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Featured Review 2018-09-01 10:28:24
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
September 1, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

Note: We at KUCI are dedicated to championing the outstanding work of artists and composers regardless of fame or popularity. Many, I dare say most of the artists reviewed here may be completely new to you. Some others are more familiar and these we ho...

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Featured Review 2018-08-27 11:30:08
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
August 27, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

Miki Yamanaka - Miki - (Cellar Live)
Composer/pianist Yamanaka is joined here by my favorite drummer this week, Bill Stewart, renowned vibraphone player, Steve Nelson, and bassist Orlando le Fleming in a stunning debut. A master at “comping...

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Featured Review 2018-08-15 13:39:58
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
August 15, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

Jessica Jones Quartet - Moxie - (New Artists Records)
Jessica Jones. Why isn't played all the time on the radio is beyond me. If I have anything to do with it, and I probably don't, I will scream from the rafters, or at least post on thi...

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Featured Review 2018-07-28 13:14:37
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
July 28, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

The BABA Orchestra - Another Ride on the Elephant Slide - (Thirsty Owl Records)
Composer/conductor Lauren Elizabeth Baba has staked out her corner of the Stravinsky inflected jazz rock that critics like to call Zappaesque. Zappa was definite...

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Featured Review 2018-07-17 16:42:31
Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
by: Hobart Taylor

As I write this today July 17th 2018 is the fifty first anniversary of the passing of John Coltrane. Often "passing" is a euphemism for dying, but occasionally it is an accurate description of the transition from the corporeal to the spiritual state, and ...

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Featured Review 2018-06-13 12:36:29
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
June 13, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

Restroy - Restroy - (1980 Records)
Once again Chicago comes through. Restroy is Christopher Dammann bassist and composer and his collaborators James Davis, (Trumpet), Kevin Davis, (cello,) Paul Giallorenzo (synth, electronics), Mabel Kwan, (...

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Featured Review 2018-05-16 17:42:08
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
May 16, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

Yelena Eckemoff Quartet - Desert - (Self Released)
Danny Green Trio Plus Strings - One Day It Will - (OA2 Records)
In the spectrum of creative music, AKA jazz, if red equaled freed jazz, orange to yellow modal and improvisati...

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Featured Review 2018-05-02 13:36:39
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
May 2, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

Kenny Barron Quintet - Concentric Circles - (Blue Note)
The Zelig of jazz piano, Barron has recorded over 40 albums and appeared on hundreds more over a career of more than sixty years. He has worked with avant garde and straight ahead a...

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Featured Review 2018-04-18 14:33:40
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
April 18, 2018
Terence Blanchard featuring the E-Collective - Live - (Blue Note)
Recorded live in cities struggling through conflicts between law enforcement and their African-American communities, Cleveland (Tamir Rice), Dallas (James Harper), New York ...

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Featured Review 2018-04-14 09:32:32
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
April 14, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

Bill Frisell - Music Is - (Okeh)
Certain artists play themselves through their instruments. In a strange way their instruments are peripheral to their performances and their compositions are vehicles for their passing humours. In these sixt...

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Featured Review 2018-04-04 16:45:36
Miles Davis & John Coltrane
The Final Tour (The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6) - (Columbia Legacy)
by: Hobart Taylor

"The past," said Faulkner, "is never dead. It's not even past."

The power of great music, when attended to without the filters of expectation or reputation can effectively provide listeners with surprise and delight.

If I were to write a...

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Featured Review 2018-03-20 14:53:51
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
March 20, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

Hobart Taylor plays these and other selections on "The Crystal Egg" on KUCI Thursdays 6 to 8 PM

Billy Jones - 3's A Crowd - (Accoustical Concepts)
Records like this are why stations like ours exist. Mainstream radio never...

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Featured Review 2018-03-06 13:33:31
New in the KUCI Jazz Library - The Singers
March 6, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

Ernest Dawkins New Horizons Ensemble (featuring Vijay Iyer) - Transient Takes / Live the Spirit - (Residency)
In jazz, Folks pay a lot of attention to auspicious emerging talent, folks honor matriarchs and patriarchs who define historical ...

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Featured Review 2018-02-17 10:09:00
New in the KUCI Jazz Library - The Singers
February 17, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

Melody Gardot - Live In Europe - (Verve)
Our times deserve a Marlene Dietrich or Edith Piaf, a singer whose personality overwhelms everything she sings, and we may have one in Melody Gardot. Her contribution to jazz singing is not technical p...

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Featured Review 2018-02-10 10:45:14
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
February 10, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

Sherman Irby & Momentum - Cerulean Canvas - (Black Warrior Records)
Trombonist Irby is an integral element in the sound of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis. Stepping out on his own, (although Mars...

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Featured Review 2018-01-29 10:49:09
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
January 29, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

Hoaxer - Crash Test - (Illicit Productions)
From Minnesota's twin cities comes an alternative path forward for jazz. Charlie Lincoln, Will Kjeer, Edmund Catlin, and Peter Goggin all whom have just reached or are about to reach legal drinking...

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Featured Review 2018-01-15 16:41:48
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
January 15, 2018
by: Hobart Taylor

Ahmad Jamal - Marseille - (Jazz Village)
At 87, Jamal continues to astound this listener with tunes of simple grace and profundity. The title tune appears thrice on this release, beginning, middle and end. The first iteration is a repetiti...

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Featured Review 2017-11-23 08:55:57
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
November 23, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Joshua White - 13 Short Stories - (Fresh Sounds New Talent Records)
Composer/improvisor/pianist White, working in a quartet format with Jonathon Pinson on drums, Dean Hulett, bass, and Josh Johnson on alto saxophone make profound and thou...

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Featured Review 2017-11-16 14:13:37
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
November 16, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Mike Reed - Flesh & Bone - (482 Music)
This extraordinary release by Chicago composer, scene meister, drummer, and shaman, Mike Reed, continues in the traditions of the AACM (creative music that emphasizes the collaborative and spiritual na...

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Featured Review 2017-10-31 12:15:37
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
October 31, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Gabriel Alegria Afro -Peruvian Sextet - Diablo en Brooklyn - (Saponegro Records)
The African diaspora commonly receives a North American/Caribbean spin in the United States, and jazz analysis and performance is no exception. In reality, sl...

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Featured Review 2017-10-19 15:49:03
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
October 19, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Matt Wilson - Honey and Salt: Music inspired by the poetry of Carl Sandburg - (Palmetto Records)
Releases sometimes come in thematic waves. Last year there were a lot of Hammond B3(organ) records. This year we have had releases celebrating ...

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Featured Review 2017-10-16 14:09:49
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
October 16, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Kellye Gray - Rendering - (Grr8 Records)
Kellye Gray has consummate control of her instrument. This vocalist mixes the smooth and the rough, the laid back and the intense, with dynamic subtlety. This was de rigeur for jazz vocalists in the g...

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Featured Review 2017-10-05 13:45:31
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
October 5, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Roscoe Mitchell - Discussions - (Wide Hive)
One way of looking at the creative arts is to assign a hierarchy, one that is arbitrary, mutable, and literally definitive, to the contributions of their makers. This process is labeled criticis...

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Featured Review 2017-09-28 15:44:35
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
September 28, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Hilario Duran - Contumbao - (Alma Records)
This extraordinary and exciting music performed and composed by Cuban/Canadian pianist Duran is nuanced, intellectual, passionate and overwhelmingly entertaining. All the boxes are checked. Even ...

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Featured Review 2017-09-15 16:44:39
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
September 15, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Tony Allen - The Source - (Blue Note)
The Source indeed. Tony Oladipo Allen is one of the most influential musicians in all popular music, so how come you don't recognize his name right away? Maybe it's for the same reasons you don't recogn...

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Featured Review 2017-09-05 14:09:16
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
September 5, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Vijay Iyer Sextet - Far From Over - (ECM)
Vijay Iyer: piano, Fender Rhodes
Graham Haynes: cornet, flugelhorn, electronics
Steve Lehman: alto saxophone
Mark Shim: tenor saxophone
Stephan Crump: double-bass
Tyshawn Sorey: d...

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Featured Review 2017-08-21 14:10:37
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
August 21, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Typhanie Monique - Call It Magic - (Dot Time)
My friend the singer/songwriter Enzo Garcia, made one of those grand pronouncements that are easy to contradict but contain a kernel of emotionally authentic truth. "(Some) people", he said, "...

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Featured Review 2017-08-16 20:08:09
Highlights of the San Jose Jazz Festival
August 11-13
by: Hobart Taylor

Well, I'll get to the big names first. On Friday night George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic and on Saturday on both the main stage and at the grittier Big Easy stage The Robert Glasper Experiment both danced around the edges of multiple ...

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Featured Review 2017-08-06 09:59:37
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
August 6, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Naughty Professor - Identity - (Self Released)
This New Orleans based jazz-funk sextet collaborates with many of that city's DJ's, vocalists and solo virtuosi so that each song has just the right spice added to their gumbo. The brass secti...

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Featured Review 2017-07-31 14:53:27
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
July 31, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Dave Liebman/Joe Lovano - Compassion:The Music of John Coltrane - (Resonance Records)
Let's start out by saying that the declarative drum solo by Billy Hart that opens the title cut, followed close on by Phil Markowitz jagged chordal stabs wi...

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Featured Review 2017-07-24 10:15:06
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
July 24, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Hal Galper and the Youngbloods - Live at the Cota Jazz Festival - (Origin)
Pianist Galper is an educator and mentor. Previously with Chet Baker, Cannonball Adderly, Sam Rivers,(1960's) and Phil Woods (1980's) he has been fronting trios and ...

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Featured Review 2017-07-01 07:04:49
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
July 1, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Richard Johnson Trio  -  Music is Business  - (Self Released)
Pianist composer Johnson has a fluid and propulsive sound. Backed by a razor sharp rhythm section, bassist Barry Stephenson and drummer Quincy Phillips, Johnson is a master of str...

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Featured Review 2017-06-26 17:45:55
New in the KUCI Classical Library
June 26, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Grigory Sokolov - Mozart/Rachmaninov Concertos - (Deutsche Grammophon)
Russian Pianist Sokolov does not record in the studio. Sokolov stopped playing with orchestras in 2005. Deutsche Grammophon convinced him to select from various live rec...

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Featured Review 2017-05-19 17:32:39
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
May 19, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Trombone Shorty -  Parking Lot Symphony   - (Blue Note)
If jazz, which is among the most respected and least listened to genres in all music, is to survive as a commercial enterprise then jazz sensibilities must manifestly appear in other g...

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Featured Review 2017-05-16 14:03:26
New in the KUCI Classical Library
May 16,2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Simone Dinnerstein/ Mozart Lyceum Orchestra  - Mozart in Havana  - (Sony Classical)
Pianist Dinnerstein performs the oft recorded Piano Concertos No. 21 in C Major and 23 in A Major with her usual grace and aplomb. What makes this recording ...

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Featured Review 2017-04-22 09:18:01
New in the KUCI Punk Library
April 22, 2017
by: Tommy DeSilva

Meat Wave - The Incessant - (SideOneDummy Records)
Meat Wave is an Alternative/Punk Rock band from Chicago, IL. Their highly anticipated new album entitled The Incessant, which is the second record of theirs to be out by SideOneDummy Records (a...

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Featured Review 2017-04-15 09:17:24
Entering James Alex’s Daze of Youth
by: Stephan Masnyj

To fully understand the appeal of Beach Slang involves suspending belief. Their music embodies a sense of youth and restlessness that can allow fans to believe they can accomplish their wildest dreams. It’s a quality that remains successful due to t...

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Featured Review 2017-04-09 10:05:50
An Interview with L.A. Salami
by: Shay Mehr

We met up with L.A. Salami on the streets of Austin, Texas to discuss his influences, the big shoes he’s been left to fill, fashion, and fulfillment. Here’s what he had to say.

Shay: Tell us a little about yourself.
L.A. Sa...

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Featured Review 2017-04-03 13:53:20
An Interview with Run River North’s Alex Hwang
From SXSW
by: Stephan Masnyj and Shay Mehr

We caught up with Run River North’s Alex Hwang on a sunny day in Austin after their set at the Whole Food showcase. He spoke to us about how race and ethnicity play into the American dream, their origin story, and what it takes to keep six band membe...

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Featured Review 2017-03-25 08:36:17
The Making of a Masterpiece
An Interview with Big Thief’s Buck Meek
by: Stephan Masnyj

Big Thief has been riding a steady wave of acclaim since the release of their debut record Masterpiece in 2016. Adrianne Lenker’s lyrics often center on large epiphanies found in small moments; finding out that no one can “kiss away my shit” in a...

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Featured Review 2017-03-18 08:59:01
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
March 18, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Carol Morgan Quartet - Post Cool Vol. 1:The Night Shift - (Self Released)
This CD from New Jersey based trumpeter Morgan is fresh, personal, and intimately authentic. In total control of her tone, she eschews the mechanical precision that ...

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Featured Review 2017-03-15 11:43:04
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
March 15, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Heads of State - Four in One - (Smokestack Records)
300 + years of jazz experience are unleashed on this release by Gary Bartz (Sax), Larry Willis (Piano), David Williams (bass), and Al Foster (drums).

Playing with supreme ver...

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Featured Review 2017-03-07 09:27:55
New in the KUCI Jazz and Classical Library
March 7, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Kei Akagi - Contrast & Form - (Time & Style Jazz)
Recorded last summer in Japan with his Japanese trio, Shunya Wakai, bass and Tamaya Honda, drums, UCI's Chancellor's Professor Akagi presents chamber jazz of the highest order.

Goet...

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Featured Review 2017-02-28 14:21:06
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
February 28, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Michael Zilber - Originals for the Original - (Origin)
Lets start out by saying that these are incredible melodies. The compositions are deeply engaging and the ensemble beautifully supports Zilber's intensely personal voice on tenor and s...

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Featured Review 2017-02-21 10:39:42
New in the KUCI Jazz Library (Canadian Edition)
February 21, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Noah Haidu - Infinite Distances - (Cellar Live)
Noah Haidu is a young composer pianist currently based in New York. Fronting an ensemble New York's finest, (Jeremy Pelt, Trumpet, Sharel Cassity, alto sax, Jon Irabagon, soprano and tenor sax...

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Featured Review 2017-02-13 17:19:02
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
February 13, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Bill Anschell - Rumbler - (Origin records)
Bill Anschell is a pianist arranger who provides here that subtle miracle of jazz performance, making an elephant walk on stilts. Deep in tone and soul his tunes and a couple of covers, (most nota...

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Featured Review 2017-01-28 10:38:10
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
January 28, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Singers! Singers! Singers!

Theo Bleckmann - Elegy - (ECM)
The adjective often associated with Bleckmann's singing is ethereal. Perhaps it is because of his tonal purity that lends an angelic quality to his vocals. Perhaps it ...

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Featured Review 2017-01-23 19:09:00
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
January 23, 2017
The Young Masters - Coming of Age - (Self Released)
I repeat, Chicago is the capital of jazz. I believe it is because jazz is still integrated in multiple facets of the lives of that city's people. It is more than an entertainment. It is ...

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Featured Review 2017-01-06 16:22:15
New in the KUCI Classical Library
January 6, 2017
by: Hobart Taylor

Philippe Sly/John Charles Britton - Schubert Sessions: Lieder with Guitar - (Analekta)
Arranging lieder with guitar instead of piano is not a new idea... scholars point out that music publishers in the 19th century printed such arrangements ...

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Featured Review 2016-12-12 16:22:06
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
December 12, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Nicole Mitchell and Mandorla Awakening II - Emerging Worlds - (FPE)
Nicole Mitchell/Black Earth Ensemble Ensemble Laborintus - Moments of Fatherhood - (Rouge Art)

These two new releases by UCI's own stellar resident composer/...

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Featured Review 2016-12-04 07:10:56
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
December 4, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Andrew Downing - Otterville - (Self Released)
Cellist Downing has been featured on several Canadian jazz, classical, folk and world releases, and like many of his contemporaries is genre flexible in his own compositions. This CD is primar...

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Featured Review 2016-11-13 10:34:42
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
November 13, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Basically Baker Vol. 2 - Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra - (Patois Records)
This is an important record. While the performances are extraordinary, the compositions are the real stars here. The late David Baker was famous as an educator esta...

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Featured Review 2016-11-10 08:13:19
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
November 10, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

John Moulder - Earthborn Tales of Soul and Spirit - (Origin Records)
Guitarist/Composer Moulder is joined here by an exceptional cast, including but not limited to trumpeter Marquis Hill, tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin and pianist Jim Tr...

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Featured Review 2016-10-26 10:44:40
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
October 26, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Ron McCurdy Quintet - Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods For Jazz (The Langston Hughes Project) - (Self Released)
Last year, neo-classical composer Laura Karpman created a sound collage inspired by Langston Hughes' poem cycle "Ask Your Mama". It inco...

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Featured Review 2016-10-22 07:15:18
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
October 22, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Space Orphan - Shut Up About The Sun - (Self-Released)
Funk jazz revival stinky synths and all with a dj...veddy veddy philly and deeply cool. These guys sound like they ejected from P-Funk's Holy Mothership and their pod crashed landed i...

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Featured Review 2016-10-11 11:33:51
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
October 11, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Orrin Evans - #knowingishalfthebattle - (Smoke Session Records)
Pianist/composer Evans is joined by star guitarists Kurt Rosenwinkel and Kevin Eubanks who load the disc up with classy fills, and reed player Caleb Curtis who plays with ca...

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Featured Review 2016-09-30 14:54:39
New in the KUCI Classical Library
September 30, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Matt Heimovitz - Overtures to Bach - (Pentatone)
Cellist Heimovitz commissioned six of the most prominent composers of new music, Philip Glass, Du Yun, Vijay Iyer, Roberto Sierra, David Sanford, and Luna Pearl Woolf to write "overtu...

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Featured Review 2016-09-24 10:44:44
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
September 24, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

George Burton - The Truth of What I Am: The Narcissist - (Inner Circle Music)
Pianist/Composer Burton like Marcus Strickland, Derrick Hodge, and Robert Glasper is a jazz melodicist of the first order who refuses to limit himself to the fa...

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Featured Review 2016-09-09 14:01:10
New in the KUCI Classical Library
September 9, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Various Artists - re:works - (Decca)
Henrik Schwarz, Solomon Grey, Fort Romeau, Patrice Bamuel, Kate Simko, Mr Scruff and Starkey have remixed classical composers Satie, Bach, Rachmaninov, Beethoven and Reich. Electronica meets classics an...

