BELLE & SEBASTIAN TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT ON ‘PEACETIME’
Fans have spent many years, many desperate conversations defending Belle & Sebastian. And, really, there’s a lot to defend. Sure, the music is utterly testosterone-free, but who doesn’t love a swe...
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RYAN ADAMS IS HIMSELF ON SELF-TITLED ALBUM – FOR BETTER OR WORSE
By Emily Votaw Ryan Adams has finally put out a self-titled record, which, from a fan’s perspective, seems like nothing but a beam of hope. After years of incredibly prolific releases – some hit, som...
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HALF JAPANESE GET HAPPY WITH ‘OVERJOYED’
By Emily Votaw Half Japanese is doing just fine. Months after finishing up a number of dates with Neutral Milk Hotel in late 2013 and a little more than a year after the re-release of “Half Gentlemen...
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TUNE-YARDS TACKLES THE ODDITIES OF EXISTENCE
By Emily Votaw Merrill Garbus has made a lot of odd records that somehow manage to mesh the ever-important aspects of catchiness and playful weirdness into something that is incredibly gratifying and...
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SLASHER FLICKS’ FRIGHT NIGHT IN COLUMBUS
By Emily Votaw COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Slasher Flicks is the intricately thought-out side project of Animal Collective founding member David Portner. The band is complete with perfectly placed allusions t...
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ANIMAL COLLECTIVE’S AVEY TARE DELIVERS MEMORABLE ALBUM
By Emily Votaw In late 2012, Animal Collective satiated eager fans with “Centipede HZ,” the follow up to 2009’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion,” an album that had received overwhelmingly positive review...
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SIMONE FELICE’S UNINTENDED FOLK PARODY
By Emily Votaw The bombastic, bloated folk rock genre that preys on miseducated high schoolers and middle-aged women is powerful. Mumford & Sons aren’t rock ’n’ roll, and they obviously aren’t t...
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SIGMAN DOESN’T DELIVER ON PROMISE WITH “VIRGINIA EP”
By Emily Votaw It’s hard to decipher whatever intention Jacob Sigman had throughout the process of writing and recording his five-track “Virginia EP,” released in December. Did he want to write a co...
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DAN DEACON AND HIS AUDIENCE SHARE THE SPOTLIGHT
By Emily Votaw COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Who is Dan Deacon? An electronic pop guru? An avant-garde composer? A fanatic devotee of Looney Tunes and Spiderman? Deacon is a bit of each of those things, but ...
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FUTURE ISLANDS TAKES ON BREAKUP DRAMA — AGAIN
By Emily Votaw In the post-post-post punk world where the Future Islands discography exists – where romanticism runs wild and every heartbreak is the most meaningful one and synths have the power to ...
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