The Clutters, 'Don't Believe a Word' (Chicken Ranch)
Unruly Music City rockers struggle to catch onstage fire.
By Douglas Waterman 08.28.07 3:00 AM
The latest upstarts from Nashville's burgeoning rock community, the Clutters sport a punky live aesthetic, but their second album doesn't quite capture that brash energy.
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Mandy Moore, 'Wild Hope' (The Firm/ EMI)
Teen-pop princess baby steps toward artistic adulthood.
By Douglas Waterman 07.17.07 3:00 AM
On 2003's Coverage, Mandy Moore showed she had good taste -- covering XTC, Joni Mitchell, Joe Jackson, etc. -- but artistically, she was still stuck in a candy-pop bubble. Now, on her fifth album, she finally tries to tell her own story, with co-writing help from singer/songwriters Rachael Yamagata and Lori McKenna, as well as Boston folk-pop duo the Weepies.
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Sondre Lerche, 'Phantom Punch' (Astralwerks)
Norwegian pop waif decides to crank up his guitar.
By Douglas Waterman 02.17.07 4:00 AM
On the heels of last year's The Duper Sessions -- his total immersion in neo-Tin Pan Alley craftiness -- Lerche obviously wanted to loosen up and rock a little.
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Page France, 'Hello, Dear Wind' (Suicide Squeeze)
Bright-eyed songs of faith for those unafraid to commit.
By Douglas Waterman 11.14.06 4:00 AM
The second album from this Maryland indie-rock foursome comfortably seeps into your consciousness -- it's rich in melody and rife with dreamy natural/Biblical imagery ("Jesus will dance while we drink his wine"; "I'll shed a feather for the Lord").
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