You might not even remember Tegan and Sara from their days walking with ghosts, but with their new, more saintly status it’s worth a listen.

Zero 7’s latest album, Yeah Ghost. Photo courtesy of Atlantic Records.

Grade: B-
Dusk breakers, sparks green
crackling as they crest. Grey froth &
Moonight. Alone rockspear through black
Coast no water just
Rocksandwaves.
U.K.-based downtempo artists Zero 7 scatter shoot on Yeah Ghost, the group’s fourth full album. They score more hits than misses, but the targets are so far [...]

Mika’s latest album The Boy Who Knew Too Much. Photo courtesy of Casablanca Records.

Grade: B
Compare the cover art of Mika’s 2007 debut, Life in Cartoon Motion, with the pop virtuoso’s sophomore effort, The Boy Who Knew Too Much. If you can tolerate one coloring book brain burst, you’ll probably dig two. Same applies to the [...]

To begin our countdown to the new musical year, I will be exploring ten 2009 releases by looking in-depth into their background, influences and personal evolution. The second album in this series is Horehound by The Dead Weather.
You may have heard of them if:

You are a fan of any of the bands members: Jack White [...]

To begin our countdown to the new musical year, I will be exploring ten 2009 releases by looking in-depth into their background, influences and personal evolution. The first album in this series is It’s Blitz! by Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
A live performance of “Maps,” the hit single off of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s debut album Fever to [...]

Some pretty good albums were released this summer, but if you were too busy interning, studying or lounging by the pool to notice, here is the best of what you missed from the last four months or so. Many of these bands are playing in Chicago in the near future, so if you like what [...]

The Canadian indie-pop band’s newest release features versatile vocals and climactic song progression.

The album is stuffed with dance- and afro-beats, chanting, tribal drums, and Spanish and tropical influences.

Jay Lindsey is something else. Signed to Goner Records at age 15, Lindsey adopted the persona of Jay Reatard and set about creating his low-fi, garage-punk sound. After his time with the Reatards and the Lost Sounds along with a series of side-projects, Reatard focused on his solo-career with 2006’s Blood Visions. He followed up [...]

In “The Year of the Big-Name, Highly-Anticipated Album Release,” Paper Trail is King — for now.

Jenny Lewis gets into a darker scene with her new album.

The Icelandic siren’s latest album shows that even a more mainstream Bjork is still, well, Bjork.