be really good.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $10.00

Review: Against Me! - Searching For A Former Clarity

Against Me! - Searching For A Former Clarity: I'm searching for some clarity. After releasing a stupendous series of EPs, a tremendous LP and a pretty good LP, we get a horrendous LP. It's barely listenable, and certainly not tolerable. While the last LP grew on me, I don't forsee the same results. Not melodic, not catchy, not fun, no good.

Download Don't Lose Touch

Download Problems

Purchase for $9.79

Review: Bob Dylan x2

Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack: While it's great to have these versions of songs and in such good fidelity, I'd rather have the complete recording sessions. Still, this will find lots of play in my already large Bob Dylan collection.

Purchase for $17.88

Bob Dylan - Live at the Gaslight 1962: The first purchase I have EVER made at Starbucks was this CD and a Pear Izze. Again, I'd rather the complete Gaslight tapes, but the fidelity is excellent. Only three originals detracts slightly.

Purchase for whatever your local Starbucks is charging

Review: Frantic Mantis - Data Is Not Information

Frantic Mantis - Data Is Not Information: The problem with bands like this, is they neglect to make a lasting impact on the listener.

Stream Mantis Rising, Creationg Sickness and OOCD

Purchase for $8.39

Review: Sigur Ros - Takk

Sigur Ros - Takk: The highs are so high, so grandiose, so magnificent. The lows aren't quite low, just pale in comparison, making for an uneven album.

Stream the entire album

Purchase for $10.23

Review: Pink Floyd - The Wall

Pink Floyd - The Wall: Most of the songs are works of genius, but it just doesn't flow as an album as much as Dark Side, Animals and even Wish You Were Here (which I didn't enjoy). Still, it's Pink Floyd.

Stream clips of the entire album

Purchase for $19.95

Review: Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt

Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt: So fucking good.

Stream Panda and Du E För Fin För Mig

Download Panda

Purchase for $14.98 (worth every penny)

Review: Underdog - Vanishing Point

Underdog - Vanishing Point: Reggae sucks. Thus, mixing it with hardcore taints the hardcore. Still, reggae aside, it's not as good as other bands from the era.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $11.98 (backordered since 03.13.05)

Review: 86 Mentality - 86 Mentality/On The Loose

86 Mentality - 86 Mentality/On The Loose: Almost 20 years later, it sounds like it was from 1986. This is a good thing if you like '86 style hardcore.

Stream Chemical Threat

Purchase 86 Mentality for $5.25

Purchase On The Loose for $5.00 (both are currently out of stock)

Review: Clor - Clor

Clor - Clor: Rather abrasive and far too synthesizer-heavy. Wouldn't have surprised me if I found out Trent Reznor had produced this pop album.

Stream the video for Love + Pain

Purchase for $15.95

Review: Bold - The Search: 1985-1989

Bold - The Search: 1985-1989: It's cool to have all their songs on one CD, but the Speak Out tracks stand out and I could probably do with only those. And maybe the Crippled Youth songs, which are a cool novelty.

Stream a clip of Running Like Thieves

Purchase for $11.00

Review: Tim Hardin - 1/2

Tim Hardin - 1/2: Never heard of Tim Hardin. He's another lost singer-songwriter from the '60s and '70s. Mostly forgettable, but a few good songs. Black Sheep Boy is excellent and easily his best song.

Stream clips from his greatest hits

Purchase for whatever the highest bid is

Review: Thunderbirds Are Now! - Justamustache

Thunderbirds Are Now! - Justamustache: Eh. Something just didn't resonate. It's decent, but there are better bands doing the same thing.

Stream From: Skulls and Eat This City

Purchase for $10.75

Review: Swing Kids - Discography

Swing Kids - Discography: Excellent screamo band that's not as anthemic as I Hate Myself, but not cheesy like the current crop.

Stream El Camino Car Crash (click on Jukebox in the bottom left, scroll down to Swing Kids)

Purchase for $13.00

Review: Some Girls - The DNA Will Have Its Say

Some Girls - The DNA Will Have Its Say: Much more raw and agressive than their last effort, but still not compelling enough.

Stream I Need Drugs and A Sick Cult

Purchase for $7.00

Review: Beanie Sigel - The B. Coming

Beanie Sigel - The B. Coming: If hip-hop had more MCs like this in the mainstream, it would be taken much more seriously.

Stream Wanted (On The Run)

Stream clips from the rest of the album

Purchase for $9.99

Review: Pink Floyd - Animals

Pink Floyd - Animals: Cementing my opinion as one of the best bands ever (though I believe Wish You Were Here to be a tad overrated).

