[1] Caitlin Rose – Own Side Now

I grew up in Nashville, TN.  That being said, I would never be so arrogant as to claim that I “know” country music.  However I do “know” people who “know” country music.  Listening to Own Side Now, I could only reach the conclusion that Caitlin Rose “knows” country music.

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[1] Beirut – The Rip Tide

Beirut gets all the pussy, all the “I crocheted this sweater myself and live with my parents at age 30” pussy. That’s theirs. In order to fully appreciate The Rip Tide I called all my exes to say that they were right about everything and then proceeded to punch myself in the dick. I’ve never gotten this band. They just seem like a bunch of try-hards whose output is middle of the road at best. One gets a sense that Beirut intended to make a powerful slow burner of an album which gains throughout. In actuality they’ve done little more than produce boring tracks that seem more at home at Urban Outfitters as contemporary muzak than on your stereo. Maybe I just don’t get it, maybe I’m being too critical, or maybe Beirut is just bland boring pablum-fed pseudo folk that cries out to be glossed over and forgotten.

- Dr. Ian Super

[1] Atari Teenage Riot – Is This Hyperreal? “The streets smell of burned rubber and urine/The time for debate is over/It’s time to act/It’s time to fight through…” Ugh. Really guys? That shtick? Still? Something I’ve experienced, as I settle into adulthood, is surpassing musicians I grew up listening to in terms of maturity. I guess it’s good that Atari Teenage Riot are still out there screaming about blowing up computers and raging against the machine and everything, but man, I’m not 15 years old any more and when they talk about the holocaust, torture and capitalism, it makes me uncomfortable. I wish I could send this album back in time, to myself, through an IRC channel so I could listen to it and review it while I was 15. My teenage self would have just been like “Yeah, fuck bad stuff. Let’s be angry about it with techno!”, which leads me to the main question this album brought up for me: Do Atari Teenage Riot know that they’re adorable at this point? – Kellen Powell

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[1] Explosions In The Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care Temporary Residence Ltd.
Everyone should go through an Explosions in The Sky phase. Mine was in the beginning of my second year of film school after seeing Friday Night Lights, which EITS provided the soundtrack for. I immediately decided that every movie ever from then on should be shot almost entirely handheld, punctuated by beautiful string choruses. Unfortunately, so did just about every other filmmaker and no one really did it as well after a certain point. The combination of that style of camera work and music is now a cinematic short hand for “this is emotionally compelling.” It’s worth checking out where a band can go from that. I recommend buying this actual physical CD because it plays best as atmosphere music while you’re on a long drive. —Kellen Powell

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Reviews of the latest from Of Montreal, Salem and Superchunk. Also the soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim Versus The World!
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Reviews of the latest from Black Mountain, Kathryn Calder, Chilly Gonzales and Grinderman…
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Reviews of the latest from Kylie, Mogwai, Procedure Club and Wolf Parade.
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Reviews of the latest by The Clientele, DVAS, Hot Panda and M.I.A.
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Reviews of the latest by CocoRosie, Hank III, Jon & Roy and Konono N° 1
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Reviews of the latest from Marina and the Diamonds, Stone Temple Pilots, Tame Impala and Teenage Fanclub…
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Reviews of the latest from Flying Lotus, The New Pornographers, Peter Paul & Mary with Symphony Orchestra and The Radio Dept.
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Reviews of the latest by Autechre, Black Tambourine, Caribou and Chin.
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Reviews of the latest by Joanna Newsom, Trans Am, Shout Out Louds and Kinnie Starr
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Reviews of the latest by Dan Black, Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Monster Movie and Pavement.
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Dan Black
Un
Hours Entertainment
So I bought one of those gift cards for the iTunes digital store thinking I’d be able to transfer the credit to my girlfriend in the US on her birthday. Or, if not, I figured I’d at least be able purchase and send songs using the iTunes infrastructure. I don’t use a credit card so I thought this would be an easy way around the problem of getting a gift to her, and also, I could impress her with all the rad songs I would send her without her having to deal with any of the headaches of file upload sites. Long story short, I am now stuck with a $50 credit for the iTunes store that I don’t really need, so if you email me at kellen.wp@gmail.com I will buy the first 50 people “Symphonies” the debut single off this album because it’s great and you should all hear it. It’s like the soundtrack to riding a speedboat powered by unicorns through the rings of saturn to rescue a magical fairy princess. It’s just great.
—Kellen Powell @kellenw

Reviews of the latest by Charlie Alex March, Martha and The Muffins, Massive Attack and Vampire Weekend.
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