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Featured Review 2016-08-24 09:12:36
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
August 24, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Murray Allen & Carrington Power Trio - Perfection - (Motema)
Yay! We get superb tunes and we get to listen to three of jazz music's most extraordinary instrumental performers, two of whom happen to be women. Pianist Geri Allen has played wi...

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Featured Review 2016-08-18 09:26:29
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
August 18, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Kitt Lyles - Real Talk - (Saluda Records)
Composer/bassist Lyles is a sterling example of why Chicago is, in my view, the capital city of modern working jazz musicians. New York has stars and or academics, New Orleans tradition, L.A. gloss...

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Featured Review 2016-08-08 08:04:10
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
August 8, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Charlie Hunter - Everybody has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth - (Ground Up Records)
Guitarist Hunter from Wikipedia :"Hunter plays custom-made seven and eight-string guitars, on which he simultaneously plays basslines, rhythm guita...

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Featured Review 2016-08-04 08:43:52
New in the KUCI Jazz with World influences Library
August 4, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Debo Band - Ere Gobez - (FPE Records)
Ethiopian funky folk tunes coalesce around a jazz rock backbone to create the sort of dance party in your brain that won't quit. Think Brave Combo, Go Go Bordello, King Sunny Ade. This is my pick ...

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Featured Review 2016-07-27 12:36:37
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
July 27, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Milton Marsh - The Music of Milton Marsh Revisited Vol. 1 - (Alankara Records)
On a clear day I can see downtown L.A. fifty miles or so away when I am perched on a hill top parking lot of a park near the UCI campus. Look to my left, there rise...

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Featured Review 2016-07-22 13:04:40
We Are Scientists
The July 14th show at The Observatory In Santa Ana
by: DJ Broca

When 9 AM biology and a summer lab internship still leave you hungry for more, We Are Scientists can fill that scholarly appetite. The Brooklyn three piece rocked out the Constellation room last Thursday at The Observatory in Santa Ana. The band played mu...

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Featured Review 2016-07-15 13:11:41
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
July 15, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Ed Neumeister - Suite Ellington - (Pao Records)
Trombonist/arranger Neumeister was concurrently in the Mel Lewis and Duke Ellington Orchestras in the '80's and '90's, before moving to Europe to spread the gospel of superior arranging and jaz...

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Featured Review 2016-07-08 14:21:12
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
July 8, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

A Bu - Butterflies Fly in Pairs - (Sennheiser Media)
Last summer when I was in Nanjing China I gave a talk at Nanjing University on jazz. It was a brief survey touching on musical, historical, and sociological influences on the genre and a...

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Featured Review 2016-07-03 10:58:18
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
July 3, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Corey Kendrick Trio - Rootless - (Self-Released)
There is a keenness and energy in this group that revitalizes the deep '60's soul and bop grooves and the Bill Evans style meditations that permeate their music. They are an essentially an...

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Featured Review 2016-06-28 13:54:40
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
June 28, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Joonsam (with Aaron Parks-Nate Wood-Ralph Alessi and Ben Monder) - A Door - (Origin)
Bassist Joonsam Lee along three brilliant ECM all stars (pianist Parks, trumpeter Alessi, and guitarist Monder) debuts here with a set of tunes that is bo...

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Featured Review 2016-06-24 11:28:23
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
June 24, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Jane Ira Bloom - Early Americans - (Outline)
Here on soprano, saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom has explored a multiplicity of styles in her forty some year career. Hard bop, rock inflected, avant garde, and straight ahead jazz, it doesn't seem ...

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Featured Review 2016-06-09 19:11:33
New in the KUCI Classical and Jazz Libraries
June 9, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Yo Yo Ma/Silk Road Ensemble - Sing Me Home - (Sony Masterworks)
Ma is perhaps the world's most famous classical musician, and for that reason it is particularly noteworthy that he spends enormous amounts of his time, energy, and cre...

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Featured Review 2016-06-03 16:15:17
New the KUCI Jazz Library
June 3, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Hutchinson Andrew Trio (Featuring the Lily String Quartet) - Hollow Trees - (Chronograph Records)
Regular review readers here may notice I feature a lot of of Canadian releases. Most of them come from Toronto's burgeoning scene, (Ron Dav...

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Featured Review 2016-05-18 09:58:36
New the KUCI Jazz Library
May 18, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Chris Ziemba - Manhattan Lullaby - (Outside In Music)
Lightning in a bottle. This tight ensemble (trio or sometimes quartet with Michael Thomas on woodwinds) led by pianist/composer Ziemba has the Thelonious gene in its DNA, but more impor...

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Featured Review 2016-05-13 19:12:32
New the KUCI Jazz Library
May 13, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Manhattan Camerata - Tango Fado Project - (Social Media Records)
The Manhattan Camerata call themselves "Transclassical", that is bringing the discipline of classical compositional and arrangement techniques to musics from Argentina, Port...

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Featured Review 2016-05-06 14:31:12
New the KUCI Jazz Library
May 6, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Carla Bley Andy Sheppard Steve Swallow - Andando el Tiempo - (ECM)
"Andando el Tiempo" translates from Spanish as "In due course" (Collins-Spanish English Dictionary). On the occasion of Bley's 80th birthday, she and frequent collaborator...

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Featured Review 2016-04-21 08:11:38
New the KUCI Jazz Library
April 21, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Marcos Varela - San Ygnacio - (Origin Records)
Bassist Varela can swing, that is tread the middle path of the jazz small ensemble tradition, but while doing so he makes wry asides and astute musical comments that encourage these tunes t...

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Featured Review 2016-04-14 08:26:39
New the KUCI Jazz Library
April 14, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Marcus Strickland - Nihil Novi - (Blue Note)
It's here. The record Robert Glasper predicted. The perfect hybrid of soul, hip hop, and jazz. Glasper was tilling these fields...Kamasi Washington planted the seeds last year with The Epic. ...

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Featured Review 2016-03-31 06:53:28
New the the KUCI Jazz Library
March 31, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Carlos Vega - Bird's Ticket - (Origin)
Vibrant, in the pocket, and cliche free this release is straight ahead small ensemble jazz with Latin tinges. Saxophonist Vega's compositions are delicate, nuanced, sophisticated, and intimate. Up b...

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Featured Review 2016-03-22 10:56:04
New the KUCI Library
March 22, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Tom Beaulieu XIII and Mary Vaeni - Alice's Garden - (Self Released)
These old hippies have been sitting around picking and poeticizing for decades and they get it right because it is nothing but real. Alternating between Beaulieu's songs rep...

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Featured Review 2016-03-07 09:26:02
New the KUCI Jazz Library
March 7, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Rich Brown - Abeng - (Self Released)
Canadian bassist Brown's richly textured compositions are inspired by the clarion call of a hollowed out cow horn called an Abeng, an instrument used to gather Jamaican slaves in community and to pass on...

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Featured Review 2016-03-01 09:09:04
Anthracite Fields
Music of the Coal Miner
by: Hobert Taylor

Julia Wolfe - Anthracite Fields - (Canteloupe Music)
2015 Pulitzer prize winning composition, Anthracite Fields, features the Bang on a Can All-Stars, an admixture of classical and contemporary instruments in a chamber music setting, and t...

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Featured Review 2016-02-11 11:31:58
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
February 11, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Allison Au Quartet - Forest Grove - (Self Released)
Toronto based alto saxophonist Allison Au has a distinctive and conversational tone that sets her apart from the crowd. That's the first thing I hear, a distinctive timbre that seems aut...

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Featured Review 2016-02-05 17:38:07
New the KUCI Library
February 5, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Jazz CD.No - Jazz from Norway 2016 7th Set - (Jazzinorge)
Well among all the horrible things that might emerge from a Socialist Bernie Sanders presidency is government support for the arts like they have in Norway.

I hold in my hand a...

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Featured Review 2016-01-26 11:55:59
New the KUCI Jazz Library
January 26, 2016
by: Hobart Taylor

Dr. Lonnie Smith - Evolution - (Blue Note)
Blue Note is back with a vengeance. Since Don Was took over, he has re-signed many of the star acts from the label's past, now neglected grand masters and mistresses all, as well as developing...

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Featured Review 2016-01-10 10:18:26
New the KUCI Library
January 10, 2016
by: Hobert Taylor

Mark Brown - Skin and Bones - (Self Released)
A lifer. A folk-singer in the sense that he is one of the folks just singing about his life. Funny, earnest, sad, and occasionally country to the core, these down home songs glint like feldspar...

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Featured Review 2015-12-19 10:00:52
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
December 19, 2015
by: Hobart Taylor

3.5.7. Ensemble - Amongst the Smokestacks and Steeples - (Milk Factory Productions)
Out of Chicago comes this sometime trio, sometime quintet, some time septet, (and or)( more or less) (hence the name).

New York may be the capital ...

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Featured Review 2015-12-12 09:33:50
New in the KUCI Classical Library
December 12, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Laura Karpman - Ask Your Mama (inspired by the poetry of Langston Hughes) - (Avie Records)
Nominated for three Grammy's including producer of the year (classical) for Karpman, this ambitious pastische incorporates recordings of Langston Hugh...

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Featured Review 2015-12-02 14:05:05
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
December 2, 2015
by: Hobart Taylor

Josh Berman Trio - A Dance and a Hop - (Delmark)
Chicago cornetist Berman backed by two of Shytown's finest, (check out bassist Roebke's releases) goes outside melody and into moment. His tonal variations smooth to rough, sharp to fuzzy, m...

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Featured Review 2015-11-22 09:04:42
New the the KUCI Jazz Library
November 22, 2015
by: Hobart Taylor

Various Artists - Detroit Jazz City - (Blue Note)
The thing about Detroit and music is that there is a small town/big city dichotomy that allows for collaboration and mutual support rather than fierce competition. A lot of mentoring goes on, ...

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Featured Review 2015-11-12 12:32:16
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
November 12, 2015
by: Hobart Taylor

Lionel Loueke - Gaia - (Origin)
Loueke may be my favorite jazz guitarist. I remember the chills I got when I first heard James "Blood" Ulmer in the '80's. They're back.
Loueke who originally comes from Benin (West Africa), has deep ...

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Featured Review 2015-11-07 09:03:12
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
November 7, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Carrie Wicks - Maybe - (OA2)
The original tunes on this disc are all revelations. Written by Wicks and the web elusive Ken Nottingham, (is he the Seattle Bluegrass musician?), the songs display musical and lyrical sophistication of the h...

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Featured Review 2015-11-03 09:33:26
New in the KUCI Reggae Library
November 3, 2015
by: Jarret Lovell

Dubtonic Kru - Dub Conscious - (White Stone Productions)
There are different styles of dub. Some dubs are simply the instrumental 'versions' of reggae tracks with the vocals either completely stripped, or with minimal vocals fading in and out ...

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Featured Review 2015-10-28 10:35:55
New the the Jazz Library
October 28, 2105
by: Hobert Taylor

Arturo O'Farrill - Cuba: The Conversation Continues - (Motema Records)
In a recent interview with KUCI, composer/pianist Arturo O'Farrill talked about music and performance styles mirroring their communities of origin. In describing the...

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Featured Review 2015-10-24 12:44:44
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
October 24, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Rob Reddy - Bechet: Our Contemporary - (Reddy Music)
Soprano Saxophonist Rob Reddy has carved out his own independent channel of melody based improvisational music running parallel to the various rivers, streams and stagnant canals that e...

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Featured Review 2015-10-20 10:05:17
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
October 20, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Dr. Ed Calle and World Music 5 - America - (Mojito Records) Quintet
Dr. Ed Calle - Mamblue - (Mojito Records) Big Band
The highest level of musicianship of any recent jazz recording that has come over the trans...

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Featured Review 2015-10-18 10:07:39
New the the Jazz Library
October 18, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Clear Water - Electricity - (Self Released)
Trumpeter Donald Malloy melds hard bop, acid jazz and hip-hop in that New York way...like Robert Glasper. His assertive lines and pear shaped tone remind me of the Red Clay era Freddie Hubbard. T...

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Featured Review 2015-10-12 12:58:56
New the the KUCI Jazz Library
October 12, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Glenn Tucker - Determination - (Detroit Music Factory)
Some of the freshest jams out now come from Detroit. There isn't a sense of trendiness in the releases of Glenn Tucker or De'Sean Jones, and no chasing after "radio friendly" cuts or ...

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Featured Review 2015-10-07 10:40:12
New in the KUCI Classical Library
by: Hobert Taylor

Roger Davidson - Universal Sacred Music for Chorus - (Soundbrush Records)
This collection of three masses is a graceful exploration of ecumenical devotion. While following the presentational structure of the Catholic mass, Davidson uses...

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Featured Review 2015-10-01 09:42:30
New in the KUCI Folk Library
October 1, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Nano Stern - Mil 500 Vueltas - (TGM Records)
This is a really cool hybrid...folk, jazz, rock, and Latin from Chile's Nano Stern. Stern is a chameleon who wanders through genres seamlessly in order to give his music power and intimacy. Pick...

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Featured Review 2015-09-03 14:59:16
Beach House - Depression Cherry
Album of the Month
by: Stephen Masnyj

Beach House has always been a band that looked inward. Their songs dont exist so much as float in the ether around you, giving you a sonic accompaniment to those days where your thoughts drift to unknown corners in your mind. The groups output for the p...

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Featured Review 2015-08-29 10:19:52
New the the Jazz Library
August 29, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Stockton Helbing - Patina - (Armored Records)
Dallas based drummer Helbing releases a contemporary re-working of blues based jazz compositions. They vary stylistically between Kansas city jump blues and mellow tones (Jay McShann, Joe Turner)...

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Featured Review 2015-08-21 11:26:52
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
August 21, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Robert Sabin - Humanity Part II - (Ranula Music)
Bassist/composer Sabin writes ghostly charts full of neo-classical orchestral elements like late Ellington and Tadd Dameron. This is very important music, music that advances new a sophisticat...

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Featured Review 2015-07-29 14:56:55
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
July 29, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Frank Catalano / Jimmy Chamberlin - God's Gonna Cut You Down - (Ropeadope)
Finally. A party record so nuanced and musically perfect that you can dance with your feet or your brain or your groin or all of them at once. Following up on last y...

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Featured Review 2015-07-25 07:52:07
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
July 24, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Mitchel Forman Trio - Puzzle - (BFM Jazz)
Los Angeles pianist/composer Mitchell Forman joins with soulmates Kevin Axt on bass and Steve Hass on drums for a collage of casual virtuosity that demonstrates a versatilty and facility than tran...

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Featured Review 2015-07-17 17:11:57
New in the KUCI Jazz and Classical Libraries
July 17, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Kait Dunton - Trio Kait - (Real and Imagined Music)
Snarky Puppy alum , pianist Dunton writes vibrant complex and delightful post modern jazz tunes a la Vijay Iyer and Robert Glasper. There is some neo-soul, a lot of up tempo syncopated ex...

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Featured Review 2015-06-16 12:59:24
New the the KUCI Punk Library
June 16, 2015
by: Tommy DeSilva

Anti-Flag - American Spring - [Spinefarm Records]
Anti-Flag is a Punk Rock band from Pittsburg, PA. Their new album American Spring, which marks the bands first new studio release in over 3 years, is a really awesome an energetic record that t...

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Featured Review 2015-05-11 09:15:53
New in the KUCI Punk Library
May 11, 2015
by: Tommy DeSilva

Good Riddance - Peace In Our Time - [Fat Wreck Chords]
Good Riddance is a Punk Rock band from Santa Cruz, CA. Their new album Peace In Our Time, which marks the bands first new studio release in over 9 years, is a really awesome an energetic r...

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Featured Review 2015-04-19 12:29:24
New in the KUCI Punk Library
April 19, 2015
by: Tommy DeSilva

Hank Williams III - Take As Needed For Pain - [BRUC Records]
Hank Williams III, who is the grandson of Hank Williams Sr. (one of the most significant and influential singers/songwriters of the 20th Century) is a solo artist who plays a mix of ...

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Featured Review 2015-04-10 11:46:24
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
April 10, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Cassandra Wilson - Coming Forth By Day - (Sony Legacy)
In my last batch of reviews I said that my favorite of the many Billie Holiday tribute releases celebrating the 100th anniversary of her birth was the Jose James "Every Day I Have The...

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Featured Review 2015-04-07 12:07:33
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
April 7, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

David Ake - Lake Effect - (Positone)
Pianist and jazz scholar Ake, along with brilliant saxophonist Peter Epstein and a powerful rhythm section, bassist Sam Minae, and drummer Mark Ferber have created an album that displays maturity of visi...

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Featured Review 2015-03-21 10:40:03
New in the KUCI Punk Library
March 21, 2015
by: Tommy DeSilva

Jeff Rosenstock - We Cool? - [SideOneDummy Records]
Jeff Rosenstock is a Punk Rock solo musician from Brooklyn, NY. His new album We Cool?, which was just released courtesy of SideOneDummy Records, is a really awesome and unique record that inc...

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Featured Review 2015-03-16 11:04:55
New in the KUCI Classical Library
March 16, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Simone Dinnerstein - Broadway-Lafayette (Ravel-Lasser-Gershwin) - (Sony Classical)
Performing here with the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kristjan Jarvi, pianist Dinnerstein is a rising star in the post generic world of...

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Featured Review 2015-03-07 09:46:34
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
March 6, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Kei Akagi Trio - Circlepoint - (Time and Style Records)
Pianist UCI prof Akagi provides us with an extremely thoughtful and deft rendering of his current compositional thinking. Working here in a trio setting with bassist Shunya Wakai and d...

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Featured Review 2015-02-26 18:23:18
New the the KUCI Folk Library
February 26, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Little May - Little May -(Dew Process)
"Australian Haim" sez a reviewer. Apt comment. Poppy, clean, with a folky edge and jangly guitars... lots of reverb...lyrics like "Take me back to summer when the nights are getting warmer and I miss...

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Featured Review 2015-02-18 11:55:15
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
February 18, 2015
by: Hobert Taylor

Turboprop - Turboprop - (Anzic Records)
The product of Canadian drummer Ernesto Cervini and featuring several all star Toronto musicians, (most notably saxophonist Tara Davidson), the band and the eponymous CD swing, bop, and wail. Cervi...

