Prefuse 73, 'Preparations' (Warp)
It's a twisted avant breakbeat thing - you wouldn't understand.
By Mosi Reeves 11.20.07 4:00 AM
On Guillermo Scott Herren's latest techno/hip-hop excursion as Prefuse 73, he chops computer beats into a white-hot flurry of B-boy breaks, crashing percussive noise, and loopy folk-hop beats.
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9th Wonder, 'Dream Merchant, Vol. 2' (6 Hole/ Hall of Justus)
Little Brother's former big brother produces new blood.
By Mosi Reeves 11.19.07 4:00 AM
Savvily dipping into '70s soul and R&B samples, 9th Wonder has produced ace tracks for Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Destiny's Child, and his ex-group Little Brother. But this showcase for countless, relatively unknown MCs is a lot to sift through. While distinctive, 9th's style rarely strays beyond boom-bap territory.
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Dashboard Confessional, 'The Shade of Poison Trees' (Vagrant)
The tattooed love boy returns to his pain cave.
By Jon Caramanica 11.19.07 4:00 AM
Chris Carrabba's early songs were lovelorn, wussy morsels -- crisp, tautly melodic, and deeply felt. He was concise, and he was heartbroken, and then he was famous, opening for U2 and making Spider-Man, you know, relatable.
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Why Bruce Is Boss
Win Butler isn't the only breakout star of this decade with a fondness for the Boss. Hear what the Hold Steady's Craig Finn and the National's Matt Berninger have to say about Springsteen.
By Spin Staff 11.18.07 4:00 AM
CRAIG FINN
THE HOLD STEADY
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The Coral, 'Roots & Echoes' (Red Ink/ Columbia)
Almost breaking up pays off for backward-looking Brits.
By Jon Young 11.16.07 4:00 AM
After an attack of burnout, the seven-piece Coral went on hiatus before regrouping for their fifth album, recorded mostly at the studio of longtime fan Noel Gallagher. The result is seductive and understated, with familiar '60s touches -- warm folky vocals, twangy guitar -- and few of their earlier efforts' eccentric psychedelic undertones.
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Band of Horses, 'Cease to Begin' (Sub Pop)
Get down on your knees and pray in their dusty cathedral.
By Josh Modell 11.16.07 4:00 AM
Everything echoes in Band of Horses' stable, bestowing a hazy gravity upon songs shaped from the simplest of ingredients: lazy snare snaps, gentle guitar, and Ben Bridwell's towering tenor, which suggests both Wayne Coyne and Neil Young but imitates neither.
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