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $9.88

Review: One.Be.Lo - S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M.

One.Be.Lo - S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M.: The production is a little weak, but that's overcome by his skill.

Stream clips from about half the album

Purchase for $10.26

Review: New Buffalo - Last Beautiful Day

New Buffalo - Last Beautiful Day: It was just getting stale when it ended. Because it was only stale for about one song, it's a really good slowcore album.

Stream the entire album

Purchase for $14.98

Review: Kano - Home Sweet Home

Kano - Home Sweet Home: A solid MC a little off the beaten path of hip-hop, but not far enough to be called avant-garde.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $19.96 (import, so wait till it gets released locally)

Review: Indian Summer - Discography

Indian Summer - Discography: Not as anthemic as I Hate Myself, but artier, so it works out. If you like good, quality screamo such as the aforementioned artist, check them out.

Download the entire album

Review: Heroin - Discography

Heroin - Discography: Less intensity and talent than Converge, but more tolerable.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $10.00

Review: Evergreen Terrace - Sincerity Is An Easy Disguise In This Business

Evergreen Terrace - Sincerity Is An Easy Disguise In This Business: Awesome at its more metallic, lame at its more melodic.

Stream clips from the entire album

Download New Friend Request

Purchase physically for $11.00 or digitally for $9.99

Review: Chiodos - All's Well That Ends Well

Chiodos - All's Well That Ends Well: Excited about this band after their EVR signing and the demo tracks I heard. Too bad they decided to change their sound from original to carbon copy.

One Day Women Will Become Monsters

Purchase for $10.00

Review: Bucket Full of Teeth - I, II and III

Bucket Full of Teeth - I, II and III: Dark, heavy, dense and sparse. Really, really cool band doing some good things. There's better, but not by much.

Download Selective Amnesia/These Frequencies Are Ours (not a clip, Selective Amnesia is 0:15 and the latter is 0:33 long)

Download Empy Dreams/Empty Face (same deal as above)

Download Basic Delusions/11302 (and again)

It's out of print, try eBay

Review: Magneta Lane - The Constant Lover

Magneta Lane - The Constant Lover: Very annoying female-fronted pop-rock band.

Stream The Constant Lover and Ugly Socialite

Purchase for $11.00 (Canadian)

Review: Diamond Nights - Once We Were Diamond

Diamond Nights - Once We Were Diamonds: A little gimmicky, but it succeeds. I don't know that it would do so if it were a full length, but as an EP, I'm impressed.

Download Destination Diamonds

Purchase for $3.90

Review: Kimya Dawson - Hidden Vagenda

Kimya Dawson - Hidden Vagenda: A little repetitious, but decent. Rilo Kiley does it better.

Stream Lullaby for the Taken

Purchase for $10.99

Review: The Lucksmiths - Warmer Corners

The Lucksmiths - Warmer Corners: Really good indie-pop. Didn't realize this band's been around forever, now I need to check out some of their back catalog.

Download A Hiccup In Your Happiness

Purchase for $10.00

Review: The Orange Peels - Circling The Sun

The Orange Peels - Circling The Sun: 'Safe' is how I would describe their brand of indie pop/rock, never seeming to be daring enough to venture anywhere near the sun.

Download Something In You (wma)

Download Long Cold Summer (wma)

Purchase for $10.00

Review: Assfactor 4 - Discography

Assfactor 4 - Discography: Missing what many consider their better album, but consisting of just about everything else, I figured this would be a great way to try and get into the band. And while that may be true for those who like chaotic screamo and songs that sound like the previous one, it didn't work out so well for me.

Purchase their two LPs for $6.99 total

Review: Various - Now That's What I Call Indie Covers! Volume 1

Various - Now That's What I Call Indie Covers! Volume 1: Excellent idea. Wish they were studio versions as some of the live recordings are very poor in the quality department.

Download the entire album

Internet-only compilation. Not for sale.

Review: The Forecast - Late Night Conversations

The Forecast - Late Night Conversations: Whiny boy/girl emo. The latter of which 'sounds like a smurf'.

Stream These Lights and Fade In, Fade Out

Stream These Lights and Heart Healthy

Stream clips from the entire album

Download These Lights

Purcahse for $8.99

Review: Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll

Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll: All style, no substance.