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Featured Review 2015-02-10 08:44:18
New in the KUCI Reggae Library
February 10, 2015
by: Jarret Lovell

Tiken Jah Fakoly - Dernier Appel - (Barclay)
Tiken Jah Fakoly is one of Africa's most beloved reggae artists, perhaps rivaled only by Alpha Blondy. Unfortunately, his work is little known here in the United States, perhaps because most of his...

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Featured Review 2015-01-26 18:32:29
"Style" Scott and Dub Syndicate
"Hard Food"
by: Jarret Lovell

It was with the arrival of Dub Syndicate's newest release, Dub Syndicate - "Hard Food" (Echo Beach), that I learned about the untimely passing of Lincoln "Style" Scott - longtime drummer for one of the most prolific and influential reggae bands of all tim...

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Featured Review 2014-11-26 08:51:44
New in the KUCI Punk Library
November 26, 2014
by: Tommy DeSilva

Girl Tears - Tension - [Sinderlyn]
Girl Tears are a 3 piece Punk Rock band from Los Angeles, CA. Their new full length album Tension is a fast paced and energetic record whose sound can be characterized by distorted guitar riffs, fast paced dru...

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Featured Review 2014-11-14 12:52:59
New in the KUCI Punk Library
November 14, 2014
by: Tommy DeSilva

Lagwagon - Hang - [Fat Wreck Chords]
Lagwagon is a 5 piece Punk Rock band from Santa Barbara ,CA. After taking a very long break from the studio, Lagwagon has returned this year stronger than ever with a brand new album entitled Hang. Characte...

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Featured Review 2014-11-04 09:08:39
New in the KUCI Reggae Library
November 4, 2014
by: Jarret Lovell

Willi Williams w/ Yabby You Unification: From Channel One to King Tubbys (Shanachie Records): As a vocalist, Willi Williams is responsible for one of the most famous and recognizable reggae anthems of all time: Armagideon Time. Yet beyond ...

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Featured Review 2014-10-06 12:23:45
New in the KUCI Punk Library
October 6, 2014
by: Tommy DeSilva

Gnarwolves - Gnarwolves - [Pure Noise Records]
Gnarwolves are a 3 piece Punk Rock band from the UK. Their debut album Gnarwolves is very catchy and upbeat record that features a very unique sound that can be characterized by twangy guitars, po...

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Featured Review 2014-09-21 17:16:57
New in the KUCI Punk Library
September 21, 2014
by: Tommy DeSilva

OBN III's - Live In San Francisco - [Castle Face Records]
OBN IIIs is a 4 piece Garage Punk band from Austin, TX. Their new live album Live In San Francisco is very solid record that really showcases the bands raw and unique sound which is a...

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Featured Review 2014-09-12 12:54:22
New in the KUCI Jazz Library
September 12, 2014
by: Hobert Taylor

Nels Cline Singers - Macroscope - (Mack Avenue)
Guitarist Cline (Wilco, Thurston Moore) has been dancing on the edge of avant garde jazz/electronica/art music a la an updated King Crimson/Adrian Belew for a while, and this latest outing o...

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Featured Review 2014-08-19 12:05:52
New in the KUCI Reggae Library
August 19, 2014
by: Jarret Lovell

Manudub Echocid Pt. 2 (TerraLogica Recordings)
Somewhere between the heavy bass of dub and the ambient sounds of the synthesizer, there is room for much sonic exploration. Over past decade or so, several artists have successfully occupied...

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Featured Review 2014-08-11 14:37:19
New in the KUCI Country Library
August 11, 2014
by: DJ Wanda

Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin - Common Ground: Play and Sing the Songs of Big Bill Broonzy - Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist from the 30s and 40s. He was highly influential both as a performer and a songwri...

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Featured Review 2014-08-01 11:28:05
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 1, 2014
by: Hobert Taylor

Max Richter - Recomposed By Max Richter * Vivaldi * The Four Seasons - (Deutsche Grammophon)
Electronic composer Richter uses looping samples from violinist Daniel Hope and from the Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin conducted ...

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Featured Review 2014-07-17 10:29:29
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 17, 2014
by: Hobert Taylor

Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble - Intergalactic Beings (FPE Records)
Inspired by the writings of African-American science fiction author Octavia Butler, this suite of music is literally other worldly. Beyond genre, this is a seri...

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Featured Review 2014-07-07 08:23:41
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 7, 2014
by: Hobert Taylor

Hugh Bob and The Hustle - Hugh Bob and The Hustle - (Self Released)
From Butternut, Wisconsin Pop. 300 comes Hugh Robert Masterson and cohorts. Butternut, a town north of Bakersfield. With shades of Dwight, Gram, Tom Petty, we have here s...

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Featured Review 2014-06-27 13:10:50
New in the KUCI Music Library
June 27, 2014
by: Hobert Taylor

Rod Melancon - Parish Lines - (Medina River Records)
Some of the world's finest music is forged in the crucible of south LA. South Louisiana that is. Rod Melancon has both LA's to thank for his inspiration. Working with Dwight Yoakum guitar...

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Featured Review 2014-06-20 15:31:11
New in the KUCI Music Library
Hobart Taylor
by: Hobert Taylor

Mary Gauthier - Trouble & Love - (In The Black Records)
This is a song cycle ostensibly about the totally irreconcilable dissolution of a love affair. While Gauthier soberly acknowledges just how completely she has been rejected, "When a Wo...

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Featured Review 2014-06-10 09:49:28
New in the KUCI Music Library
June 10, 2014
by: Hobert Taylor

Sonny Knight and His Fabulous Lakers - I'm Still Here - (Secret Stash)
Out of the Twin Cities comes this soul man of local Minnesota repute. With a backing band of young acolytes who mimic the funk of JB and also Muscle Shoals/Memphis stylin...

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Featured Review 2014-06-02 09:37:31
New in the KUCI Music Library
June 2, 2014
by: Martim Galvo

Tobacco - Ultima II Massage - Ghostly
Gnarly stuff right here. Crazy electronics meet a DIY indie aesthetic to create some otherworldly sounds. The vibe oscillates between chill seaside beats infused with cyberpunk overtones to straight up robo...

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Featured Review 2014-05-20 11:43:22
New in the KUCI Music Library
May 18, 2014
by: Hobert Taylor

Gal Holiday - Last To Leave - HTRP Music
Tats and Boots and slinky Chinoise frock adorn this honky tonk chanteuse with twang on her tongue. Out of New Orleans, she has pretty good less than generic songs and a nice set of pipes. Nothing ...

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Featured Review 2014-05-13 11:49:01
New in the KUCI Punk Library
May 12, 2014
by: Tommy DeSilva

The Menzingers Rented World [Epitaph Records]
The Menzingers are a 4 piece Punk Rock/Emo band from Philadelphia, PA. Their new album Rented World features a really cool mix of Punk, Pop Punk, and Emo. Characterized by catchy hooks, upbeat dr...

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Featured Review 2014-04-28 13:04:07
New in the KUCI Library
April 27, 2014
by: Martim Galvo

Klaus Johann Grobe - Im Sinne Der Zeit - (Trouble In Mind)
This is probably my favorite of the bunch. Super chill, super rad, super.. super. It's like chilling in a German basement club in the late 60s/early 70s. I'm gonna put this on my iPod a...

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Featured Review 2014-03-17 08:31:18
New in the KUCI Music Library
by: Brian

WhoMadeWho - Dreams - Valcano/Darup Associates
This Scandinavian trio know their hooks and accompany them with synths that are so catchy that you cant help but bob your head. The smooth bass lines and backing vocals accompany a very lovable ma...

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Featured Review 2014-03-12 20:38:04
New in the KUCI Music Library
March 12, 2014
by: Martim Galvo

Black Lips - Underneath The Rainbow - Vice
Throw this one on - or in I guess - to your CD player. Throw this one IN to your CD player. The headliners for Burgerama III throw down their signature style of garage-rock ala psych/punk flamb for ...

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Featured Review 2014-03-05 13:33:36
New in the KUCI Music Library
March 4, 2014
by: Katrina Yentch

Satellite Stories - Pine Trails - Cargo Records
Everything about Pine Trails from chord progressions to 4/4 count-ins, to pleasant and upbeat indie pop structure, screams Two Door Cinema Club but with even heavier accents. The album is a charmi...

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Featured Review 2014-02-20 08:35:37
New in the KUCI Music Library
February 19, 2014
by: Martim Galvo

Sacco - s/t - Sensibility
Probably one of the most underrated indie bands out there. Every track on this album just works, the reverb-tinged vocals combine with ethereal ambient sounds and a solid but not overwhelming drum beat to make the who...

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Featured Review 2014-02-10 13:51:59
New in the KUCI Music Library
February 10, 2014
by: Katrina Yentch and Tracy Ratledge

Gardens & Villa - Dunes - (Secretly Canadian)
Keyboard synth-heavy, Dunes is a playful mix of 80's pop with your classic modern quirky indie spin. Fitting high pitch vocals accompany these tracks, and catchy bass lines ensue. Pop music that is ...

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Featured Review 2014-02-05 08:05:13
New in the KUCI Music Library
February 4, 2014
by: Katrina Yentch

Dum Dum Girls - Too True - Sub Pop
Too True as is the Dum Dum Girls merely refining the sound theyve been working on since their formation in 2008 that has gone through a number of members here and there. However, they take from the popular ...

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Featured Review 2014-01-21 08:21:02
New in the KUCI Music Library
January 21, 2014
by: Martim Galvo

Just Another Snake Cult - Cupid Makes A Fool Of Me - s/r
A mix of lo-fi and psychedelic pop allllllll the way from Reykjavik, Iceland. Cousins Thor and Helga lay down 10 tracks of pure aural pleasure - making use of unique instruments and taki...

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Featured Review 2014-01-09 09:11:27
New in the KUCI Music Library
January 8, 2013
by: Martim Galvo

Traps PS - For Dedication - Papermade
Classic UK punk sound. Strongly influenced by garage this eight track album uses dissonance and sharp, highly-accented guitar riffs giving you the feeling of discordance. FIGHT THE MAN!

Robot By...

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Featured Review 2013-12-19 18:14:41
New in the KUCI Music Library
December 19, 2013
by: Martim Galvo

Sol Cat Welcome to Cowabunga
Fun and funky electro-pop-rock, this album sounds kind of like a groovy twist Young the Giant or The Strokes. Thepsychedelic feels stay true with funky guitar, beats that make it impossible to not sway just a littl...

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Featured Review 2013-11-25 18:30:13
New in the KUCI Music Library
November 25, 2013
by: Martim Galvo

FUZZ - Live In San Francisco - Castleface
Listen to this. I could just end the blurb there but for the sake of filling up space here's some more info: the concert was recorded at San Francisco leather-daddy hangout The Eagle and features Ty ce...

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Featured Review 2013-11-21 08:01:06
New in the KUCI Music Library
November 21, 2013
by: Katrina Yentch

The Can't Tells - No Television - Medical Records
Fast-paced yet filled with laid back instrumental notes, The Can't Tells debut album "No Television" is plain old feel-good rock, yet within each track avoids the typically redundant nature of t...

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Featured Review 2013-11-10 09:00:17
New in the KUCI Punk Library
November 10, 2013
by: Tommy De Silva

Pentimento Inside the Sea EP - [Paper + Plastic Records]
Pentimento are a four-piece Pop Punk Band from Buffalo, NY who are slowly gaining more popularity on the Pop Punk scene. On their new EP, Inside the Sea, the band shows a maturity in...

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Featured Review 2013-10-16 08:32:41
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 15, 2013
by: Martim Galvo

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - The Speed of Things - Warner Bros. Records
After having released It's a Corporate World in 2010, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. presents the sophomore album, which is essentially a lot more of the same awesome. Playground pop d...

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Featured Review 2013-10-12 12:23:43
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 11, 2013
by: Martim Galvo

LAKE - Circular Doorway - Water Island
Whimsical indie 60s-esque pop, this LAKE album is a step and clap while slow dancing kind of experience. A little reminiscent of the Beach Boys but with a slight hip edge. Plentiful jazzy funk infusions. ...

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Featured Review 2013-09-30 19:18:17
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 30, 2013
by: Martim Galvo

Heaven's Gate - Transmuting - Inflated
Totally unintelligible shoegaze from Brooklyn, in a good way. Heaven's Gate manage to bring energy and form to a scene plagued by clumsy songwriting while still maintaining the defining aesthetics of the...

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Featured Review 2013-09-14 09:34:52
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 10, 2013
by: Martim Galvo

Royal Bangs - Brass - Modern Art
The Knoxville, TN natives are back with their fourth album - a Patrick Carney (Black Keys)-produced dodecatet of indie pop jams ripe for the listening. An organic yet organized sound permeates the album - well-...

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Featured Review 2013-08-29 17:44:31
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 29, 2013
by: Martim Galvo

Moonstone Continuum - Salon Edition - Totally Gross National Product
A delightfully odd, funny, and enticing album from the Minneapolis, MN conceptual ensemble. It's hard to pigeonhole this group's sound but if you have a sense of humor and an ...

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Featured Review 2013-08-14 07:40:57
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 13, 2013
by: Martim Galvo

Julianna Barwick - Nepenthe - (Dead Oceans)
Julianna Barwick's latest LP is probably as close as you can get to actually hearing the Nordic Lights. Glacial choral arrangements sweep to and fro as distant instrumentals appear then disappear back...

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Featured Review 2013-08-06 18:06:20
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 6, 2013
by: Martim Galvo

Medicine - To The Happy Few - (Captured Tracks)
To The Happy Few marks the return of LA-based band Medicine. It's been 18 years the release of Her Highness but it's obvious on track one that time has not dulled the edge on these progenitors of...

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Featured Review 2013-07-31 08:46:03
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 30, 2013
by: Martim Galvo

La Machine - Phases & Repetition - (Castleface)
This is a reissue of La Machine's short lived psychedelic fuzz, straight from the 90's. A lo-fi masterpiece created by some crazy Rhode Islanders, the album was essentially forgotten until Castlef...

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Featured Review 2013-07-09 09:10:56
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 8, 2013
by: Martim Galvo

Part Time - PDA (Mexican Summer)
I know it's only the beginning of July, but I think I may have found the soundtrack to summer 2013 - say hello to Part Time's sophomore LP PDA. Listening to it is akin to basking in a familiar lo-fi haze, comp...

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Featured Review 2013-06-27 16:16:42
New in the KUCI Music Library
June 26, 2013
by: Martim Galvo

The Multiple Cat - The Return of The Multiple Cat (Guilt Ridden Pop)
Catchy indie-pop with good production quality and a reverbed-out feel, topped with some airy male vocals.

The Mantles - Long Enough to Leave (Slumberland Reco...

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Featured Review 2013-06-12 10:37:49
New in the KUCI Music Library
by: Daniel Alavi

Portugal. The Man - Evil Friends - (Atlantic Records)
Danger Mouse produced the thing. Songs are accessible and sonically intriguing. I'm hearing piano, but is it something more? Some of the sounds evoke the feeling that one has heard these son...

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Featured Review 2013-06-06 13:04:04
New in the KUCI Music Library
by: Angela Taslakian, Music Director

Summer Twins - Forget Me - (Burger Records)
Summery dream pop with happy melodies reminiscent of the 50/60s poodle skirts and diners era. Very cute and smiley.

Irontom - The Nitro EP
Midtempo stoner rock combining elements o...

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Featured Review 2013-05-30 09:48:51
New in the KUCI Music Library
May 30, 2013
by: Josh Cabrera

Shannon and the Clams - Dreams In The Rat House (Hardly Art)
A modern rock throwback to 50+60s doo-wap with a punky power-chord twist, Shannon and the Clams get you swaying and singing, jumping and screaming, dancing and raging in one fell sw...

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Featured Review 2013-05-15 08:48:26
New in the KUCI Music Library
May 14, 2013
by: Angela Taslakian, Music Director

Mikal Cronin - MCII (Merge)
This is the second album Mikal Cronin has made, and its all about new beginnings. Its lo-fi garage fuzz with sweet vocals, sure to make any watermelon popsicle even sweeter, especially since summer is approaching...

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Featured Review 2013-05-07 13:32:15
New in the KUCI Music Library
May 7, 2013
by: Josh Yeager

The Littlest Viking- S/T- (Mountain Man Records)
United through a Craigslist ad, this Whittier duo- comprised of Chris "Metal" Gregory and Ruben "Emo" Cortez- bring their dream-pop infused proggy paroxysms to the studio with their second full l...

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Featured Review 2013-05-01 06:53:05
New in the KUCI Music Library
by: Adrian Garcia

Pretty & Nice Golden Rules For Golden People (Equal Vision/Rory)
Pretty & Nice offers up fast-paced pop-rock songs with an evident mid-2000s indie rock influence. Theres never a dull moment and the vocals are in a constant battle with fran...

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Featured Review 2013-04-24 11:07:27
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 23, 2013
by: Angela Taslakian, Music Director

The Thermals - Desperate Ground - Saddle Creek
The first thing I did when I saw this new album in the station was listen to it from start to finish. I definitely have a special place in my heart for this band. They are poetic and truly genius in their...

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Featured Review 2013-04-09 08:20:30
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 9, 2013
by: Angela Taslakian, Music Director

Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin (Castle Face)
John Dwyer is at it again with another Thee Oh Sees album. Were lucky theyre so talented with a genre that is hard not to love; droned out psychedelic garage rock. Johns particular singing styl...

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Featured Review 2013-04-01 17:12:56
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 1, 2013
by: Angela Taslakian

Born Ruffians - Birthmarks - (Yep Roc)
I dont even know where to start with this band. Theyre like vocal poetry. A good idea of their state of mind would be where they held band practices, on a farm instead of a rehearsal space, claiming they...

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Featured Review 2013-03-19 15:24:53
New in the KUCI Music Library
March 19, 2013
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma

The Black Angels - Indigo Meadow (Blue Horizon)
Its neo-psychedelia garagey goodness with some fuzz and synthey undertones. But unlike most garage rock albums, the songs you find in this one actually have some enticing or rather compe...

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Featured Review 2013-03-04 16:04:23
New in the KUCI Music Library
March 4, 2013
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

The Traditional Fools The Traditional Fools ( In The Red Records)
This is a garage punk album by Ty Segall, Andrew Luttrell, and David Fox. This album brings the hard driving sound of Ty Segall with a sprinkle of surf, all under a differen...

