Indie

BEACH HOUSE > Teen Dream(0)

January 11, 2010

BEACH HOUSE TEEN DREAM (SUB POP) Rating: There’s something about the build-up to a band’s third album. A make-or-break ho hum that is often unavoidable. Will they cleanse the nasty aftertaste from a sophomore slump? Will they hit a plateau after a promising progression? Will they continue to demonstrate genuine talent after two terrific releases, [...]

BEACH HOUSE > Teen Dream

A.A. BONDY: On Track

A.A. Bondy takes it easy throughout his new full-length When the Devil’s Loose, but it’s a subtly tortured record whose religious preoccupations and melancholia seem ingrained. A former rock star who found the pressures and constraints of big-time, big-label life a drag on his muse, Bondy whistles in the dark on When the Devil’s Loose. [...]

THE DUKE & THE KING: On the Horizon

The Duke and the King, at the Basement in Nashville on August 11. Simone Felice’s journey from his sibling-led group, The Felice Brothers, to his new band with Robert “Chicken” Burke, The Duke & The King, lends itself to various interpretations. Sonically, it marks a shift from country-rock leanings to mellowed, harmony-sweetened country-soul, though he [...]

DAVID BAZAN: Carry On

David Bazan, alone and forsaken. If ever there was a spokesman for those suffering from the God-sick blues, David Bazan is it. As the frontman behind Pedro the Lion for nearly a decade, Bazan has created a virtual trademark on doubt-ridden lyrics, sketching characters constantly slipping to-and-fro on a moral slope, or candidly confessing his [...]