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June 3, 2016Paul Simon faces mortality and pushes forward into the future on this adventurous album.
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June 3, 2016The twin sisters' eighth album is, like Heartthrob before it, wrenchingly honest modern pop music made with heart and no silly frills.
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June 3, 2016The duo's fifth album captures post-breakup isolation and exhaustion with remarkable honesty.
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June 3, 2016A windblown set of road explorations that yearns for the path less taken.
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June 3, 2016An inventive, thoroughly modern, and tremendous debut from the country singer/songwriter.
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June 3, 2016Outstanding return to form from the celebrated R&B; singer and songwriter.
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June 3, 2016The guitarist's instrumental reflection on America is ambitious, tightly written, and expertly performed with a full band.
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June 3, 2016Debut album by a talented Dutch Stereolab fan who started saving money to make it when she was just a kid.
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June 3, 2016A warm and engaging trio album showcasing Mehldau's lyricism and supple harmonic skill.
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June 3, 2016Krug's fourth outing as Moonface dials back the ballad-heavy melodrama of 2012's Heartbreaking Bravery in favor of a more Autobahn-ready set of indie rock anti-anthems.
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June 3, 2016Intergalactic marriage of psych-prog pedigrees that celebrates each artist's eccentricities while reining in any overly indulgent exercises in excess.
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June 3, 2016Sharp, infectious post-punk/dream pop from an Austin trio formerly known as Blackstone Rngrs.
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June 3, 2016The Houston songwriter returns home and extends his musical reach in a striking, confessional song cycle about divorce.
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June 3, 2016A bold and infectious sophomore outing from the jazzy-voiced, genre-mingling indie stylist.
September 28, 2004
Just as the Beatles championed Badfinger, the Beach Boys championed the Flame. Hailing from South Africa, the Flame made an infectious brand of guitar-rock that caught the ear of Carl Wilson who produced the band's superb 1970 self-titled album for the Beach Boys' Brother Records. As a final stamp of approval, Wilson even brought singer/guitarist Blondie Chaplin and drummer Ricky Fataar on board as honorary Beach Boys in the early '70s. Listening to this album, it's clear the attention was well-deserved.
The Red Crayola / The Red Krayola
1967
Some psychedelic albums strive to recreate the sound of a hallucinogenic experience, but the Red Krayola's 1967 debut instead begs the question, "What are these people on, anyway?" The lengthy "free form freak-out" passages in The Parable of Arable Land are a puzzling but invaluable product of their time, and the brilliantly effective primitivism of songs like "Hurricane Fighter Plane" and "War Sucks" pioneered the notion of simple music for smart people. As fun as it is confounding.