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Featured Review 2013-02-11 13:17:27
New in the KUCI Music Library
February 11, 2013
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

Local Natives - Hummingbird (Frenchkiss)
I know we are all very excited to have this gem in our station. Its ambient indie positive dream vibrations music that will make you want to join a co-op and live the sustainable life. Such a good lis...

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Featured Review 2013-01-27 09:57:01
New in the KUCI Music Library
January 28, 2013
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

FIDLAR - FIDLAR (Mom + Pop)
FIDLAR stands for Fuck It Dawg, Lifes A Risk and that is exactly what this LA surfy garage punk band is all about. Finally, their first full length album filled with lo-fie songs about drinking cheap beer, being...

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Featured Review 2012-12-08 08:24:01
New in the KUCI Music Library
December 7, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

The Barbaras - 2006-2008 (Goner)
The Barbaras rocked out the Memphis underground (alongside Jay Reatard) in the late 2000s but never recorded an album. This album contains all their songs in one place, which is very convenient indeed. Its lo...

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Featured Review 2012-11-25 18:13:42
New in the KUCI Music Library
November 25, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

Majeure - Solar Maximum (Temporary Residence)
Majeure is the solo work of Zombis A.E. Paterra. Its spacey and electric with loads of retro-sounding synths. If youre on your way to the moon, this is the perfect mix for it, because itll get...

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Featured Review 2012-11-10 09:50:41
New in the KUCI Music Library
November 10, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

Slam Dunk - Welcome To Miami (FU:M)
House party side project turns chaotic with this energetic live band from Canada. Melodic garage with nods to punk. Its similar to theyre 2011 album The Shivers but less in your face. At the same time, ...

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Featured Review 2012-10-23 18:08:36
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 23, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma

Skipping Girl Vinegar - Keep Calm, Carry The Monkey (Secret Fox)
They say not to judge a book by its cover, but this album case is exactly the way you should judge the contents of the cd. The album case is such a lovely experience, with lyri...

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Featured Review 2012-10-17 07:48:57
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 17, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

Ty Segall - Twins (Drag City)
Ty Segall...or as I like to call him, the lo-fi garage-punk god himself...its the 3rd album hes put out this year...pulling a Jay Reatard not only in his musical talents but also in his consistent and abundant ...

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Featured Review 2012-10-11 11:25:09
New in the KUCI Funk, Soul and World Library
October 11, 2012
by: Thien-Anh

World Psychedelic Classics 4 : The Existential Soul of Tim Maia : Nobody Can Live Forever (Luaka Bop)
Luaka Bop celebrates what would have been the 70th birthday of Tim Maia by reissuing and remastering his music from the 70's. Tracks in Port...

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Featured Review 2012-10-08 09:47:09
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 8, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

harlan - night loop (still beat recordings)
with a feeling of groundlessness, night loop combines analog synths and drum machine as well as natural instrumentation. the album "embraces a sense of mystery and stares deeply into the unanswerabl...

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Featured Review 2012-10-02 16:52:18
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 2, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma

Unnatural Helpers - Land Grab - (Hardly Art)
Its fun rock n roll with lyrics that question lots of confusing occurrences in the world...the cover art does a great job at explaining what theyre all about...pretty yellow flowers, but when you l...

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Featured Review 2012-09-25 18:24:58
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 25, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma

TEEN - In Limbo (Carpark)
Its lo-fi psyche synth pop with morphing keyboards and vocal harmonies that will have your blood vibrating the color of roses and wine before a two week romantic getaway to a mysterious place on earth.

...

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Featured Review 2012-09-20 08:28:26
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 20, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

grizzly bear - shields (warp)
3 years since their last release grizzly bear is back with rossen and
droste collaborating on writing songs together. bringing that
experimental rock sound with new vitality.

animal collective...

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Featured Review 2012-09-13 08:15:20
New in the KUCI Music Library September 12, 2012
by: angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

Thee Oh Sees - Putrifiers II - (In The Red Records)
its lo fi goodness that is a bit more shoegazy than their previous albums... fronted by the talented John Dwyer, Mikal Cronin on the Sax, and Dylan Edrich (from The Mallard) playing the Viol...

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Featured Review 2012-08-29 08:11:19
New in the KUCI Music Library August 27, 2012
by: angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

dinosaur jr. - i bet on sky (jagjaguwar)
DINOSAUR JR.! duh. recognizable immediately. this band has been around for 27 years and they are just as amazing as always. the band just has this way of manipulating sound and vocal melodies that stri...

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Featured Review 2012-08-18 12:51:12
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 13, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

Royal Headache - Royal Headache (The Syndicate)
Australian rebels, 60s mod, 70s punk, powerpop, shake your hips to all the electric guitars you hear in your headphones as you exit the car to grab your surfboard, wear crystals on your neck, b...

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Featured Review 2012-08-05 19:10:37
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 6, 2012
by: angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

matthew e. white - big inner (spacebomb)
wise songs about loving something in spite of the odds. slowww easy listening in a world of rushing from here to there. gentle ballads about love and hope with lots of muted brass sounds in the backgro...

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Featured Review 2012-08-01 07:06:53
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 1, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse (In The Red Records)
Ty Segall is on fire with this new super fuzzed out lo-fi garage rock album. As I like to say, the lo-fi god himself. Listening to this album sounds like when you just wake up from a very c...

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Featured Review 2012-07-09 14:55:25
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 9, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

the drowning men - all of the unknown - borstal beat records
full, thoughtful and progressive indie-rock with hints of country folk, full of drive and grit of the working man. pushing sounds with the use of a teremin (!!), mandolin, even saw. ...

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Featured Review 2012-06-29 15:42:08
New in the KUCI Music Library
June 29, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma

fawn - coastlines - quite scientific
personal fav of the week, loving the harmonies from the male and female vocals. super easy listening for pool time lounging, uplifting melodies and sounds. sweet indie pop energy. so easy to sing along to, loveee t...

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Featured Review 2012-06-20 08:21:44
New in the KUCI Music Library
June 19, 2012
by: Angela Taslakian and Michelle Ma, Co-Music Directors

The Intelligence - Everybodys Got It Easy But Me (Planetary)
Main dude, Lars Finberg, currently of Thee Oh Sees and Wounded Lion, is working his magic in this new band. Its not quite garage rock, its mid-fi music that can be enjoyed most ...

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Featured Review 2012-06-05 08:15:03
New in the KUCI Music Library
June 4, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

Broken Water - Tempest (Hardly Art)
Just as Brian Wilson's Smile has the mythical status of being one of the greatest 'lost' albums, Broken Water's newest Tempest sounds like it could have been the greatest umbrella required perpetual June g...

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Featured Review 2012-06-02 13:17:22
New in the KUCI Music Library
June 1, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

Ulaan Markhor - Ulaan Markhor (Soft Abuse)
Por y para memorial day I engaged in ecological seance via a day trip to the Salton Sea, a once hot-spot that celebs and musicians in the 20s through the 50s visited for vacations of water-skiing and...

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Featured Review 2012-05-22 09:09:23
New in the KUCI Music Library
May 21, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

Fuxa - Electric Sound Of Summer (Rocket Girl)
Neu age proto-solar-eclipsical with dashes of super-moon sugar-sweet polished sine-square-decay core Krautrock featuring a pretty great cover of 'Our Lips Are Sealed'. To put things into a cosmic...

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Featured Review 2012-05-15 17:22:43
New in the KUCI Music Library
May 15, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

Chromatics - Kill For Love (Italians Do It Better)
Ultra-violent, sadistic, and decadent Caligulatic everyday=youth blissed out and perfected synth-pop that is 'banned in over seven countries worldwide', documenting what attracts an audience ...

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Featured Review 2012-05-08 08:35:02
New in the KUCI Music Library
May 7, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Beach House - Bloom (Sub Pop)
Possibly the most controversial band at KUCI. Inspiring equal parts disdain and praise, boredom to enlightenment, Beach House leaves you anywhere except on the fence. Recently I watched Miranda July's 2011 movie,...

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Featured Review 2012-05-01 08:44:08
New in the KUCI Music Library
May 1, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

Grouper - AIA - (Kranky)
Previously unavailable on CD, this week we have a reissue of Grouper's Dream Loss/Alien Observer double album from last year . Her most beautiful and immersive album to date, this is what every day without the sun sound...

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Featured Review 2012-04-17 08:48:47
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 16, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney


Spiritualized - Sweet Heart, Sweet Light (Fat Possum)
Contrary to what you might think, the album is not called 'Huh?'. Maybe I was at fault for assuming so, but the album cover continues the utilitarian and now maybe literally iconic st...

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Featured Review 2012-04-10 08:43:16
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 9, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

Part Time - What Would You Say (Mexican Summer)
Covered in glitter love-in-a-hopeless-place pickup-line-repelling world-is-yours synth pop. It's empowering in every positive, emotional, and social way. Sounds like when you've had too much to ...

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Featured Review 2012-04-04 06:22:13
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 2, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

Pumice - Puny (Soft Abuse)
New Zealand's own Pumice has new album of disjointed unpredictable muggy monolithic unmixed de-tempod untuned half pop hits. It's deeply and subtly cutting, while not being at all contrived. It almost approaches zon...

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Featured Review 2012-03-27 08:33:58
New in the KUCI Music Library
March 26, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

Black Dice - Mr. Impossible (Ribbon Music)
Beat-heavy post-alternate-universe self-collapsing gargle-based proto-tropicalia hyphen-dominated dementia-punk that is squirty madness meets da club.

Yann Tiersen - Skyline (Anti) ...

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Featured Review 2012-03-13 09:33:16
New in the KUCI Music Library
March 12, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

The Men - Open Your Heart - (Sacred Bones)
There's probably no band that plays with expectations like The Men. While their prior two albums (both of which are pretty near perfect) leaned towards the dread of Dead C and psychedelia of Spacemen 3...

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Featured Review 2012-03-08 08:53:06
New in the KUCI Music Library
March 7, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney and Hobart Taylor

The Magnetic Fields - Love At The Bottom Of The Sea (Merge)
New romantic theatrical and too-clever-for-their-own-good sad-pop by the Magnetic Fields that marks a return to their earlier 90s synth based bubbly demented personal headphones-only...

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Featured Review 2012-02-28 08:30:45
New in the KUCI Music Library
February 27, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney, Alejandra, and Hobart Taylor

Summer Twins - Summer Twins (Burger)
In the late 80s, two twins would enter the gauntlet to see which duo deserved to star in a movie about twins. In one corner, we have the terrible Arnold Schwartzenegger and Danny DeVito. On the other, we h...

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Featured Review 2012-02-13 17:00:55
New in the KUCI Music Library
February 13, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

Chairlift - Something (Kanine)
Every guilty pleasure rolled into one antironic cosmic blue-crimped 80's yoga-pallades-tape leotard-all-the-time pop outfit. It's a beautiful mechanical, polyrhythmic space work-out with diva vocals that makes ...

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Featured Review 2012-02-07 10:14:59
New in the KUCI Music Library
February 6, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

Jesse Ruins - Dream Analysis (Captured Tracks )
Today I read an article about how scientist working in Antarctica have just drilled through four kilometers of ice-crust to a sub-glacial lake known as Lake Vostok. What is interesting about Lak...

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Featured Review 2012-02-01 06:57:22
New in the KUCI Music Library
February 1, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

Of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks
Always shape-shifting evolving and everyone's favorite 'I liked their Cherry Peel sound better' band, Of Montreal gets a little more soulful, spiritual, proggy, and cinematic, if that is possible at all. Expanding...

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Featured Review 2012-01-23 13:43:06
New in the KUCI Music Library
January 23, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory (Carpark)
It's mind boggling how macroscopically bland mainstream alternative rock radio is in comparison to top 40 hip hop/pop/dance. Rihana's 'We Found Love' marks her 20th number one hit and an interesting...

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Featured Review 2012-01-16 16:18:45
New in the KUCI Music Library
January 16, 2012
by: Paul McEldowney

Maher Shalal Hash Baz - Faux Dpart (Yik Yak)
One of those nights at KUCI led me to run into a mysterious release by Maher Shalal Hash Baz with a sticker tag that said 'Recorded at Dub Narcotic with members of Deerhoof'. Apparently his first...

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Featured Review 2011-12-08 15:32:23
New in the KUCI Loud Rock Library
by: DJ Azrael

Various Artists "We Wish You A Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year!" (Armoury Records)
This is an amazing compilation of Christmas songs put together by Armoury Records and featuring a variety of contributions from heavy metal veterans. Eac...

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Featured Review 2011-11-22 10:58:24
New in the KUCI Music Library
November 21, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Steve Hauschildt - Tragedy & Geometry (Kranky)
The advent of non-eudlidean geometries in the 19th century marked an important historical revolution in mathematics--Euclid's geometry, the one we learn in high school, was not the only logically...

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Featured Review 2011-11-14 15:22:42
New in the KUCI Music Library
by: Paul McEldowney

Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica (Software)
While I am recovering from the deep nostalgia of listening to the Sigur Ros live album that came in this week, I am reminded of how nostalgia functions as romantic subconscious selective memory and h...

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Featured Review 2011-11-08 09:36:32
New in the KUCI Music Library
November 7, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Atlas Sound - Parallax (4AD)
Deeply personal emotionally driven cosmic field trip bedroom pop outshining the Deerhunter brand in diversity and creativity. A friend of mine who is in Israel recently wrote about how he went to a restaurant wher...

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Featured Review 2011-11-04 14:56:45
New in the KUCI Music Library
November 4, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Cass McCombs - Humor Risk (Domino)
His second album in 2011! His first of the year was Wit's End a slow moody chamber folk, and his newest is more upbeat, focused, and consciously and appropriately arrogant. Like all of McCombs' work, Humor R...

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Featured Review 2011-10-24 19:46:35
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 24, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Real Estate - Days (Mute)
It's hard to believe that ten years ago P.O.D.'s album Satellite featuring the hit Alive was released. It is that song which begins 'Everyday is a new day; I'm thankful for every breath I take'. Everyone realized the...

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Featured Review 2011-10-18 09:34:34
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 17, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Fennesz - Seven Stars (Touch Tone)
Listening to this is like experiencing all the best parts of going to a planetarium without the neck pain. Fennesz's new EP is truly goosebumping inducing stuff and a post-true-to-reality counterpart to ever...

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Featured Review 2011-10-11 08:51:52
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 11, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

The Field - Looping State Of Mind (Kompakt)
On his last record, The Field recorded a cover of Beck's Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime which leaves out what I take to be the best part of the song, that is, the part of the song which mentions ...

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Featured Review 2011-10-04 09:22:03
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 3, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Future Islands - On The Water (Thrill Jockey)
Cold mechanical super polished spaced out organic poly-rhythmic electronic chrome-pop. It's way more minimal and patient than their previous album, but it's still super cerebral like their previou...

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Featured Review 2011-09-29 08:46:28
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 28, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Twin Sister - In Heaven (Domino)
If this album is anything, it is not cheap or lazy. Improving on the occasionally frustratingly homogenous retro-futuristic dance-pop of their contemporaries, In Heaven doesn't make the mistake of recycling it...

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Featured Review 2011-09-22 10:22:01
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 22, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams - Sub Pop
Standing out from the herd of all-girl garage fuzz pop acts, Dum Dum Girls' strongest suit is their confidence and transparency. Singer/song-writer Dee Dee does not hide her voice behind the stylistic an...

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Featured Review 2011-09-13 10:25:03
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 12, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Jens Lekman - An Argument With Myself (Secretly Canadian)
It is never too soon for more Jens Lekman aka the 15th sexiest man of all the Swedes. The pop superstar and clever man extraordinaire returns with an exploration of psychological split...

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Featured Review 2011-08-29 19:51:36
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 29, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Beirut - The Riptide (Pompeii)
Moving from their highly thematic, orchestral, and careful Flying Club Cup, and the synth-pop oddities of his Realpeople EP of 2009, the new album by border benders Beirut is more straightforward, refreshing, fu...

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Featured Review 2011-08-23 19:08:14
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 23, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Wooden Shjips - West - Thrill Jockey
While my reviews tend to carry a sarcastic undertone with good intentions, I mean it when I say UFO is a pretty garbage band. At the risk of being overly cheesy (a sort of given when writing about music ever...

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Featured Review 2011-08-16 09:32:38
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 15, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Stephen Merritt - Obscurities - Merge
Magnetic Fields' hoplessly and nihilistically romantic front man's rare pre-69 love songs solo recordings. The recordings go from a more damaged and self-awaringly goofy synth-pop sounds of earlier albums D...

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Featured Review 2011-08-01 15:36:20
New in the KUCI Music Library
by: Paul McEldowney

Marissa Nadler - Marissa Nadler (Box of Ceder)
Nadler returns with another whimsical goose-bump inducing country-folk au natural. The album is transient, dreamy, lofty, beautiful and totally lovelorn, reflecting those sad, arresting, tough yet...

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Featured Review 2011-07-26 16:52:51
New in the KUCI Loud Rock Library
July 26, 2011
by: Chris Rigney

Stratovarius "Elysium" (Steamhammer/SPV)
Stratovarius continue to release epic power metal in a manner that other bands can really only hope to achieve. It's true that they tend to be a little cheesier than other bands of the same ilk, but th...

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Featured Review 2011-07-20 12:13:38
New in the KUCI Music Library July 19, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Liturgy - Aesthethica (Thrill Jockey)
Energizing Black Metal from Brooklyn which brings a genre traditionally clouded with and defined by mystery, possible nihilism and dreariness to the level of universally accessible and operatic spectacle....

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Featured Review 2011-07-12 16:29:37
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 12, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Washed Out - Within And Without (Sub Pop)
There is a sense in which Chris Isaak lives in the periphery. His 1989 hit Wicked Game is still one of my favorite songs in how its self-aware of its own tackiness and future demise, as the song is ab...

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Featured Review 2011-07-05 08:50:33
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 5, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

YACHT - Shangri-La (DFA)
Really celebrating the cult potential of their music, YACHT's Shangri-La is a series of dancehall power-psalms. As always, Yacht is super explicit and preachy, and the new album sounds like a natural musical extension ...

