Shape of Broad Minds, 'Craft of the Lost Art' (Lex)
Is this underground beatmaker a possible successor to Dilla?
By Mosi Reeves 11.23.07 4:00 AM
Craft of the Lost Art is essentially a showcase for the formidable talents of Philly-based producer Jneiro Jarel. Layering handclaps over a whirling dervish of guitars on "OPR8R" and pumping out squelchy glitch-funk for "Lullabanger," he blends hip-hop and electronics with a fresh style reminiscent of Madlib and J Dilla at their abstract best.
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Enter Shikari, 'Take to the Skies' (Ambush Reality)
The sound of a million glow sticks being used as weapons.
By Aaron Burgess 11.22.07 4:00 AM
Where similar U.S. synth-core units like Horse the Band shuck mass appeal through atonality, England's Enter Shikari have no interest in staying obscure. On their debut album, the Internet-storming quartet wed hardcore punk's most crowd-rallying elements -- intense breakdowns and gang vocals -- to the melodic buildup of that most populist of dance genres, trance.
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The Virgins
Manhattan party boys charm with their soul-dusted indie rock.
By Lauren Gitlin 11.22.07 4:00 AM
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Cass McCombs, 'Dropping the Writ' (Domino)
Magpie songwriter anxiously pays tribute to his indie peers.
By Josh Modell 11.22.07 4:00 AM
Cass McCombs' third album wrestles Devendra Banhart's methodical mystery, the Sea and Cake's jazzy smoothness, and straight-ahead '70s Cali pop into one scattered, restless package. Insistent album opener "Lionkiller" flies the psych-folk flag both lyrically and vocally, with McCombs barking, "I am called Scorpio" in the midst of a twisted autobiography.
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Small Sins, 'Mood Swings' (Astralwerks)
Imagine what would happen if Ben Gibbard really went postal.
By Julia Simon 11.21.07 4:00 AM
On his 2006 debut as Small Sins, Thomas D'Arcy set his lovelorn laments to Moog-filled, Postal Service pop. Here, the Toronto native employs the same mid-tempo drum-machine beats and steady synths, but behind the warm electro purrs, he's gone from bummed to bellicose.
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Siouxsie, 'Mantaray' (Decca)
The Ice Queen's solo debut throbs with hypnotic style.
By MacKenzie Wilson 11.20.07 4:00 AM
After reigning over the Banshees and the Creatures for three decades, punk's newly divorced, 50-year-old leading lady goes it alone, exclaiming, "I feel a force I've never felt before" on the swaggering dance-club slayer "Into a Swan." She never lets up, turning Mantaray's vibrant emotional current of noirish cabaret slinkiness ("Drone Zone"), industrial-tinged languor ("Loveless"), and
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