This Week In Music: 9/10-9/16

This week in music listening, featuring patent-pending two-word reviews:

Quasi: When the Going Gets Dark – mixed variety
Rocket From The Crypt: Paint As a Fragrance – quality introduction
Cabaret Voltaire: The Crackdown – dance variant
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Orange – flavorful blues
Mudhoney: Under a Billion Suns – sludgy grunge
Robert Pollard: We All Got Out of the Army – more meandering
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments: No Old Guy Lo-Fi Cry – no go
Jon Brion: Paranorman Soundtrack – playful fun
It Was Made in Northeast Ohio Compilation – time capsule
Trixter: Trixter – catchy pop-metal
Juliana Hatfield: How to Walk Away – mature pop
Nuggets of American College Rock 1987: interesting archive
Sloan: Pretty Together – varied styles
The Twilight Singers: Live in Amsterdam, 11-28-06 – ripping live

This Week In Music: 7/9-7/15

This week in music listening, featuring patent-pending two-word reviews:

Peter Gabriel: Up – anti-commercial brilliance
Cabaret Voltaire: Code – dancy darkness
Yngwie Malmsteen: The Seventh Sign – expert wankery
Mudhoney: Since We’ve Become Translucent – slowed punk
Jetboy: Feel The Shake – barroom dirty
Mercury Rev: Snowflake Midnight – innovative soundscapes
Sloan: Parallel Play – some filler
David Usher: Strange Birds – melodically challenging
Pretty Boy Floyd: A Tale of Sex, Designer Drugs, and the Death of Rock n Roll EP – quick sleaze
Radio Birdman: Radios Appear – primitive beats
Sleater-Kinney: The Woods – psychedelic punk
Cinderella: Still Climbing – satisfying diversity
Butch Walker: Sycamore Meadows – intimately intense
Parliament: Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome – peak Parliament
The Posies: Failure – uneven output
Saigon Kick: Devil in the Details – bizarre oddities

This Week In Music (4/23-4/29)

This week in music listening, featuring patent-pending two-word reviews:

Radio 4: Gotham! – uneven dancepunk
Pete Townshend: Deep End Live! – interesting takes
Superchunk: Cup of Sand – mixed bag
Sloan: The Double Cross – more awesomeness
Genesis: Foxtrot – still cooking
Samiam: Astray – melodic punk
Tiara: B-Sides & Rarities – unknown gems
Hot Snakes: Automatic Midnight – angular anger
The Go! Team: Thunder, Lightning, Strike – unabashed fun
The Flaming Lips: The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends – mostly forgettable
Jack White: Blunderbuss – missing riffs
The War On Drugs: Future Weather EP – interesting grooves
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments: Bait & Switch – DIY punk
Brad: United We Stand – strong effort
Nathan Westwood: Piano Bed – delicate charms
Winger: In the Heart of the Young – poppy metal
Quiet Riot: Condition Critical – follow-up failure
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Mojo – bluesier Petty
Moviola: The Year You Were Born – jangly lo-fi
Counting Crows: Underwater Sunshine (or what we did on our summer vacation) – dull covers
Struck By Lightning: True Predation – predictably screamy
Torche: Harmonicraft – blazing brilliance

This Week In Music (3/26-4/1)

This week in music listening, featuring patent-pending two-word reviews:

Brassy: Got It Made – fun beats
Ape Machine: War to Head – blistering riffs
Sloan: Action Pact – mellower Sloan
Queensryche: Empire – digestible prog
Thunder Express: We Play for Pleasure – acceptable riffage
Rush: A Farewell to Kings – evolving progressions
Silkworm: It’ll Be Cool – off-kilter rock
Talk Talk: The Party’s Over – epic synth-pop
Sultans: Shipwrecked – unpolished bursts