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Featured Review 2011-06-28 08:06:36
New in the KUCI Music Library
June 27, 2011
by: Paul McEldowney

Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver (Jagjaguar)
Ya'll probably know who this is. Justin Vernon builds off his already established brand of melancholic falsetto-soul-folk with a more expansive and hopeful sound (maybe he's starting to get over his e...

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Featured Review 2011-06-01 10:50:40
New in the KUCI Reggae Library
by: Jarret Lovell

Dr. Israel: Live at Dub Mission,. San Francisco
Brooklyns own Dr. Israel is one of the unsung heroes of so many underground movements. In the early 1990s, he was one of the pioneers of the jungle music movement. But whereas much jungle mus...

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Featured Review 2011-05-23 09:26:53
New in the KUCI Experimental Library
by: Paul McEldowney

Efrim Manuel Menuck - High Gospel (Costellation)
On his first solo release, Efrim Menuck of seminal Godspeed You! Black Emperor continues to showcase his talent of making some of the most beautifully dissonant guitar-driven sound collages mixe...

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Featured Review 2011-04-14 18:02:45
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 11, 2011
Quintron Sucre du Sauvage
If the novelty of shaking your tail to a goofy organ-driven boogie is what you seek, youve found your album of the year. If not, there is nothing here for you. Many other instruments are listed in the liners ...

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Featured Review 2011-04-06 08:39:46
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 5, 2011
by: lily C

The Death Set - Michel Poiccard (Counter)
This album mixes many genres including punk, rock, and electronic. Beginning with the album with the line "I wanna take this tape and blow up ya fuckin' stereo!" that is exactly what they do. Most song...

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Featured Review 2011-03-28 10:03:08
New in the KUCI Music Library
For the Week of March 21, 2011
by: Lily C

Boats - Cannonballs, Cannonballs - (Kill Rock Stars)
Indie pop, cute nasal vocals - sometimes reminiscent of Weakerthans (two of whom mixed the album) catchy melodies, some country male/ female harmony, lo-fi electronic textures accompany jang...

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Featured Review 2011-03-01 11:07:57
New in the KUCI Music Library
by: Tan Doan

Anna Calvi - ST (Domino)
I read that Nick Cave personally requested for her to support Grinderman on tour, and after a quick listen I can hear why. Anna Calvi has a really confident voice, and a penchant for being epic, if that means anything....

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Featured Review 2011-02-15 11:46:42
New in the KUCI Music Library February 15, 2011
Ringo Deathstarr - Colour Trip (Sonic Unyon)
I?ve been waiting for this CD to be released for 3 years now, and it?s finally here. The first track of Colour Trip brings back Loveless by My Bloody Valentine, and a bit of Lush (due to the female...

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Featured Review 2011-02-08 15:23:07
New in the KUCI Music Library February 8, 2011
by: Lily C

Fenech-Soler - Fenech Soler - B-Unique Records
This album is high intensity electro pop with fittingly dizzying, fully entrancing synths, pop hooks and melodies. The album as a whole is sultry, upbeat and glisten-inly glittery in a nature.
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Featured Review 2011-01-09 19:10:14
KUCI DJ Picks 2010
Hand-picked with love from your favorite KUCI DJs ? it?s the Best of 2010 list! As always, thanks for supporting community radio.

Unless otherwise noted, these lists reflect the DJ?s Top Albums of the year.


Kyle ? Things that...

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Featured Review 2010-11-30 11:41:03
New in the KUCI Rock Library
November 29, 2010
by: Tan Doan

Eagle and Talon - In Manila (BI/AKKA)
Eagle and Talon are a female, LA based art/rock duo. They heavily use synths and guitars (along with some samples) for texture and sing over the result. The first track is instrumental.

Sleep...

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Featured Review 2010-11-23 11:59:29
New in the KUCI Rock Library
The Naked and the Famous - Passive me, Aggressive You (Somewhat Damaged)
Most of the album in a nutshell: catchy, electronic beats and vocals. Not dancey in the typical ?unce unce? kind of way, but definitely danceable. Track 3 is darker and ...

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Featured Review 2010-11-18 08:35:49
New in the KUCI Rock Library
November 18, 2010
by: Lily C and Tan D

Eux Autres - Broken Bow - Bon Mots Records
This group is comprised of a brother (singer/ guitar) sister (singer) and a drummer. Their songs have a minimalist, beachy, dream pop sound. Most of their songs are about "skewed observations and fierc...

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Featured Review 2010-11-05 14:28:08
New in the KUCI Rock Library
November 5, 2010
by: Lily C and Tan D

William Ryan Fritch - Music For Honey - Asthmatic Kitty
This record is epic in a unifying sense, bringing together elements of ecstatic drums, chimes, pianos, clapping, and wandering violins. Half way through it redeems itself also as an RPM re...

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Featured Review 2010-10-12 08:34:00
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 12, 2010
by: Tan Doan

Allo Darlin? - Self titled (Fortuna Pop!)
This release is instantly infectious. Its more indie pop than twee, and super fun. There are call and response vocals, there is harmonizing, there is a ukelele. Vocalist Elizabeth Morris is also in ...

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Featured Review 2010-10-05 20:02:47
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 5, 2010
Revolver - Music for a While
The thing that really, really stand out on this record is the copious use of backing vocals, both as a harmonic counterpoint to the melody and as a layering effect to increase the depth and volume of the music. And...

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Featured Review 2010-09-28 09:27:40
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 26, 2010
No Age - Everything In Between (Subpop)
?'Glitter' is the first single off No Age's forthcoming album, Everything In Between, coming out on Sub Pop later this month. The title track begins with anthemic drums and immediately pulls you in, as...

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Featured Review 2010-09-14 08:36:41
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 13, 2010
Lazerbeak - Legend Recognize Legend (Doomtree)
Hip(ster) hop producers releasing solo albums seems to be all the rage these days. Not that it?s a bad thing, and I love the term hipster hop. The latest release comes from the Doomtree collectiv...

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Featured Review 2010-08-31 09:33:36
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 30, 2010
by: Tan Doan

Film School ? Fission (Hi-Speed Soul)
This album is a little all over the place, but is definitely worth playing. Most of the time, the music stays within the droney, wall of sound, dream pop mold, but don?t let that deter you. The opener i...

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Featured Review 2010-08-25 08:49:08
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 24, 2010
by: Lily

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) - Strange Weather, Isn't It? ? (Warp Records)
This album is energeticly calming, at times oozing pop disco flair, apparently heavily influenced by Iggy Pop, David Bowie and Depeche Mode. "...it remains seductive and sophistic...

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Featured Review 2010-08-17 10:28:11
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 16, 2010
by: Lily C and Tan D

Gifts From Enola ? ST (Mylene Sheath)
I was floored last summer when I went to see my friends open for Gifts From Enola. Being a big fan of shoegaze, I was curious when I watched the band setup and every member (except for the drummer) had a...

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Featured Review 2010-08-05 09:30:17
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 2, 2010
by: Lily

Sebastian Blanck - Alibi Coast ? (Rare Book Room Records)
This album is the first release from Sebastian Blanck. It has an uplifting, melodic, and folk like feeling to it. Reminding me of the "Thumbsucker" (2005) soundtrack and Tim Delaughter's...

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Featured Review 2010-07-26 20:49:06
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 26, 2010
by: Tan Doan

Bella Novela ? Battlelines (Self Released)
Bella Novela are your new favorite band. Well, at least they?re my new favorite band. If anything, they deserve a shot, so give this record a spin. Based out of Long Beach, the trio kind of sounds ...

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Featured Review 2010-07-20 14:11:30
New in the KUCI Library
Tan Doan
by: Tan Doan

The Books - The Way Out (Temporary Residence)
The Books continue to piece together minimalist sound collages for your listening pleasure. Sometimes its reversed vocal samples, sometimes its horns and chimes, organs, hi- hats, and sometimes so...

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Featured Review 2010-07-13 10:34:09
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 12, 2010
by: Tan Doan

School of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire (Vagrant/Ghostly International)
There is no sophomore slump for School of Seven Bells. Their followup to Alpinisms is just as good. The trio puts (sometimes harmonized) female vocals over a bac...

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Featured Review 2010-07-07 11:34:22
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 6, 2010
by: Tan Doan

Faded Paper Figures - New Medium (Shorthand Records)
New Medium is a catchy indie-pop record that heavily incorporates electronics. Comparing them to The Postal Service is inevitable, though the beats are simpler. Most of the tracks are upbe...

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Featured Review 2010-06-29 20:50:23
New in the KUCI Music Library
by: Tan Doan

Dragon's Power Up ? Brace For The Bloom (Guilt Ridden Pop)
This band sounds like Karate a whole lot, which is great for somebody like me. The guitars and melodies get a little mathy or proggy, and they add in other instrumentation to keep thin...

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Featured Review 2010-06-17 19:54:49
New in the KUCI Music Library
June 14, 2010
by: Matt Buga

Phosphorescent- Here's To Taking It Easy [Dead Oceans]
Similar to Wilco in its singer-songwriter style in a more classic sort of style and structure, but with a little more Americana twang but not exactly "country." Excellently produced with t...

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Featured Review 2010-05-25 17:22:04
New in the KUCI Music Library
May 24, 2010
by: Matt Buga

Jeremy Jay-Splash [K]
Clever songwriting within the structure of stripped-down indie pop with 50s pop color tones on a canvas of the mellower side of 70s punk n roll. Plus points for the excellent chorus on "Just Dial My Number."

T...

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Featured Review 2010-05-20 13:13:45
New in the KUCI Music Library
by: Sam Farzin

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record [Arts & Crafts]
Indie-rock titans come back with their first official "band" record in 5 years.

Indian Jewelry - Totaled [We Are Free]
Houstin/LA-based power-noise-post-pop fo...

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Featured Review 2010-05-11 12:08:39
New in the KUCI Music Library
by: Tan Doan

Seahold Electric ? Before I Disappoint You Again EP (Calgary Records)
Those who know me know I have a soft spot for shoegaze and another soft spot for dark, brooding music, so bands like Austin's I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness score doubl...

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Featured Review 2010-05-06 15:19:42
New in the KUCI Library
May 5, 2010
by: Sam Farzin

Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts [Sub Pop]
Fast pop-punk with an emphasis on the early 90s. A sort-of Sup Pop "Roots Rock."

The Joy Formidable - A Balloon Called Moaning [Black Bell]
Big big songs with a cinematic flair. Th...

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Featured Review 2010-04-27 11:13:24
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 26, 2010
by: matt

Carnivores-All Night Dead USA [Double Phantom]
This lil' musical plant has a garage rock pot with fertilizer pellets of the jangly variety that has also sprouted a tropical stem, a psychedelic leaf, a some slightly frightening thorns, all lead...

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Featured Review 2010-04-19 19:53:39
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 19, 2010
by: matt

Horse Feathers - Thistled Spring [Kill Rock Stars]
A pretty sweet folk americana style group out of Portland. First thing that stands out to me is the vocals, high pitched and fragile but still powerful and soulful (i.e. not hushed). Actually,...

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Featured Review 2010-04-08 10:47:11
New in the KUCI Music LIbrary
April 5, 2010
by: Sam Farzin

Bonnie 'Prince' Billiy & The Cairo Gang - The Wonder Show Of The World [Drag City]
Voice and guitar and bass making music lightly and freshly. 2 dudes, mostly. Some beautiful packaging on this.

Manual - Drowned In Light [Darla] <...

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Featured Review 2010-03-30 13:58:42
New in the KUCI Music Library
March 29, 2010
by: Sam Farzin

Dr. Dog - Shame, Shame [Anti-]
This little indie-roots-rock band that could has slowly and steadily travelled the roads of indie-rock-dom to this ostensible climax.

Caetano Veloso - Zii e Zie [Nonesuch]
Undisputed king of B...

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Featured Review 2010-03-17 15:30:20
New in the KUCI Music Library
March 15, 2010
by: matt

Eddy Current Supression Ring- Rush To Relax [Goner Records]
Goner Records successfully extends their arms to across-the-sea neighbors in Australia for a more mellow branch of garage-punk-pop BLISS. "Rush To Relax" has one of my favorite balance...

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Featured Review 2010-03-02 12:01:31
New in the KUCI Music Library
March 1, 2010
by: matt

Fang Island-Fang Island [Sargent House]
Awww yeah, a pleasant addition to the ranks of heavy-metal-indie-pop acts like Marnie Stern and the F*cking Champs. Sweet heavy and positive guitar riffs ala Thin Lizzy, chorus-y vocals, and just good en...

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Featured Review 2010-02-17 23:19:00
New in the KUCI Music Library
February 15, 2010
by: matt

Xiu Xiu- Dear God, I Hate Myself (Kill Rock Stars)
Good stuff from this indie classic dude. Production seems a little bigger on this one, but it still has that good balance of sensitivity and creepiness.

Carta-An Index of Birds (S...

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Featured Review 2010-02-10 10:30:24
New in the KUCI Music Library
February 8, 2010
by: Sam Farzin

Angelo Spencer Et Les Hauts Sommets - Angelo Spencer Et Les Hauts Sommets [K]
This rules! Kimya Dawson's husband and his band of outsiders write music for a non-existant spaghetti western of THE MIND. bring your six-shooters to this ennio morri...

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Featured Review 2010-02-01 17:24:08
New in the KUCI Music Library
February 1, 2010
by: matt

W-H-I-T-E - Sunna [Aagoo]
Ethereal solo dreamy electronica. Promo sheet name drops Dan Deacon and Panda Bear, but I think it sounds like F*ck Buttons if they had a singer and had a more DIY style sound. This is really fantastic and nice, man. ...

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Featured Review 2010-01-26 12:18:39
New in the KUCI Music Library
January 25, 2010
by: Sam

Laura Gibson & Ethan Rose - Bridge Carols [Holocene]
Super mellow ambient coos and caws accompanied by beautiful, light vocals from Laura Gibson. All the makings of a folktronic love letter. Remarkably listenable.

Library Science - ...

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Featured Review 2010-01-20 12:57:05
New in the KUCI Music Library
by: matt

The Soft Pack-Soft Pack [Kemado]
Garage-pop rock! Pretty catchy and way solid. Not particularly retro rooted like King Khan and BBQ show, its a lot more modern indie-punk sounding. Not a not-catchy song on here.

Dadfag-Scenic Abuse...

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Featured Review 2010-01-11 17:48:10
New in the KUCI Music Library
January 11, 2010
by: matt

Oh No No-Eggs [Friendly Fire Recordings]
Pretty friendly indie-pop which reflects 60s pop in a similar way as Apples In Stereo but also has more large orchestral pop complex ones too, so I can't really paint this one with a fat brush or anythi...

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Featured Review 2009-12-16 10:02:56
New in the KUCI Music Library
December 14, 2009
WORLD
Various Artist- Panama!3 [Soundway]
This is the third volume of some sweet tropical gems from the 60s/70s. As far as the music goes, i'll quote the press sheet, "a soulful blend of Latin American, Caribbean, European and indigenous f...

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Featured Review 2009-12-07 18:46:10
New in the KUCI Music Library
December 7, 2009
by: Matt Buga

Nana Grizol- Ruth [Orange Twin]
Really poppy indie-rock out of Athens that sort of reminds me of the Weakerthans. Earnest, unpretentious and disarming lyrics about love and and all it entails, usually a little more positive regardless of heart...

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Featured Review 2009-11-23 18:22:42
New in the KUCI Music Library
November 23, 2009
by: Matt Buga

Wild Yaks-10 Ships (Don't Die Yet) [Ernest Jenning Record Co]
Balls out rock n roll. I left this on my CD player while I went out and my roommate listened to it three times. Pretty soulful and shredding, and it has some sweet wailing saxophone...

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Featured Review 2009-11-17 05:27:53
New in the KUCI Music Library
November 16, 2009
by: Matt Buga

Red Mass- Red Mass EP [Semprini]
Out of the ashes of CPC Gangbangs comes this great punk-rockin' album thats got a sweet 77'/space rock influence on it. Very melodic all the way through, always decently energetic but for those of you who are b...

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Featured Review 2009-11-10 05:26:02
New in the KUCI Music Library
November 9. 2009
by: Matt Buga

Candy Claws-In The Dream of Sea Life [Indiecater]
Perfect example of something way calming and definitely not boring at all. Gentle sounding indie-pop that is very ocean-y and summer-y. Hell, it even samples the ocean. It actually works really...

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Featured Review 2009-11-03 14:51:51
New in the KUCI Music Library
by: Matt Buga

Etienne Jaumet- Night Music [Versatile]
I've been listening to this all weekend, and all my roommates have walked by and inquired what I was playing. Instrumental electronica sounds that sort of sound what people in the 90s thought that the fu...

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Featured Review 2009-10-28 07:54:37
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 26, 2009
by: Matt Buga

Felix- You Are The One I Pick [Kranky]
Folk-y/lounge-y female singer-songwriter driven by more minimalist-leaning piano and cello work. There's backing guitar and bass work done by a dude from the stoner metal band Lords which is kind of curiou...

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Featured Review 2009-10-20 12:07:00
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 20, 2009
by: Matt Buga

Efterklang & The Danish National Chamber- Performing Parades [Leaf]
Now this is something fantastic. This four-piece from Denmark performed their album, Parades, with the National Chamber Orchestra back in 2008, and this is the fantastic live ...

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Featured Review 2009-10-13 06:16:30
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 12, 2009
by: Matt Buga

James Husband- A Parallax I [Polyvinyl]
Did you used to listen to Of Montreal way back when? Stripped down 60s influenced indie pop/Cherry Peel-era? Well boy have we got a treat for you/me. This album is a collection of recordings by James Hug...

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Featured Review 2009-10-06 06:25:24
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 5, 2009
by: Matt Buga

Sweet Trip- You Will Never know Why [Darla]
I really like this one, its dream-y but instead of being slow and drone-y, its catchy and active. The trio's regular rock band instrumentation (guitar+bass+drums) is excellently complimented with som...

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Featured Review 2009-10-01 09:23:34
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 29, 2009
by: Matt Buga

Music Go Music- Expressions [Secretly Canadian]
Maybe stuff like this should be referred to as pop excess. Not ironic over-production, but this kind of highly energetic multi-faceted gem of disco, rock n roll, Queen, and Abba. Driven by energe...

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Featured Review 2009-09-22 21:20:54
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 22, 2009
by: Matt Buga

Batrider- Why We Can't Be Together [Low Transit Industries]
Generally dark and melancholic break-up songs with great female vocals. A little dissonant guitar work here and there, but most songs have a good catchy melody somewhere in there. Good...

