July/August 2009 
JOHN DOE AND THE SADIES > Country Club(0)
This very playable record is also a gutsy one—not because either John Doe or the Sadies take up straight country on it, which might be expected, but because together, they dare to turn to country songs and sounds outside the straight-jacketed confines typically associated with twang turns by punk rockers.
CLEM SNIDE > Hungry Bird
Clem Snide’s Eef Barzelay traffics in disquieting images. So it’s fitting that when you open the cover of their new album, Hungry Bird, you see two people doin’ it.
TARA JANE O’NEIL > A Ways Away
As an artist who had managed to release something of note every year of the new millennium—whether a full-length album, an EP, or a book of paintings—Tara Jane O’Neil is not used to silence. Even so, 2008 was an uncharacteristically quiet year for the guitarist and songwriter, a period of time that was used to produce A Ways Away, her most focused and accomplished work to date.
I WAS A KING > I Was a King
On their self-titled sophomore album, the Norwegian pop group I Was A King effortlessly impress you with the musical references on its 15 concise, breezy tunes– Beatles, Raspberries, XTC, Teenage Fanclub, Flamin’ Groovies, Fountain of Wayne and on.
