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Music

1. Sufjan Stevens: The Avalanche
A new Sufjan record? Well, sort of. Yes, it’s new, but these are outtakes from the Illinois sessions, the album that justifiably made him as big a star as indiedom has produced these days. Su...read more
2. Sufjan Stevens: Enjoy Your Rabbit
Before he became indie’s chronicler of the American states, Sufjan Stevens recorded this, a charming and whimsical album about the Chinese zodiac. It’s his experimental IDM record, and ...read more
3. Sufjan Stevens: A Sun Came
Where it all began … the first recordings of Sufjan Stevens, back when he was a member of the folk group Marzuki. Recorded on four track, the album overcomes its lo-fi sound with sheer ambiti...read more
4. Sufjan Stevens: Greetings from Michigan
This is the album that got Stevens his first taste of fame (as far as anyone can taste fame in indie rock these days), and justifiably so. It’s a gorgeous epic and musical homage to his nativ...read more
5. Sufjan Stevens: Seven Swans
In between his American epics (Michigan and Illinois) Sufjan Stevens released this touching folk record.read more
6. Sufjan Stevens: Illinois
On this second state tour, Sufjan weaves variegated musical styles (jazz, funk, pop) and instrumental textures (from oboe to church organ) into a tapestry of persons famous, infamous, and anonymous...read more
7. Beirut: Gulag Orkestar
Indie rock may not always be predictable, but it’s usually a safe bet that the best indie rock album of the year would feature a guitar or two. But there is nary a six-string to be found on Gulag...read more
8. M. Ward: Post-War
Post-War seems to begin with a microphone check – M. Ward’s honey-gravel voice, alone, repeats the number “one,” until the curtain rises to reveal the orchestra, and the show be...read more
9. The Mountain Goats: Get Lonely
The Mountain Goats have become so popular in recent years that many don’t realize that John Darnielle, the band’s leader (and often its lone member), has been at this for quite some tim...read more
10. Nouvelle Vague: Bande a Part
Nouvelle Vague is one of the most charming and fun concept bands out there: bossa nova covers of punk and new wave songs. Can they pull it off a second time? Yes! Even overplayed fare such as R...read more
11. Pajo: 1968
Dave Pajo, the former member of Slint and Tortoise and the mastermind of Papa M/Aerial M, returns with another gorgeous release, 1968, this time offering more sonic variety than on his 2005 self-ti...read more
12. Au Revoir Simone: Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation
This all-gal, all-keyboard, no-guitar Brooklyn trio makes some of the sweetest, smoothest electro-pop you’ll hear this year, or any year for that matter, like a lo-fi Stereolab or Broadcast. Asto...read more
13. Essex Green: Cannibal Sea
Brooklyn’s Essex Green, consisting of members of Ladybug Transistor, has that girl/boy combo working beautifully, giving us an album loaded with soaring hooks and joyous melodies. A perfect pop r...read more
14. Band of Horses: Everything All the Time
The former members of Carissa’s Wierd regroup to form Band of Horses, whose Everything All The Time is a near-perfect rock record, a delicious amalgam of hooks-laden jangle pop and raw guitar...read more
15. Built to Spill: You in Reverse
It’s been five long years since Built to Spill’s last album, but the Idaho quartet hasn’t lost its touch, returning with an exhilarating album of explosive jams and rockers. Doug Martsch and ...read more
16. Cat Power: The Greatest
Chan Marshall wanted a change, and she found inspiration in her Georgian southern roots, holing up with Al Green’s session men, and quietly delivering a brilliant album, perhaps her finest work t...read more
17. Danielson: Ships
Dan Smith and his merry cast of misfits have created one of the most joyous and jubilant albums of the year, a stunning work of orchestral pop songs.read more
18. Destroyer: Destroyer's Rubies
This is one of those rare albums that seem to fit every occasion. It’s the album we all threw on when we need a pickup, when we need something adventurous and different, or when we simply nee...read more
19. Love Is All: Nine Times That Same Song
Man, is Sweden on a roll. Whether it’s the glorious folk of Jose Gonzalez, the sweet pop of Jens Lekman, the bombastic post-rock of Sickoakes or the twisted new wave of the Knife, this countr...read more
20. Man Man: Six Demon Bag
Sure, they got the Zappa-esque freakouts and the Waits-Beefheart growl going, but the band can also write songs – fun, tuneful, upbeat songs with a slapdash sound that belies the high calibre of ...read more
21. Psychic Ills: Dins
These twisted Brooklyn kids have given us the true psych-jam of 2006, a reverb-heavy, drone-filled freak out that recalls everything from the Velvets to Spacemen 3 to Amon Duul.read more
22. Tapes 'N Tapes: The Loon
Buzz bands come and go, and they usually go pretty quickly, but Tapes ’N Tapes has staying power. This Minneapolis band has a Pixies-like love of revved-up rock and a Pavement-ish soft spot for t...read more
23. Ms. John Soda: Notes and the Like
This duo featuring members of Couch and the Notwist is more pop than electronica, like Lali Puna mixed with Mum and Bjork. The songs are simple – often a looped drum track mixed with snyth an...read more
24. Brightblack Morning Light: Brightblack Morning Light
Supposedly the duo of Nathan “Nabob” Shineywater and Rachael “Rabob” Hughes, also known as Brightblack Morning Light, spend much of their time in tents in the woods, communi...read more
25. The Black Keys: Chulahoma
Too many people dismissed this album, and it’s most undeserved. The Black Keys, the great blues-rock duo from Ohio, were under contractual obligation to make one last record for Fat Possum be...read more
26. The Thermals: The Body, The Blood, The Machine
Whoa. All it takes is a few chords and then a few lyrics of the new Thermals record, and you know that this band isn’t here to fool around. They aren’t writing frivolous pop songs, they...read more
27. !!! : Louden Up Now
The album that launched !!! to the top of the dance-punk revival, Louden Up Now fuses angry leftish politics with funky dance grooves and loud, propulsive percussion. (2004)read more
28. !!!: !!!
Their first full-length, !!!’s self-titled album is the one that got them attention in the then-fledgling dance-punk revival, taking the mope out of post-punk and getting the kids back onto t...read more
29. Susanna and the Magical Orchestra: Melody Mountain
A lovely album of quiet covers. Sometimes the originals were quiet too (Leonard Cohen’s much-covered “Hallelujah,” Sandy Denny’s “Fotheringay”). Sometimes they were exac...read more
30. The Album Leaf: In A Safe Place
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31. Thalia Zedek: Trust Not Those In Whom Without Some Touch Of Madness
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32. Thalia Zedek: Been Here and Gone
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33. Animal Collective: Feels
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34. Animal Collective: Sung Tongs
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35. The Anomoanon: Asleep Many Years in the Wood
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36. The Anomoanon: Joji
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37. The Anomoanon: The Anomoanon
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38. The Anomoanon: The Derby Ram
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39. Antony and the Johnsons: I Am a Bird Now
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40. Antony and the Johnsons: Antony and the Johnsons
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41. Yo La Tengo: Summer Sun
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42. Yo La Tengo: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
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43. Yo La Tengo: Electr-O-Pura
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44. Arcade Fire: Funeral
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45. Arcade Fire: Arcade Fire ep
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46. Yo La Tengo: President Yo La Tengo/New Wave Hot Dogs
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47. Yo La Tengo: I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
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48. Archers of Loaf: Icky Mettle
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49. Archers of Loaf: Vee Vee
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50. Yo La Tengo: Prisoners of Love
A Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs 1985-2003read more