Download Good Weekend

Purchase for $18.85

Review: Coheed and Cambria - Live at the Starland Ballroom

Coheed and Cambria - Live at the Starland Ballroom: Not the best recorded live album I've heard, but it's sufficient. Most of the songs contain the requisite extra 'crunchiness' from being a live show. In the end, it succeeds because it makes the listener jealous for not being in attendance.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase from Sony for $14.98

Purchase from DeepDiscountDVD for $11.96 (no shipping)

Review: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: This year's 'it' band. And for good reason. While not without its faults, there is huge potential for this band and its future recordings. Arcade Fire meets Bloc Party

Download In This Home On Ice

Download Upon This Tidal Wave In Young Blood

Download Over And Over Again (Lost And Found)

Purchase for $11.99

Review: Cloud Cult - Advice From The Happy Hippopotamus

Cloud Cult - Advice From The Happy Hippopotamus: I have the hardest time reviewing bands like this, because there's no feasible way to judge it accurately on the first listen. There's a lot of promise, but it could easily be redundant. Only further listening will yield a decision. I will say, that rhyming 'hippopotamus' with 'mattress' is pretty lame. Couldn't it have been 'hippo' and 'pillow'?

Download Living On The Outside Of Your Skin

Download Car Crash

Purchase for $14.00

Review: Jason Collett x2

Jason Collett - More Motel Love Songs: Forgettably inconsistent singer-songwriter.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $10.74

Jason Collett - Idols Of Exile: Forgettably more consistent singer-songwriter.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $20.69 (not a typo, it's not released in the States yet and thus this is an import)

Billy Corgan - TheFutureEmbrace

Billy Corgan - TheFutureEmbrace: I had little faith, but it was rather enjoyable. Could have done without the cover and it could have been a touch shorter.

Stream Mina Loy (MOH), All Things Change and TheCameraEye

Purchase for $11.03

Review: Crooked Fingers

Crooked Fingers - Dignity And Shame: Solid singer-songwriter, adult-contemporary type album.

Stream You Must Build A Fire, Twilight Creeps and Sleep All The Summer

Download Dignity And Shame

Purchase for $12.98

Review: The Evens - The Evens

The Evens - The Evens: Post-punk goes acoustic, and no one would care if Mr. Fugazi weren't involved.

Download All These Govenors

Purchase for $7.22

Review: Fall Out Boy - Take This To Your Grave

Fall Out Boy - Take This To Your Grave: New Found Glory meets Saves the Day (first two albums) with an equally annoying voice that takes some getting used to.

Stream either clips or the full songs fromt the entire album (must have Windows) Music & Video -> Discography -> Take This To Your Grave

Purchase for $7.59

Review: Judge - What Was Meant

Judge - What Was Meant (Discography): Not quite a discography, missing two demo tracks available only on vinyl. That aside, I never realized just how heavy they became. If you've heard Judge before, you know if you like it. If you've never heard Judge before, but think you might want to, this is a single disc collection of (virtually) everything they recorded.

Stream a clip of Where It Went

Purchase for $11.00

Review: Longwave - There's A Fire

Longwave - There's A Fire: Mediocre guitar-pop. Nothing special, a few tracks are good.

Download There's A Fire

Purchase for $7.99

Review: Low - The Great Destroyer

Low - The Great Destroyer: New fans will be found, but old fans will still enjoy, for it's their best work yet.

Stream the video for The Monkey

Purchase for $10.12

Review: Mental - Planet Mental

Mental - Planet Mental: Despite the hype, I was expecting just another hardcore record. What I got was a progressive hardcore record that will rival Bane's The Note for Hardcore Album of the Year.

Download Earthlings

Purchase for $9.79

Review: Dressy Bessy - Electrified

Dressy Bessy - Electrified: Despite only reading the headlines concerning the piece NPR did comparing this band to Coldplay, I knew I had to get a hold of their newest album. Next time, I know not to listen to NPR. Not only do they not sound like Coldplay, they are a terrible band. It's like a bad version of The Donnas meets a more annoying version of Sheryl Crow.

Download Side 2

Purchase for $15.98

Review: Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy

Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy: Kind of like a less-weird Beck. Like Beck, some of it works, some of it doesn't.

Download For Real

Download Black

Purchase for $12.00

Review: Archer Prewitt - Wilderness

Archer Prewitt - Wilderness: Chameleonic array of voices and styles. One minute, he sounds like George Harrison, the next, Bob Dylan. Later on, Robert Plant or Burt Bacharach. The entire album, however, feels lonely and barren, but it still manages to succeed.

Stream clips of Leaders, O,KY and Cheap Rhyme

Purchase for $15.50

Review: Say Anything - Say Anything Is A Real Boy

Say Anything - Say Anything Is A Real Boy: Alluring and disturbing. Alluring, because it's a different take on the Agressive Emo formula, but disturbing in it's inability to be a quality effort. The vocal harmonies are cool, but get tiresome. Still, A for effort.