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Featured Review 2009-09-15 06:58:26
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 15, 2009
by: Matt Buga

U.S.E. - Loveworld [Mannheim Worldwide/Rebel Group]
This 7-piece, also known as United States of Electronica, and are way dance-y and full of soul. Awesome funk/soul inspired guitar hooks, vocoders, disco-beats and rad lyrics make this album w...

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Featured Review 2009-09-10 15:41:44
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 10, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Why? - Eskimo Snow [Anticon]
This band is skilled and well-versed in seamlessly channelling depravity and joy thru an idiosyncratic lens not quite hip hop not quite "indie rock."

Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs [Matador]
This...

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Featured Review 2009-09-01 16:16:44
New in the KUCI Music Library
September 1, 2009
by: Matt Buga

Shonen Knife- Super Group [Good Charamel Records]
Classic girl pop punk trio from Japan! Around since the 80s, and still doing the stripped down pop punk power trio business singing songs about nothing and happiness, well except for one black ...

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Featured Review 2009-08-26 07:33:38
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 24, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Jay Reatard - Watch Me Fall [Matador]
If there is one undeniable talent that Jay Reatard has, it is songwriting. You can absolutely not deny the hooks he squeezes out of what seems like the most basic building blocks of whatever it is that pun...

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Featured Review 2009-08-18 15:07:20
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 18, 2009
by: Matt Buga

Mark Mallman-Invincible Criminal [badman recording co]
Ultra-fab ultra-produced pop record channeling classic glam rock. Dare I make a comparison of Jay Reatard meets Patrick Wolf? Yeah.

Marmoset- Tea Tornado [joyful noise]
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Featured Review 2009-08-10 20:58:29
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 10, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Mount Eerie - Wind's Poem [P.W. Elverum & Sun]
Once upon a time, Phil Elvrum made very melancholy, occasionally sunny, heavily produced (in the dorky, recording-engineer type way) songs as "(the) Microphones." Now, he makes those songs as "Mou...

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Featured Review 2009-08-04 14:51:09
New in the KUCI Music Library
August 4, 2009
by: Matt Buga

Timbre Timbre- self-titled [Arts & Crafts Productions Inc.]
Americana-flavored low-key pop, very much supplemented with great production. Sounds sort of cinematic and epic, despite being generally minimalistic. Really hits the spot man.
<...

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Featured Review 2009-07-28 16:40:31
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 27, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Fruit Bats - The Ruminant Band [Sub Pop]
If fruits were nuggets of relaxed musical pop-joy, then this band's name would be accurate as to the type of music they produce.

Pictureplane - Dark Rift [Lovepump United]
This is...

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Featured Review 2009-07-22 16:43:58
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 21, 2009
by: Matt Buga

Goldenrod - Paintings for Prophets [beast's content]
This one rules. Major soul and funk influences on this one, mainly on the vocals, upright bass, and piano. But this isn't genre-throwback, its way fresh with its instrumentation and producti...

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Featured Review 2009-07-14 16:30:30
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 14, 2009
by: Matt Buga

Brian Glaze - Green Living [World Famous in San Francisco]
Brian Glaze was a founding member of Brian Jonestown Massacre, and it shows. Great album containing fancy guitar work in lo-fi pop songs with 60s psych, folk, and new wave influences,...

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Featured Review 2009-07-07 16:49:44
New in the KUCI Music Library
July 7, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls [Fatcat]
These dudes are gonna tour with Frightened Rabbit and the Twilight Sad. Like those bands, this band is Scottish. This is dynamic indie rock.

Discovery - LP [XL]
Thi...

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Featured Review 2009-06-28 16:05:38
New in KUCI Music Library
June 28, 2009
by: Matt Buga

I Was A King- self titled (TCG)
Great Norwegian guitar-driven power pop with a teeny slight psychedelic taint in the vocals/distortion. Mellow but powerful, great hooks, and a guest spot from Sufjan Stevens on here somewhere. My favorite of t...

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Featured Review 2009-06-25 08:58:32
New in the KUCI Music Library
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Ty Segall - Lemons [Goner]
OC-boy toy Ty Segall returns with a band-album, as opposed to his last record which featured Ty Segall: the One-Man Band. Garage fuzz filled and on Goner. It makes me feel nice inside to know that a local dude is rid...

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Featured Review 2009-06-15 18:06:29
New in the KUCI Music Library
June 15, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer [Jagjaguwar]
Fact: this band's first full-length as a band and not as Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade) alone is one of my favorites. On this album, Sunset Rubdown continue constructing deconstructive emotive spectacles i...

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Featured Review 2009-06-04 12:57:40
New in the KUCI Music Library
June 4, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Eels - Hombre Loco [Vagrant]
Eels' frontman E seems like a real BAMF.

Skeletonbreath - Eagle's Nest, Devil's Cave [Ernest Jenning]
Terrorbird KIND of nails it with this one: think A Hawk And A Hack Saw playing the Lightn...

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Featured Review 2009-05-23 13:55:12
Propagandhi: Supporting Caste
by: Daniel Johnson

Propagandhi are finally touring the US in support of their album Supporting Caste. If youre not lucky enough to see them live, this release should give you an idea of what youre missing!

With 12 new tracks plus a hidden bonus song to boot...

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Featured Review 2009-05-21 09:39:38
Fever Ray: Fever Ray
by: Daniel Johnson

A repetitive droning sound may open Fever Rays debut album, but the release is hardly boring. In her first solo album, Fever Ray (born Karin Dreijer Andersson) blurs the line between indie rock and electronica. She does this in a way that is sure to pic...

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Featured Review 2009-05-13 13:32:06
New in the KUCI Music Library
May 12, 2009
by: Sam Farzin and [x]

Clues - Clues [Constellation]
Alden Penner (ex-Unicorn) cavorts with some Arcade Fires on this very fun and fairly complex and dense pop cirque. SF

Iron & Wine - Around The Well [Sub Pop]
A collection of singles and "be...

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Featured Review 2009-05-06 18:04:22
New Experimental Releases
May 1, 2009
by: Brayan Magdaleno

Terminal 23 - The Melting of Ice [Inam]
Another winner from Inam. Haunting electronic drone and noise. Tones pulse and vibrate, swell and dwindle. I find this album really beautiful, it seems bleak and at the same time uplifting.

...

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Featured Review 2009-04-28 14:06:54
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 27, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Akron/Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free [Dead Oceans]
Grateful Dead Williamsburg ripping amazing forever harmony party love death the infinity of the cosmos.

Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle [Drag City]
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Featured Review 2009-04-20 20:56:15
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 20, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Spokes - People Like People Like You [Counter]
Inevitably comparable to Broken Social Scene, Mogwai, and the Arcade Fire. Instrumental and epic, yeah?

The Bicycles - Oh No, It's Love [Fuzzy Logic]
Cute and appealing wit...

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Featured Review 2009-04-14 12:25:14
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 14, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Vs. Children [Tomlab]
Owen Ashworth was a film student before becoming CFTPA; this is fitting, since his songs are compacted, emotionally compelling narratives with elegant arcs fitted into the catchiest of ...

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Featured Review 2009-04-07 16:28:37
New in the KUCI Music Library
April 7, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

The Thermals - Now We Can See [Kill Rock Stars]
Are The Thermals a pop-punk band? Probably. Are they the most illustrious, intelligent, and indelible pop-punk band in America? Yes.

Joker's Daughter - The Last Laugh [Team Love] ...

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Featured Review 2009-04-03 15:35:21
New in KUCI Music Library
April 4, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Strange Boys - And Girls Club [In The Red]
Some dudes kickin around the garage rock can with dirty finesse. Plus, they're on IN THE RED so you know they're all aces.

The Coathangers - Scramble [Suicide Squeeze]
The gal...

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Featured Review 2009-04-01 18:57:49
New in the KUCU Experimental Library
April 1, 2009
by: x

Lotus Plaza - The Floodlight Collective [Kranky]
Totally dreamy shoegaze. This is one of those albums that can move between experimental and rock-a and no one would be the wiser. This album will get all the psychedelic/experimental kids slowl...

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Featured Review 2009-03-18 16:40:05
New in the KUCI Music Library
March 16, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director and Jason Pulaski

Dan Deacon - Bromst [Carpark]
This is the best album of the year and I really hope everyone plays this because it is so goddamned good. Woah, what an awful blurb! Check it out: this is Dan Deacon's finest work. No longer will you be able to c...

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Featured Review 2009-03-04 09:40:48
New in the KUCI Music Library
March 4, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand [Vice]
Happy-go-crazy broken garage rock boys from ATL fresh off a million world tours, bonafide rock stars that still would rather play basement parties (always happening in Irvine).

Mirah - (a)...

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Featured Review 2009-03-02 16:26:28
Belle & Sebastian
The BBC Sessions
by: Daniel Johnson

There's a lot of music at KUCI. Here's a selection that you may have missed from 2008 that is certainly still worth checking out...

Belle & Sebastian recently released a hodgepodge of recordings from the mid 1990s through the early 2000s ...

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Featured Review 2009-02-24 16:29:39
Welcome Wagon
Welcome to the Welcome Wagon
by: Daniel Johnson

There's a lot of music at KUCI. Here's a selection that you may have missed from 2008 that is certainly still worth checking out...

Welcome to the Welcome Wagon is the debut release from The Welcome Wagon, the musical project of Presbyt...

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Featured Review 2009-02-18 14:16:53
Sunday at Devil Dirt
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan
by: Daniel Johnson

There's a lot of music at KUCI. Here's a selection that you may have missed from 2008 that is certainly still worth checking out...

As a joint effort by Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Sunday at Devil Dirt is a haunting and mysterious...

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Featured Review 2009-02-04 15:33:29
Free Animal Collective Bootlegs!
by: Kyle Olson

From their humble beginnings sounding like the Beach Boys if they were raised by wolves, to their current position as indie rock's darling weirdos being constantly fellated by musical taste-makers the world over, Animal Collective have brought their joyfu...

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Featured Review 2009-01-28 17:02:24
New in the KUCI Music Library
January 28, 2009
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Late Of The Pier - Fantasy Black Channel [Astralwerks]
British youths weaned off early 2000s dance-punk turn around and make an album of post-dance-punk-funk. I guess this is, more accurately, post-nu-rave...which was never really a genre, rig...

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Featured Review 2008-12-08 20:32:10
New in the KUCI Music Library / December 8, 2008
December 8, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave [Gravitation]
A fresh-faced Swede (are there any other kinds?) tackles the folk music of Dylan and Harry Smith's Anthology series. The picking is loud and the voice is earnest and the music is remarkabl...

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Featured Review 2008-12-03 08:40:20
Friendly Fires
Friendly Fires
by: Vivian Lee

Paris: Friendly Fires promise that one day they (and you) will live there together. Club showcases, living it up, watching the stars and the city lights oh the life!

It's hard to believe that Friendly Fires are actually English by reading the...

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Featured Review 2008-12-01 18:59:45
New in the KUCI Music Library / December 1, 2008
December 1, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed [Arts & Crafts]
Lovable UK popsters release their second full-length in the same year as their debut. These folks are a million miles a minute more talented and full of ideas than you and they...

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Featured Review 2008-11-04 20:32:06
New in the KUCI Music Library / November 3, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Final Fantasy Spectrum 14th Century [Blocks Recording Club]
Cherish this digi-only-but-obviously-not release by everyone's favorite strings arranger and all around nice Canadian violin boy Owen Pallet. Chamber popppp.

Grampall J...

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Featured Review 2008-10-20 19:59:45
New in the KUCI Music Library / October 20, 2008
October 20, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

High Places - High Places [Thrill Jockey]
Water-logged future noise with light as the lightest lead whispy female vox as guiding light. Accessible inaccessibility that recontextualizes the ethnic as the universal.

Parts & Labor - R...

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Featured Review 2008-10-20 19:53:32
New Experimental Releases / October 20, 2008
October 20, 2008
by: Brayan Magdaleno

Menace Ruine - The Die is Cast [Alien8 Recordings]
So, when I saw this album I kinda freaked out a little (okay, a lot). Menace Ruine's previous release, Cult of Ruins, gets a lot of play on my show. It was an amazing mix of black metal and no...

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Featured Review 2008-10-15 09:07:31
New Experimental Releases / October 14, 2008
October 14, 2008
by: Brayan Magdaleno

Korperschwache - Eight Velvet Paintings for Helen Keller [Inam]
Distorted guitars and drums. There's so much over-drive on this album that I thought I had blown out my headphones. Then I realized that I was just listening to pure awesome. The...

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Featured Review 2008-10-15 08:55:47
New in the KUCI Music Library / October 14, 2008
October 14, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping [Polyvinyl]
This band has gotten huge. And so weird. They had a horse on stage at their show last week in New York. And like a circus troupe, and other stuff.

I'm From Barcelona - Who Killed Harry...

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Featured Review 2008-10-07 11:17:44
New in the KUCI Music Library / October 6, 2008
October 6, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Marnie Stern - This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That [Kill Rock Stars]
This is awesome. This is so awesome. Remember how when Marnie's last album came out you thought it was gnarly and shred-city but maybe not totally mature 100...

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Featured Review 2008-09-30 22:49:14
New in the KUCI Music Library / September 30, 2008
September 30, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Deerhoof - Offend Maggie [Kill Rock Stars]
Greg Saunier is such a rad drummer. He is top dog. From my listen to this, it seems like this record does not have many of the immediate in your face exploders that filled "Friend Opportunity" like "...

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Featured Review 2008-09-11 09:18:57
New Experimental Releases / September 1, 2008
September 1, 2008
by: Eric Roper

Harold Budd & Clay Wright - a song for lost blossoms (darla)
Beautiful ambience full of wavering tonal bliss. This is music for clouds to dream to on a clear blue day, and with rainbows too! The first track, 'Pensive Aphrodite', clocks in ju...

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Featured Review 2008-09-11 08:57:09
New in the KUCI Music Library / September 10, 2008
September 10, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Talkdemonic - Eyes At Half Mast [Arena Rock Recording Co.]
Viola+drums, instrumental awesomeness. Other instrumentation as well, but mainly the interplay of strings and thumps is what makes Talkdemonic continue to be so compelling.

...

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Featured Review 2008-09-02 20:37:36
New in KUCI Music Library / September 2, 2008
September 2, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Laborious lovers,

Here I am listening to Fela Kuti, gnawing on a biscuit. I was supposed to go look at some cool synthesizers but the lady flaked hardcore. It was an epic bummer.

I didn't barbecue yesterday. Did you? When I walked by my...

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Featured Review 2008-08-27 07:58:45
New in the KUCI Music Library / August 27, 2008
August 27, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Howdy homies,

Another week, another batch of albums.
Last night, I saw Radiohead. It was pretty boring because they didn't rock enough. The lights were pretty though, very pretty. The lightning designer must be this guy.

Brian Quon, ...

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Featured Review 2008-08-20 07:43:35
New in the KUCI Music Library / August 19, 2008
August 19, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Friends,

ACROBATICS EVERYDAY has a killer show this Friday at the Phoenix Grille. Performing artists include CAPTAIN AHAB, ANAVAN, DESTROY TOKYO/RELIGIOUS GIRLS, and three more very co...

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Featured Review 2008-08-05 17:03:57
New in the KUCI Music Library / August 5, 2008
August 5, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Meticulous mercenaries of musical maladies,

This week we have some rad music that is new. My #1 add is the coolest thing ever.

Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual [We Are Free]
This is my favorite album of the year. Twin telecas...

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Featured Review 2008-07-30 09:30:51
New in the KUCI Music Library / July 29, 2008
July 29, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Tune titans,

I'm pretty hungry. I really want some chicken tikka masala. Jesus Christ that would hit the spot. Holy moly.

Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst [Merge]
RECORD STORE, America (AP) -- Conor Oberst releases solo album. Rec...

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Featured Review 2008-07-16 16:28:50
New in the KUCI Music Library / July 15, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

KUCI wizards,

You know the only thing less healthy than eating a chiliburger? Eating a cinnamon roll immediately after it.

Awaiting health problems:

Melvins - Nude With Boots [Ipecac]
Thunder grunge riff sludge dru...

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Featured Review 2008-07-07 20:57:59
New in KUCI Music Library / July 7, 2008
July 7, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

My fellow Americans,

I spent a major chunk of this past 4th of July playing Rock Band. Rock Band is such a weird thing. It is ostensibly really, really worthless insofar as you spend a lot of time and energy playing fake instruments along to a v...

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Featured Review 2008-07-07 19:06:03
Above & Beyond
Anjunabeats100
by: Arthur Galestian

Anjunabeats100 celebrates the 100th release of British trance label Anjunabeats. DJs and producers Above & Beyond are consistently hailed as leaders in cutting edge, uplifting trance music. Ranked 6th in DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs for 2007, the group is the mas...

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Featured Review 2008-07-02 10:50:13
New in the KUCI Music Library / July 1, 2008
July 1, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Dear readers,

This has been a fun week. I have gone to see a lot of artists and performers in a variety of contexts. I could list them all but that would be presumptious and obnoxious so I won't. Instead I will focus on one event in particular I ...

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Featured Review 2008-06-28 21:15:17
New in the KUCI Music Library / June 23, 2008
June 23, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

KUCI compatriots,

I was in Berkeley and San Francisco this past week. I walked a lot. I got two Buddhist music CDs from Chinatown, but when I got home and tried one of them, it turned out to be a VCD. What the heck!

Here are three weeks ...

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Featured Review 2008-06-04 10:35:24
New in the KUCI Music Library / June 3, 2008
June 3, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

You know what's awesome KUCI?

Burritos are awesome. I know, I know. I sound like a stoner (not) and everyone knows that (right?). Seriously though. Burritos.

What are your favorite burrito places, KUCI? I like Poquito Mas, and Al(b)erto...

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Featured Review 2008-05-27 16:20:13
New in the KUCI Music Library / May 27, 2008
May 27, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

KUCI friends and enemies,

Yesterday, Parenthetical Girls and PWRFL POWER and Au played at UCI, outside at the Student Center's Terrace Stage. It was really really really really really really really really really really really really really reall...

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Featured Review 2008-05-05 17:47:31
New in KUCI Music Library / May 5, 2008
May 5, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

KUCI listening friends,

On Friday I saw Akron/Family again, amidst the bones of dinosaurs and other dead animals. If I could, I would probably see Akron/Family every Friday.

