Birdmonster, 'From the Mountain to the Sea' (Fader)
Thoughtful Bay Area gents confuse blandness for subtlety.
By Jon Young 08.20.08 1:14 PM
The best moments are buried in the details on the second album from this roots-inclined San Francisco band.
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Douglas Armour, 'The Light of a Golden Day, the Arms of the Night' (The Social Registry)
Hushed, winsome '80s-loving dance pop from dawn to dusk.
By Matthew Perpetua 08.20.08 12:58 PM
The debut album from this versatile Los Angeles singer/ songwriter is split into two distinct sides: The first half skews in favor of melancholic post–Postal Service synth pop, and the other focuses on a slightly more ambient version of the Shins' folk pop.
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Adem, 'Takes' (Domino)
Well-intentioned acoustic whiff at '90s alt-rock nostalgia.
By Matthew Perpetua 08.20.08 12:55 PM
This Turkish-English folksinger's album of cover versions is an exceptionally well-curated disc with intriguing selections penned by Low, Yo La Tengo, and Tortoise. But despite his good taste, Adem's competent yet generally uninspired acoustic arrangements make him sound like a coolly ambitious street busker.
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Black Kids: The Young and the Reckless
Bible-belters turned buzz band Black Kids are spreading a different kind of gospel.
By Tim Chester 08.05.08 6:11 PM
"I only do TV interviews nowadays," Ali Youngblood jokes backstage at Manchester University's Academy 3. A breathless monsoon of innuendo, wisecracks, and drawled chuckles, the 24-year-old keyboardist for one of the most talked-about bands of 2008 doesn't seem fazed by the attention.
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My Bloody Valentine: The Opposite of Rock'N'Roll
In 1991, My Bloody Valentine released one of modern rock's most influential albums, then mysteriously imploded trying to surpass it. On the eve of their unlikely resurrection, Simon Reynolds examines the original shoegazers' noisy genius.
By Simon Reynolds 08.05.08 5:47 PM
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D'Angelo: What the Hell Happened?
Thanks to that video, D'Angelo was poised for superstardom, and the R&B renaissance he led was about to change the world. Instead, he fell into a spiral of substance abuse and arrests -- and virtually disappeared. Eight years later, his friends and colleagues reveal where he's been and what it's going to take to bring him back.
By David Peisner 08.05.08 5:38 PM
On a Sunday in April 2006, Gary Harris pulled up to D'Angelo's large starter mansion outside Richmond, Virginia, in a limo. Harris, the A&R man who'd first signed D'Angelo in the early '90s and who had overseen his 1995 debut, Brown Sugar, was on a mission: to escort the singer to Eric Clapton's Crossroads Treatment Centre in Antigua.
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