Stream Belt, Woe, Alive With The Glory Of Love and Slowly, Through A Vector

Purchase for $12.00

Review: Sufjan Stevens - Come On, Feel The Illinoise

Sufjan Stevens - Come On, Feel the Illinoise: Progressive. Folky. Whimsical. Good. All words to describe this album. While listening, I kept asking myself when I never revisited Michigan or Seven Swans. Surely, there's a reason, but one that has thus far escaped me.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $11.03

Review: World Leader Prented - Punches

World Leader Pretend - Punches: Initially brought to my attention as a cross between REM and Radiohead. After listening, I'm not sure I wouldn't have come to the same conclusion.

Stream Bang Theory, Punches and Tit For Tat

Purchase for $10.26

Review: Blind Willie McTell - Complete Recorded Works, Volumes 1-3, 1927-1931, 1931-1933 and 1933-1935, respectively

Blind Willie McTell - Complete Recorded Works, Volumes 1-3, 1927-1931, 1931-1933 and 1933-1935, respectively: More like 1930s pop than blues (though it's unmistakably bluesy), it wasn't what I expected. Nor is it something I plan to listen to, but it is something I plan to reference.

Stream clips from Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3

Purchase Volume 2 and Volumes 1 and 3

Review: The Beatles - Revolved

The Beatles - Revolved: Another classic album butchered for the sake of being trendy. No more mash-ups please. And, no, I won't be downloading any more either.

Download the entire album (torrent)

This item is a bootleg and has not been mass produced. So, if you want to buy a copy, go buy The Beatles Revolver and all of the other albums which contain the songs found here. Then, download the torrent, burn a copy and you can feel good about yourself for not supporting piracy.

Review: Alfie - If You Happy With, You Need Do Nothing

Alfie - If You Happy With, You Need Do Nothing: Trying to rip off all the great British bands (Radiohead, Coldplay, Doves, Elbow) is one way to get you noticed, but no guarantee to make you good.

Stream the album in its entirety

Purchase for $12.52

Review: The Mosquitos - Sunshine Barato

The Mosquitos - Sunshine Barato: Beach music that quickly wears thin.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $11.03

Review: Moonbabies - The Orange Billboard

Moonbaies - The Orange Billboard: Better than June And Novas, but still not something that resonates.

Stream Sun AM

Purchase for $11.03

Review: Kenna - New Sacred Cow

Kenna - New Sacred Cow: One of the albums that starts off as a cool concept, but gets very tiresome.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $8.79

Review: Jeniferever - Chronicles Of Omega/Iris

Jeniferever - Chronicles Of Omega/Iris: Marring beautiful instrumentation with such poorly delivered vocals is a crime.

Download You Only Move Twice

Download For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky

Purchase Iris for $9.70

Chronicles of Omega is no longer for sale, but you can try eBay

Review: Various - Lost In Translation Soundtrack

Various - Lost In Translation: Various layers and textures make for a damn good album on its own. Add that to the fact that the movie is awesome, and you've got a complete package.

Stream a bit of the album from the movie's official website

Purchase for $11.03

Review: Simply Waiting - Cutting Ties

Simply Waiting - Cutting Ties: Acoustic emo that fails to have any of the passion or intensity a Chris Carrabba conveys.

Stream most of the album (as well as a few tracks from other releases)

Purchase for $6.00

Review: Yesterday's New Quintet - Angles Without Edges

Yesterday's New Quintet - Angles Without Edges: I never thought I'd like an album with only beats, but here I am, really liking an album with only beats. Of course, it's fitting that all of the beats are jazz-based.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $13.03

Review: Wire x2

Wire - Pink Flag: Saw their name come up simultaneously and a few messageboards and blogs, so I decided to investigate. While it's good, it's nothing not explored by Mission Of Burma.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $10.99

Wire - Chairs Missing: Slightly more angular than their previous album, but still nothing spectacular.

Stream clips from the entire album

Purchase for $10.99

Review: Radiohead - Kid A

Radiohead - Kid A: It took me 6 years to like OK Computer (and 6 days to love it). I suspect that it will take at least 12 years for me to like this less-accessible album.

Stream/Download Everything In It's Right Place

Purchase for $12.88

Review: David Pajo - Pajo

David Pajo - Pajo: With the reformation of Slint, is this even worth the listen? Well, I decided to find out. While I've listened to two of his other albums (under the 'guise' of the M moniker), I didn't enjoy them. This is better, just not something worthwhile. When's Slint gonna hit the studio?