On Saturday I saw Harold And Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay ...

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Featured Review 2008-04-29 16:29:29
New in the KUCI Music Library / April 29, 2008
April 29, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Kkuuccii

How are you? I am tired. I spent a loooooooooong time doing adds today. Last week was invigorating. This week will probably be the opposite of that: gnitarogivni. Onto the jams:

No Age - Nouns [Sub Pop]
LA punks bri...

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Featured Review 2008-04-23 09:53:43
New in the KUCI Music Library / April 22, 2008
April 22, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

HELLO KYUCEE

This weekend I saw AKRON/FAMILY at Pitzer College. Pitzer College is wacky. They have a wall painting of two (2) dragons fighting in a sky-arena. One dragon is blue and one is green. Akron/Family is probably the best live band in the...

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Featured Review 2008-04-16 09:51:51
New in the KUCI Music Library / April 15, 2008
April 15, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

I had blurbs written, and then I closed the box apparently. Without saving.
That is infuriating!

Okay. I have been at KUCI for going on over 7 hours. The fluorescent lights are starting to hurt my head. This is Blurbs take 2. Brian (Mysteriou...

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Featured Review 2008-04-09 09:21:01
New in The KUCI Music Library / April 7, 2008
April 7, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Hey friends,

Got 10 minutes left on this bad boy before it goes kaput. I biked to school today and it was awesome(ly tiring I had to take a break). The guy next to me is being very obnoxious about being a political scientist. Whatever, dude.
...

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Featured Review 2008-03-24 20:00:18
New in the KUCI Music Library / March 24, 2008
March 24, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Springtime champions !

New recs for the week ahead! It's spring break. Go outside and swim, or make hot dogs (tofudogs if you are a vegantarian), or listen to music in a park. On a boombox, or an iPod dock station if you are ~advanced~.

...

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Featured Review 2008-03-19 16:56:53
New in the KUCI Music Library / March 18, 2008
March 18, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Last night I saw Boredoms. I loooooooooove Boredoms.

These are nonblurbs in the visual-movement style. I stole this week's second top add from Eric. It's going to be in the experimental section but I love it and it is one of my favorite albums of...

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Featured Review 2008-03-12 09:59:04
New in the KUCI Music Library / March 9, 2008
March 9, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Destroyer - Trouble In Dreams [Merge]
Musical inventiveness coupled with crescendoing nasal trouba-ramblings. Destroying mastermind Dan Bejar wins again! I used to drop so many quarters on that game RAMPAGE at the arcade where you destroyed t...

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Featured Review 2008-03-03 14:30:16
New in the KUCI Music Library / March 3, 2008
March 3, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

This weekend I went to a fantastic restaurant in Laguna Niguel called Lulu's Cafe where I dined graciously on seafood and crepes. I would recommend it should you need to get ~*romantic*~. Here is new music.

Why? - Alopecia [Anticon]
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Featured Review 2008-02-25 18:02:20
New in the KUCI Music Library / February 25, 2008
February 25, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Hungry Harlequins!

This week there are 16 adds, because a) there are a lot of good records, b) I am feeling particularly indecisive, and c) might as well splurge once in a while, right? Two are (AWESOME) late adds, and one is a single that will g...

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Featured Review 2008-02-18 20:41:07
New in KUCI Music Library / February 18, 2008
February 18, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Regal radio-ites!

Three-day weekends are the best. I have been relaxing. I bought a Polaroid camera and a copy of "White Lines" on vinyl at the OCC swapmeet. I saw Wooden Shjips at McCabe's Guitar Shop. And today, I listened to the weekly Jabba-s...

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Featured Review 2008-02-11 13:27:16
New in KUCI Music Library / February 11, 2008
February 11, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Caffeinated collegues!

This weekend I participated in UCI's Mad Film Dash. That was tiring. I had two Red Bulls within 7 hours, and then balked at a third around 2 pm after ...

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Featured Review 2008-02-04 18:40:03
New in KUCI Music Library / February 4, 2008
February 4, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Masters of melody!

I have been running on low amounts of sleep due to the scholastic vicegrip. As usual, there is a nice variety in this weeks adds. Due to my impending writing party, these blurbs will once again be short. In the spirit of "fun"...

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Featured Review 2008-01-28 14:31:53
New in KUCI Music Library / January 28, 2008
January 28, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Rainy Revelers!

These blurbs are of the succinct variety. Secondly, There are an ungodly amount of new records this week that have big and exciting names.

Hot Chip - Made In The Dark [Astralwerks]
Now you don't have to play ...

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Featured Review 2008-01-21 18:21:19
New in KUCI Music Library / January 21, 2008
January 21, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Dreamers!

It's true, I've got Monopoly on the mind. I actually bought it yesterday at Target (did you know there's a fancypants electronic version with debit cards now? One of the pieces is an LCD TV...) and played with a group of folks. A lucky...

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Featured Review 2008-01-14 20:08:56
New in KUCI Music Library / January 14, 2008
January 14, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Enfants musicaux!

I just ate a loaf of ciabatta from Trader Joe's with spicy hummus. It was delicious. I was counting on getting some water from the lobby water dispenser but we are you of water! Damn you, waterman!

Last night I played S...

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Featured Review 2008-01-07 15:28:38
New in the KUCI Music Library 1/7/08
January 7, 2008
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Salutations!

Christmas! New Year!
It has been a long month since the last time I did adds and wrote blurbs and I feel really rusty, like that bike I had when I was younger with the training wheels that was left out on the balcony and got rain...

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Featured Review 2007-12-05 13:05:06
New in KUCI Music Library / December 4, 2007
December 4, 2007
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Chilly champions!

Last night, I went to go see some bands at the Smell in downtown Los Angeles. First, Smogmonster I think played, and it was glitchy and lo-fi and cool. Then Lucky Dragons played and everyone smiled and touched hands. Then The Wa...

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Featured Review 2007-11-26 18:23:36
New in KUCI Music Library / November 26, 2007
November 26, 2007
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Salutations!

I have a lot of school work that is weighing heavy on me and it sort of feels like I am Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner is dropping an anvil on me, but in slow-motion.

This week's adds are small in number but aurally tas...

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Featured Review 2007-11-19 13:46:57
New in KUCI Music Library / November 19, 2007
November 19, 2007
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Compatriots of sound!

I bought a K records pin from Calvin Johnson. Something about that is so surreal! Johnson doesn't look into the camera when you ask for a picture with him. He also can make his voice deeper than the Marianas Trench.
...

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Featured Review 2007-11-12 16:39:44
New in KUCI Music Library / November 12, 2007
November 12, 2007
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

My memory is currently being jogged by peanut butter cookies from the lobby thanks to a certain Jake Bacon. All I can seem to remember from this past weekend is sweet, literally: cake, yogurt, candy, scones. I saw Joanna Newsom at the Walt Disney Concert ...

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Featured Review 2007-11-05 18:49:03
New in KUCI Music Library / November 5, 2007
November 5, 2007
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Hear ye, hear ye,

This weekend, I ate a lot of chicken wings and I watched a lot of movies. I went to Yogurtland twice. I ate at two restaurants. I sat on the computer for awhile. I went to a party. I danced. I listened to Sir Richard Bishop and ...

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Featured Review 2007-10-31 12:57:11
New in the KUCI Music Library
October 31, 2007
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Okay KCU-AI-AI-AI,

So I saw Battles last night and watching John Stanier play drums is like watching Godzilla tear apart Tokyo or another Japanese city. Watching people play guitar and keyboard at the same time flawlessly is like watching someth...

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Featured Review 2007-10-15 08:48:50
New in the KUCI Music Library / October 8, 2007
October 8, 2007
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Good afternoon, sport!

I went to Yogurtland on Saturday and Sunday. Can you say "weekend highlights?" I also saw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for free at a skatepark in Lake Forest (basically wtf?) and had a heart-to-heart in a bunk bed. I hope your weeke...

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Featured Review 2007-10-01 20:20:14
New in the KUCI Music Library / October 1, 2007
October 1, 2007
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

Woop woop!

This week presents us with a delicious batch of musics for you to spinnnnnn. I considered regaling you with some stories about my weekend but I am pretty boring. All I have to say is that Dan Deacon is my hero forever. Kyle wants to le...

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Featured Review 2007-09-25 21:16:35
New in the KUCI Music Library / September 25, 2007
September 25, 2007
by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director

!!
Hello KUCI here are some music adds for your ears and hearts down to your tosies. There are a lot this week but some are delayed from last week and plus EVERYBODY loves music right!? YEAH MUSIC AND WORLD PEACE!

Devendra Banhart Sm...

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Featured Review 2007-09-19 15:53:40
Dirty Projectors
Rise Above
by: Kyle Olson

There are certainly albums from ones formative years that, no matter how long its been since listened to, can be put on and sung along with word for word. These are the kinds of albums our youthful selves listened to daily. Though, if asked to sing the ...

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Featured Review 2007-09-05 11:08:39
M.I.A.
Kala
by: Vivian Lee

Not going to lie: when Bird Flu first leaked onto the Internet about half a year ago, I wasnt fond of it. M.I.A. bragged that she titled the song Bird Flu because the beat gon kill everyone. I agreed, but only because I thought she meant kill in ...

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Featured Review 2007-08-27 20:51:54
New in KUCI Music Library 8/27/07
August 27, 2007
by: John Penny, KUCI Music Director

Hi Everyone,

I don't even know where to begin to describe the last week of my life. Between a 30-hour power outage, an insane work schedule, my birthday, and enough girl drama to drive even the most composed man crazy, I lost track of the time a...

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Featured Review 2007-07-31 22:04:27
New in the Music Library / July 30, 2007
July 30, 2007
by: John Penny, KUCI Music Director

Hi Friends,

I'm tired. I only had one day off this week and today was filled with fielding work calls even though I wasn't there. If you're still a full-time student, try to stay that way forever. Anyhow, there are five new records this week i...

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Featured Review 2007-07-24 13:31:47
New in the Music Library / July 24, 2007
July 24, 2007
by: John Penny, KUCI Music Director

What's up Muggles,

Perhaps, like myself, you devoted seven hours this weekend to the seventh Harry Potter novel; and then again, perhaps not. If you fall into the latter category, you are probably better for it. I won't spoil anything, but that...

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Featured Review 2007-07-18 09:27:23
New in the KUCI Music Library / July 17, 2007
July 17, 2007
by: John Penny, KUCI Music Director

Hi,

So I logged into my email today to see how awesome my blurbs were, because I'm narcissistic like that, and I realized that my email was saved to drafts and not actually emailed out to all of you. Oops. There are a couple really good, high p...

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Featured Review 2007-07-10 14:53:29
New in the Music Library / July 10, 2007
July 10, 2007
by: John Penny, KUCI Music Director

Konbanwa,

Sort of a lackluster week for new music, in my opinion. Fear not, fellow DJs, as I've waded through the mire of crap to bring you the following new releases.

Bishop Allen - The Broken String (Dead Oceans)
These ind...

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Featured Review 2007-07-04 10:23:12
New in the Music Library / July 3, 2007
July 3, 2007
by: John Penny, KUCI Music Director

This week I realized just how difficult the MD job can be... I whittled down the new music to about thirty really average CDs and had a tough time deciding what to keep and what to pass on. Ultimately, I think we've got ten new releases (nine rock, one e...

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Featured Review 2007-06-18 21:12:57
New in the Music Library / June 18, 2007
June 18, 2007
by: Kyle Olson

OK,

These are probably going to be last set of blurbs. There is a new music director selected (well, two, and they're both legit). So, in order to make these blurbs memorable, I offer you this chilling challenge: I intend to drink a full beer bef...

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Featured Review 2007-06-11 08:25:04
New in the Music Library / June 11, 2007
June 11, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Alright folks,

I had a huge day of going to see plays with my mom, and trips to Amoeba (and the ensuing triple-digit pricetag), and driving, and watching Mythbusters. Sadly, because I am seeing LCD Soundsystem/Y.A.C.H.T. tomorrow night, I need to...

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Featured Review 2007-06-05 14:07:39
New in the Music Library / June 4, 2007
June 4, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Hey folks,

Sorry for the lack/delay of blurbs. Last night when I came to the station, I felt it was a better use of my time to talk to John about Twin Peaks (I have formed a religion around Agent Cooper. WWACD?). Then, I realized the time, decid...

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Featured Review 2007-05-30 09:12:18
The Boggs
Forts
by: Sam Farzin

When you go to see a band, its almost a given that youll have to sit through some opening acts: friends of the headliner, another band packaged along by the tour promoter, or perhaps a lucky, somewhat arbitrary local band. These artists are often put to...

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Featured Review 2007-05-28 09:50:21
New in the Music Library / May 28, 2007
May 28, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Happy memorial day, everybody.

These blurbs are going out mighty early because, well, I have a day off from work and want to get any obligations out of the way so I can get back to watching the History Channel's "Band of Brothers" marathon while ...

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Featured Review 2007-05-21 19:58:45
New in the Music Library / May 21, 2007
May 21, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Welcome to the slums/blurbs of Shaolin,

I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I hope you all had excellent weekends. I got to go to a pretty rad Simpsons screening party because my old cohost is dating one of the directors. The In-n-Out...

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Featured Review 2007-05-14 20:02:31
New in the Music Library / May 14, 2007
May 14, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Hey folks,

Listen. I worked really hard today. Really hard. And even though I like most of you, I would probably paint a boat with your blood if I thought it was going to get me home to a tasty dinner a little bit sooner. You'll have to forgive m...

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Featured Review 2007-05-07 21:45:39
New in the Music Library / May 7, 2007
May 7, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Word up folks,

Once again, I write these blurbs from the management office, as my computer was taken from the music office in service to the almighty Fund Drive. Hopefully everyone pitched their tiny little socially awkward hearts out in glory to...

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Featured Review 2007-04-30 21:18:30
New in the Music Library / April 30, 2007
April 30, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Word up, readers of internet music things.

Were in the middle of the KUCI fund drive. Hopefully, all who read this are either getting a lot of donations on this show, or are donating a lot of money to KUCI.

(Self-promotion: New issue o...

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Featured Review 2007-04-23 20:00:56
New in the Music Library / April 23, 2007
April 23, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Hello music-likers,

Did you guys have fun this weekend? Yes? Whys that? Went to a party? Oh. Awesome. When was that party? Friday? Oooooooh. I get it. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

Its a weird week for musics. I am tired from work, and were...

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Featured Review 2007-04-16 21:39:48
New in the Music Library / April 16, 2007
April 16, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Welcome, tiny warriors of justice and love.

I trust you all had lovely weekends. I did OK, seeing both Kimya Dawson last night (anti-folk love) and Lightning Bolt on Friday (there in ur eardrumz destoyin ur brain.) Friday also gained points as be...

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Featured Review 2007-04-11 09:02:25
New in the Music Library / April 9, 2007
April 9, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Listen,

Uncle Kyle had a heck of a weekend, full of mojitos, Brazilian BBQs, badass concerts, etc. Then, he is doing some serious work in the job that actually pays him (I cannot pay my rent with love, Im afraid). So, do be kind if these blurbs ...

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Featured Review 2007-04-02 21:32:32
New in the Music Library / April 2, 2007
April 2, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Hey all,

Welcome to April. More importantly, welcome to the new KUCI quarter of scheduling. If youre a new DJ, congrats. My names Kyle. Im the music director. You dont have to get on my good side because I have no power over you have a show o...

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Featured Review 2007-03-26 20:15:08
New in the Music Library / March 26, 2007
March 26, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Hey everybody,

Welcome to the BLURB THUNDERDOME!!! Several CDs enter, a couple others leave, and the rest also leaveBUT IN BODYBAGS!!! OH CRAP!!! Was that super intense? Good. Your faces are sufficiently rocked.

Slim pickings this week ...

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Featured Review 2007-03-12 20:00:14
New in the Music Library / March 12, 2007
March 12, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Hey folks,

I hope you all survived the weekend. I, personally, managed to claw my way through the weekend with a brain that still feels slightly mushy from lack of sleep and extremely loud music. When your weekend plans involve a concert, you are...

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Featured Review 2007-03-06 13:49:58
New in the Music Library / March 5, 2007
March 5, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Hey music-toleraters,

Everyone have a relaxing weekend? I used the weekend off to engage in a couple of things. Followed up on the launch of my website The Hipster Book Club ,...

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Featured Review 2007-03-01 12:35:07
Of Montreal
Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
by: Vivian Lee

When I break up with someone and I feel as if I want to die, I put onwell, I guess I listen to any Bright Eyes album. But sometimes, in the throes of post-separation anxiety duress, even MY emo-psyche cant handle that much pain and sorrow. My brain (and...

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Featured Review 2007-02-28 12:00:14
New in the Music Library / February 26, 2007
February 26, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Word up, folks.

So, before I start with this weeks edition of CDs that I am adding to the KUCI library because I think its really good and/or I think the DJs will want to play it, Id like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I know ...

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Featured Review 2007-02-20 16:38:44
New in the Music Library / February 20, 2007
February 20, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Hello radio folks,

Heres this weeks blurb shenanigans. Well see if I dont rush through this so I can go scour local thrift stores for a cheap bike. Kyle wants a bike. Do you want to give Kyle a bike? His birthday is coming up eventually. And ...

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Featured Review 2007-02-14 11:44:03
New in the Music Library / February 13, 2007
February 13, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Hey all,

I hope you all had pleasant weekends. I went to see the fantastically talented Mirah perform at the Troubadour. She was as amazing as always. Her music, for me at any rate, is full of those moments where the music completely strips the r...

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Featured Review 2007-02-06 16:46:19
New in the Music Library / February 6, 2007
February 6, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Hey all,

So, I dunno about you, but that was a wicked exciting Puppybowl yesterday. And when the all-kitten halftime show came on, it blew me away. Man. Puppybowl III was certainly a success. I also danced at the Natural History Museum in the Nor...

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Featured Review 2007-01-30 13:18:28
New in the Music Library / January 30, 2007
January 30, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

Hey yall,

Guess whos getting out of here crazy early! Me. You know why? Everything anyone sent me this week was laaaaaaaame. I hate music again. I hope you never experience the pain of listening to a crate full of music and having it all suck. ...

