Music | Wednesday, February 28,2007

Pure pop savage delight

Give Lily Allen a listen, and forget the backstory

Untitled Document The Internet giveth, and the Internet taketh away. Under these harsh new conditions, the buildup-to-backlash cycle is over in the blink of a blognerd’s ey

Music | Wednesday, February 21,2007

The nerdiest of the indie nerds

The sound money is on Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo

By René Spencer Saller

Untitled Document Who’s the biggest nerd in indie rock? One thing’s for sure: The competition has never been more cutthroat. Could it be the Decemberists’ Colin

Music | Wednesday, February 14,2007

Eleni Mandell’s timeless Miracle

She has two killer voices: the singing kind and the writing kind

By René Spencer Saller

Untitled Document Eleni Mandell might not be the best singer in the world, at least by American Idol criteria, but she’s got a voice to die for. More precisely, she ha

Music | Wednesday, February 7,2007

A matter of timing

Poor Noah Georgeson may have waited too long

By René Spencer Saller

Untitled Document W hen it comes to zeitgeist, timing is all, and the so-called freak-folk scene, with which Noah Georgeson is perhaps unfairly associated, is due for a backlash.

Music | Wednesday, January 24,2007

When anywhere is local

This is no Miami sound machine — these Floridians have killed regionalism

By René Spencer Saller

Untitled Document They may hail from balmy Miami, but the Postmarks certainly have a yen for the changing seasons. Their debut full-length boasts such climatologically perverse s

Music | Wednesday, January 17,2007

Limited by the source material

A merciful god would have quit with frogs and locusts

By René Spencer Saller

Untitled Document The Book of Exodus isn’t one of God’s finer moments. From the moment he first appears to Moses in the form of a burning bush, it’s obvious tha

Music | Wednesday, January 10,2007

Don’t fear the reaper

They don’t only embrace death, they revel in it

By René Spencer Saller

Untitled Document When it comes to death, most sane people would prefer to put it off for as long as possible. As Dylan Thomas famously advised, “Do not go gentle into that

Music | Thursday, January 4,2007

Bright lights and dim bulbs

Twenty-one artist tribute to Daniel Johnston a mixed bag

By René Spencer Saller

Untitled Document Maybe you’re thinking that the world doesn’t need another Daniel Johnston tribute album, and maybe you’re right. Regardless of where you stand

Music | Thursday, December 28,2006

Well worth the wait

Scabrous boogies, sad-sack serenades, and weird-even-by-his-standards curios

By René Spencer Saller

Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards, Tom Waits’ three-disc, 54-track tour de force, is more than a cleverly titled collection of outtakes, rarities, and oddball covers. It’s more than

Music | Wednesday, December 20,2006

With friends like these...

Swan Lake takes music to new heights of idiocy

By René Spencer Saller

In the booklet accompanying Swan Lake’s debut is the following epigraph: “Beast Moans is a testament to friendship, eternal and otherwise.” The sentiment is sweet but more than a lit