Stream the video for High Lonesome Moan

Purchase for $12.00

Review: MF Doom Is Viktor Vaughn - Vaudeville Villain

MF Doom Is Viktor Vaughn - Vaudeville Villain: Extremely compelling, hook-free hip-hop. It's about as good as rap can be.

Stream clips of four tracks

Purchase for $14.00

Review: The Explosion - Black Tape

The Explosion - Black Tape: I wasn't expecting perfection after releasing what I consider to be a seminal punk albums. I was expecting something good if not really good. What I got was crap. C-R-A-P Oh, and the 'cover' of No Revolution (their own song) is a pitiful and ineffective way to retain the audience you so carefully chose to leave behind.

Stream I Know (as well as other songs from previous releases)

Purchase for $9.03

Review: Dropkick Murphys x2

Dropkick Murphys - Singles Collection, Vol. 2: Had forgotten that they could still write a damn fine tune. Doesn't work as an album, but it's a nice collection of rarities that would otherwise be difficult to obtain.

Stream Pipebomb On Landsdowne (Dance Remix)

Purchase for $11.03

Dropkick Murphys - The Warrior's Code: Leaps and bounds better than their last outing, but they couldn't have gone much further down. Falls somewhere between The Gang's All Here and Sing Loud, Sing Proud.

Stream The Auld Triangle

Purchase for $9.72

Review: Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Please Describe Yourself

Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Please Describe Yourself: I tried so hard, but I couldn't get past the guy's voice.

Stream Lounger (click on Media->Audio)

Purchase for $8.44

Review: The Dead 60s - The Dead 60s

The Dead 60s - The Dead 60s: The only relation this band has to the 60s is in name only. Otherwise, it's a piss-poor modern-age new wave rip off.

Stream Riot Radio

Purchase for $9.45

Review: Anger Regiment - Aces And Eights

Anger Regiment - Aces And Eigts: Another unnecessary addition to the annals of hardcore music.

Download Empty

Purchase for $7.99

Review: Amusement Parks On Fire - Amusement Parks On Fire

Amusement Parks On Fire - Amusement Parks On Fire: One part post-rock, one part shoegaze, two parts loud. The best part is that all four parts work so well together, making for a magnificent album.

Stream a bunch of live tracks and videos

Purchase for $10.26

Review: Beck - Guero

Beck - Guero: I guess I'm not cool enough to 'get' Beck.

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Review: Tsar - Band-Girls-Money

Tsar - Band-Girls-Money: It's a fun record, but nothing spectacular. Kinda reminds me of a cross between The Kaiser Chiefs and The Hives.

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Review: Architecture In Helsinki - In Case We Die

Architecture In Helsinki - In Case We Die: Bunky done well or The Fiery Furnaces done poorly. Take your pick.

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Review: Various - Six Feet Under: Everything Ends

Various - Six Feet Under: Everything Ends: Exactly what it needs to be; a collection of songs that fit perfectly with the mood and tempo of the show. For fans of the show, you can picture a scene featuring each song. For non-fans, if you like the feeling this collection delivers, you should check out the show.

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Review: Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded

Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded: A friend of mine and I once joked that the only criteria for being considered a rap album was that you had to mention your name, your producers name or your album title in a song that wasn't the title track. Well, this one takes the cake. KRS-One never lets you forget who's rhyming, nor that Scott La Rock is behing the turntables. Still, if you can get beyond that (and some of the obtrustive beats), you will be rewarded with a fine rap album and one that doesn't get enough recognition, even among purists. Perhaps it's because KRS-One went on to do much better, something I plan on finding out.

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Review: Eric B. and Rakim

Eric B and Rakim - Paid In Full: MTV recently named this the greatest rap album of all time. While I don't think that's the case, it's got to be in the top 10. Recorded during the first golden age of rap (late '80s), it features *gasp* a rapper rapping and a DJ (what we would now call a producer) mixing on turntables. It sounds a little dated, but is made up for by how solid it still is, all this time later.

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Review: At The Drive-In - Anthology: This Station Is Non-Operational

At The Drive-In - Anthology: This Station is Non-Operational: I can't speak for this retrospective's effectiveness in attempting to sew up all the loose ends in the ATDI catalog. I can say, however, that each cut is extremely solid on its own, but fails to work together as a work (not that it was meant to). Ranging from straight-forward punk to art-funk-prog rock you really get to experience the gamut of their dimensions and can see the groundwork for their later projects (Mars Volta and Sparta).

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