1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Login or Register to rate this item.

The stripped-down, synth-and-guitar indie pop on this oddly spellbinding second album from Los Angeles singer-songwriter Jeremy Jay could be the Cars minus the dreams of chart glory and bloated studio budget. Jay's sleepy yelp suggests an attempt to seem cool and sexy, but he can't quite pull it off, coming across instead as repressed, and a little creepy.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Login or Register to rate this item.

X Marks Destination charges out of the gate with "Trash," a snotty, exhilarating dance-rock rave-up with surly frontman Bruce Carter repeatedly snarling, "I wanna be trash" like he's threatening world devastation.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Login or Register to rate this item.

Razorlight's photogenic frontman Johnny Borrell is a genuine media sensation in England -- note covers of British Vogue and GQ -- but he's also a skillful, sometimes perceptive songwriter. Slipway Fires examines rocky romances, from the stomping "You and the Rest" to the folky "Go Thompson," pausing for a cautionary tale about celebrity (the semifunky "Tabloid Lover").

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Login or Register to rate this item.

Hitchcock's second album with the Venus 3, who include R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, is less dazzling than 2006's Olé!

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Login or Register to rate this item.

Consumed by outrage at malicious politicians, sadistic cops, and other dirtbags, Iowa's William Elliott Whitmore unleashes tirades in the growl of a crazed backwoods preacher threatening eternal damnation. And though these stark folk/blues tunes could be a century old, his tales of desperation, death, and despair crackle with agitprop punk urgency.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Login or Register to rate this item.

First in Flat Duo Jets, and now with nimble sis Sara Romweber (ex–Let's Active) on drums, the dynamic Dexter keeps the careening, untamed spirit of early rock'n'roll alive by not taking anything too seriously. Ruins of Berlin aims to raise his profile by featuring tender duets with Cat Power ("Love Letters") and Neko Case ("Still Around").