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Featured Review 2007-01-24 10:27:20
New in the Music Library / January 23, 2007
January 23, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

We have WAY too many solid adds this week. An upsetting amount of good adds. Why is this upsetting? Because I just worked eight hours, and I need to get this done before I can go to Wingstop for dinner, and then a management meeting. Oh man. Too much stuf...

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Featured Review 2007-01-17 12:09:54
New in the Music Library / January 16, 2007
January 16, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

We have a decent amount of SOLID new releases this week. I hope you kids dig on them.

Matt & Kim Matt & Kim (I Heart Comix)
Thats Kim! Im Matt! Were Matt & Kim!! was how this Brooklyn duo began their set opening for Girl Talk. T...

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Featured Review 2007-01-08 21:46:57
New in the Music Library / January 9, 2007
January 9, 2007
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

I had a lovely break. I didnt get (literally) 500 emails a day, or have to call promo companies on my way to work. But now the promo companies are at my e-door, again. And the crates of mail I get from the post office are growing in number. Hey, Kyles b...

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Featured Review 2006-12-09 10:04:35
New in the Music Library / December 5, 2006
December 5, 2006
by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director

The year is winding down, and since SOME college stations arent the unstoppable juggernaut of indie music we are, they take BREAKS over the holidays. So, promo companies stop sending stuff out and poor, overworked individuals (such as myself), can find t...

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Featured Review 2006-10-25 17:01:45
Akron/Family
Meek Warrior
by: Kyle Olson

On their latest outing, Young God Records flagship freak-folk collective Akron/Family lays down another solid collection of peyote-fueled midnight campfire singalongs, which finds the band, once again, shifting up their sound. The Akrons seem to be in a...

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Featured Review 2006-10-25 16:48:10
XIU XIU
The Air Force
by: John Penny

Xiu Xiu is nothing, if not uncompromising. The band has the remarkable ability to change styles with each of its albums, yet its songs are unmistakable. Jamie Stewart has proven on his fifth Xiu Xiu (pronounced shoo-shoo) release, The Air Force, th...

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Featured Review 2006-06-22 09:09:35
DANIELSON
Ships
by: Brian C. Quon

After meandering aimlessly through the cold corporate water that is modern mainstream music, every independent music fan has shared a similar narrative about how they navigated their ship through the treacherous corporate air-waves and encountered major l...

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Featured Review 2006-02-22 15:51:58
Brawdcast
The Suburban Spokesman
by: Rahul Reddy

I've known Brawdcast for almost 2 years, as he has been a guest on my radio show on numerous occasions. I've been anticipating the release of The Suburban Spokesman as long as I've known him, because I knew he had it in him to drop a dope album. ...

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Featured Review 2006-02-22 15:26:04
J Dilla
Donuts
by: Rahul Reddy

I wish I was on the ball with reviewing this album before his tragic passing, but I never got around to it. Jay Dee, born James Yancey, is highly held by many Hip-Hop fans as one of the best producers ever. He got the J Dilla moniker after confusions wi...

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Featured Review 2005-11-26 16:04:09
Little Brother
The Minstrel Show
by: Rahul Reddy

Possibly the most slept on major album all year, Little Brother comes through with The Minstrel Show. Even KUCI hasn't spoken on this album, until now. If you have been hiding under the proverbial Hip-Hop rock, Little Brother is North Carolina's ...

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Featured Review 2005-11-13 17:07:16
Ladytron
Witching Hour
by: Sun-J

Ladytron's debut, 604 introduced post-punk to popular rock. In 2002 they released Light and Magic contributing to the expanding electro clash scene. In 2003 Ladytron delivered a remix CD and showed their growth doing pop-punk versions of s...

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Featured Review 2005-11-13 17:00:24
Danger Doom
The Mouse And The Mask
by: Sun-J

Blueprint + RJD2 = Soul Position = dope. Jay Dee + Madlib = Jaylib = phat. Cage + Camu = Nighthawks = explosive. Madlib + MF Doom = Madvillainy = monumental. However, I have to be honest, I was not hip to the Danger Mouse and MF Doom collabo. Thank god...

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Featured Review 2005-09-14 19:14:02
Of Montreal
The Sunlandic Twins
by: Sun-J

The Gay Parade had lo-fi flavor, The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy had a plot, and last year's Satanic Panic In The Attic was a surprising blend of manic pop disco with an ear for world beats. Of Montreal mastermind Kevin Barnes ...

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Featured Review 2005-09-14 19:11:54
Edan
Beauty & the Beat
by: Sun-J

Boston has left its permanent mark on underground hip hop with the likes of Lif, Insight, Guru, Akbrobatik and a slew of other emcees (excluding Benzino). Edan is a DJ/producer/emcee extraordinaire. Brimming with innovation and chopping at the bits of...

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Featured Review 2005-06-24 18:22:21
Millencolin
Kingwood
by: Sun-J

2002's release, Home From Home was a new direction for the racy Swedish act. It was much slower and more melodic than their past albums, and was received by fans with diverse reactions. With 2005's Kingwood the trio have seemed to somewhat...

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Featured Review 2005-06-24 18:20:50
The Perceptionists
Black Dialogue
by: Sun-J

Often referred to as the heartbeat of Boston's underground hip hop scene (Guru isn't very underground these days), Mr. Lif and Akrobatik once again find themselves in the same corner. Combining with scratch master (and acclaimed producer), DJ Fakts, the ...

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Featured Review 2005-05-16 22:20:36
Spoon
Gimme Fiction
by: Sun-J

Since the beginning of their formation, drummer Jim Eno and vocalist/guitarist Britt Daniel have been the only constants, yet they have always morphed soundscapes. From 2001's Girl's Can Tell to 2002's Kill The Moonlight, Spoon has yet to ...

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Featured Review 2005-05-16 22:16:20
The Decemberists
Picaresque
by: Sun-J

The Decemberists consist of organist/keyboardist Jenny Conlee, drummer Rachel Blumberg, bassist Nate Quer, lyricist Colin Meloy, and utility man Chris Funk. Picaresque, The Decemberists third full length work was recorded in Portland, Oregon; in ...

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Featured Review 2005-03-28 17:41:33
Braille
Shades of Grey
by: Rahul Reddy

2004 was a break out year for a lot of artists. Masta Killa finally dropped his solo album, Kanye released his 10 time grammy nominated "College Dropout," and hell, even Mase came back to break through once more. However, underneath most of mainstream's...

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Featured Review 2005-03-21 22:28:18
Aesop Rock
Fast Cars, Danger, Fire And Knives EP
by: Sun-J

Just like any Def Jux release, Aesop Rock pushes the limits of psychedelic hip hop. The first 20,000 copies will be accompanied by an eighty-page book of lyrics, artwork and photos called The Living Human Curiosity Sideshow. Why Aesop just didn't...

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Featured Review 2005-03-21 22:25:49
Sage Francis
Healthy Distrust
by: Sun-J

Often coined the more intelligent Eminem, Sage Francis is not your typical rapper. Mainstream hip hop would consider this man overly verbose, a few metaphors more confusing than Talib Kweli, it seems Sage had just missed the cut; but more importantly, he...

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Featured Review 2005-02-26 21:26:43
M.I.A.
Arular
by: Sun-J

28 year old Maya Arulpragasam, AKA M.I.A., created quite an internet buzz last year with her indie, single release, Galang. Her dancehall chants, and fresh beats were a warm welcome to an internet population looking for more Dizee Rascal, and The...

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Featured Review 2005-02-26 21:24:47
Bright Eyes
I'm Wide Awake And It's Morning
by: Sun-J

At the young age of 24, Conor Oberst has already at least a dozen (perhaps even a bakers dozen) records released under his belt (not counting 'b-sides'). This year, he dropped two albums simultaneously on the same day. I'm Wide Awake And It's Mornin...

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Featured Review 2005-01-24 22:16:17
De La Soul
The Grind Date
by: Sun-J

Hip hop isn't dead, and it never will be. The sound is changing with the younger generations, that is all. After enduring 15 years in the rap game, you'd think the trio of Dave, Maseo and Posdnuos (De La Soul collectively) would struggle to hang aroun...

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Featured Review 2005-01-24 22:12:19
The Futureheads
The Futureheads
by: Sun-J

All Oasis reissues aside, another tenth anniversary of Britpop is upon us. I've always felt Britpop to be "bollocks," as the English would say. Britpop to me is a genre for those who look for the middle ground in genre, which is no surprise why Tony Bl...

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Featured Review 2004-12-17 09:09:10
Another look at "The New Danger"
A Rebuttal
by: Rahul Reddy

Read the Orginal Review
Normally I?m a big fan of Sun-J?s reviews. He brings dope insight to the variety of albums that he reviews, and shows he ha...

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Featured Review 2004-11-29 11:45:11
Elliot Smith
From A Basement On The Hill
by: Sun-J

From A Basement On The Hill is a posthumous album from Elliot Smith, who tragically took his own life last year. Released as one final album from the man who defined emotion, the indie rockers last thoughts live on through his music. Fifteen tracks...

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Featured Review 2004-11-29 11:44:55
Kid Dakota
The West is the Future
by: Sun-J

Don't be misguided by the title of the album, the LP is not a tribute to rough Americana, but more a dedication to the Midwest with detailed depictions of vast landscape and majestic images. Kid Dakota consists of front man/singer/guitarist Darren Jackson...

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Featured Review 2004-11-01 20:18:32
Q And Not U
Power
by: Sun-J

When the fierce independent label led by punk-rock legend Ian Mackaye, Dischord Records, signed Q And Not U, they had thought they found another Fugazi. At the time (2000), Q And Not U released their debut album No Kill No Beep Beep, an LP full of...

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Featured Review 2004-11-01 20:12:19
Mos Def - The New Danger
Dear Dante Smith (or Mos Def),
by: Sun-J

First off let me tell you how passionately I enjoyed your previous work. Blackstarr was an amazing movement, and 1999's Black On Both Sides was revolutionary for hip hop. After hearing "Close Edge" on the Chapelle show, I was pretty enthusiastic ...

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Featured Review 2004-10-20 10:42:35
Arcade Fire
Funeral
by: Sun-J

Arcade Fire spent this passed summer touring with the Wrens and Unicorns, spreading their eccentric rock message far and near. The plunge of Neutral Milk Hotel forced Merge Records to recruit a potential replacement. In Arcade Fire, they perhaps hold the ...

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Featured Review 2004-10-20 10:37:50
Saul Williams
Saul Williams
by: Sun-J

Poetry is the most versatile element of communication. Mythology was transcribed through generations by prose and verse. Poetry can be spoken, sung, rapped, or even painted. Saul Williams manifests all of these elements. From his poetic tirades, to his so...

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Featured Review 2004-09-21 12:01:05
Twilight Singers
She Loves You
by: Sun-J

To be honest, former Afghan Whigs singer Greg Dulli has a terrible voice. It's very whiny, weak at times, and fails to approximate the correct key. Though strangely, I find myself enjoying it. The Twilight Singers last album, Blackberry Belle, was ...

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Featured Review 2004-09-21 12:01:30
Diplo
Florida
by: Sun-J

Almost a mix between Amon Tobin and the Death Comet Crew, Diplo utilizes an ambient mixture of digitized layers, atmospheric sounds, Garage Band rock guitars and filtered beats. His loops sound as if they were crafted for Dizzee Rascal while maintaining a...

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Featured Review 2004-08-30 13:07:15
The Fiery Furnaces
Blueberry Boat
by: Sun-J

The Fiery Furnaces lead a dying breed of species, the rock eccentrics. Their debut, Gallowsbird's Bark sparked interest of many indie rock listeners. Their sound is marked by strenuous tempos and obscure instrumentation shifts. They often transitio...

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Featured Review 2004-08-30 12:57:32
Badly Drawn Boy
One Plus One Is One
by: Sun-J

With his first release (on Mercury), The Hour of Bewilderbeast, Damon Gough (Badly Drawn Boy) grabbed the attention of many industry-heads, solidifying him several movie scores (only one of which he chose), and an extended label deal. The album was...

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Featured Review 2004-08-19 13:37:38
Taking Back Sunday
Where You Want to Be
by: Sun-J

The past couple of years have been turbulent for the Long Island natives. After their stellar frosh release, Tell All Your Friends, John Nolan and Shaun Cooper called it quits (either that or they were "Cut From the Team." Get it?). If you had visi...

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Featured Review 2004-08-19 13:38:01
The Roots
Tipping Point
by: Sun-J

The Roots have been a mainstay in hip hop for the passed ten years. Where the average life of a rapper is around two years, The Roots have surpassed acts from different movements and generations with their fundamental believe in music. Rather than comprom...

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Featured Review 2004-08-05 13:51:20
The Streets
A Grand Don’t Come For Free
by: Sun-J

Original Pirate Material opened the door for many UK hip hop acts, such as Dizzee Rascal. Mike Skinner, better known under the moniker, The Streets, was an innovator. Not your average emcee, the British 'geezer' perfected his chummy vocal swagger w...

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Featured Review 2004-08-05 13:45:42
Wilco
A Ghost is Born
by: Sun-J

Wilco has transgressed much from the strictly alt. country days of A.M.. Over the years it seems they have been digested by the avant-garde movement. 2001's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was a small diversion in their path. YHF was in fact an unconv...

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Featured Review 2004-07-20 11:51:02
Piebald
All Ears, All Eyes, All the Time
by: Sun-J

The little band from Andover, Massachusetts who started dropping records while they were still getting rejected by women in high school are back. Back, but this time on a different label. The kids (and I don't call them kids because they are young, but be...

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Featured Review 2004-07-20 11:51:14
RJD2
Since We Last Spoke
by: Sun-J

In 2002, RJD2's Deadringer hit the underground hip hop scene like Kanye West's College Dropout hit the commercial scene. Deadringer's sibling The Horror EP solidified the "RJD2"sound; funky beats, old school samples and a futuristic v...

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Featured Review 2004-07-08 11:32:40
Pedro The Lion
"Achilles Heel"
by: Sun-J

David Bazan, the constant force that has pushed indie-rock outfit Pedro the Lion through the years, all the way back to the 1997 EP that established Bazan's penchant for sincere couplets. David Bazan is a devout Christian outside of Pedro the Lion, but...

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Featured Review 2004-07-08 16:40:30
Felix Da Housecat
"Devin Dazzle and the Neon Fever"
by: Sun-J

Felix Stallings Jr. known to the digital world as Felix Da Housecat was born in Detroit but raised in Chi-town. Developing his talents from a young age, Felix made his first industry bones at the age of fourteen, collaborating with DJ Pierre in 1987 fo...

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Featured Review 2004-06-30 10:29:13
The Hafler Trio
"Kill the King"
by: Zero Sharp

Alongside their music, one of the most interesting things about the Hafler Trio is the fact that they spread so much incorrect and inaccurate information regarding themselves that its rather difficult to figure out much about them. One thing is clear, the...

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Featured Review 2004-06-30 10:28:49
Pan Sonic
"Kesto"
by: Zero Sharp

In an old Pan Sonic interview, I remember the Finnish duo trying to
explain their philosophy of music to the readers. Where much of the music currently, much like American food, now is throughly processed digitally leaving its origins unknown, Pan Son...

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Featured Review 2004-06-23 09:26:54
Audio Karate
"Lady Melody"
by: Sun-J

Well I'm glad these kids have finally grown out of Space Camp. Get it? Didn't think so. We'll my oblivious readers (when I say 'my' and 'readers,' of course I am referring to the three people out there) let me introduce the band Audio Karate. The C...

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Featured Review 2004-06-23 09:27:12
Gift of Gab
"Fourth Dimensional Rocket Ships Going Up"
by: Sun-J

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Gift of Gab, let me brief you with a quick history lesson. In 1998 a group who called themselves Blackalicious released an album called Nia. The album was filled with soul, sultry beats and smooth, charismat...

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Featured Review 2004-05-18 13:39:57
The Liars
They Were Wrong, So We Drowned
by: Sun-J

In 2001, The Liars released their debut, They Throw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top, an album filled with noisy hi-hats, heavy low end grooves and actual samples from the Bronx bred 80's act, ESG. Reviewers, or actually, that group o...

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Featured Review 2004-05-18 13:35:55
Danger Mouse
The Grey Album
by: Sun-J

Nowadays, with copyright laws blindsiding us worse than your girlfriend letting you know she is pregnant, it takes a brave soul to attempt a re-creation, or a hybrid of existing "art," as the musicians refer to it. It takes man without fear. A "Daring Dev...

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Featured Review 2004-04-29 09:31:51
El-P
High Water
by: Sun-J

My dedicated readers (all three of you) know how I feel of El-P from Previous reviews. I respect the man for his business sense. Though his production becomes tired, and his voice and flow is far too flawed to be flaunting around on tracks, especially tra...

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Featured Review 2004-04-29 09:35:23
Onelinedrawing
The Volunteers
by: Sun-J

Genres are created so easily these days it makes me sick. We should treat genres as we treat equations. Each one formed should have a purpose, a proof, a legitimate reason for existence. Formerly of the band Far, singer/songwriter/producer Jonas Matranga ...

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Featured Review 2004-04-21 16:43:29
Fat Cat Compilation
"Split Series 9-16"
by: Zero Sharp

In the wonderful tradition of releasing compilations for those of you "who don't buy white labels," Fatcat Records is releasing the second compilation of selected tracks from its split series 12." The split series is a set of ongoing releases of the edgie...

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Featured Review 2004-04-21 16:43:18
Ninja Tune Remix Retrospective
"Zen RMX"
by: Zero Sharp

Over the last ten years, Ninja Tune has been enough of a backbone to the electronic music scene that they even basically have a genre named after them. Along with the cool tour down memory lane that was recently released, Ninja Tune released a two CD coll...

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Featured Review 2004-04-08 15:38:58
Mochipet
"combat"
by: Zero Sharp

The practice of bastard pop, that is to say, taking vocals of one song and pasting them across other aspects of other songs, has taken off in the last few years. In what seems to be taking that idea to its logical extreme, Mochipet has already established...

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Featured Review 2004-04-08 15:38:49
Ninja Tune Compilation
"Zentertainment 2004"
by: Zero Sharp

In a preview of what is to come on the Ninja Tune label, "Zentertainment 2004" features the new signings and new releases upcoming on the label. In the style of the label, many of the songs here are solidly based in jazz and funk breakbeat styles, and th...

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Featured Review 2004-04-02 11:24:09
The Get Up Kids
"Guilt Show"
by: Sun-J

After a very subpar 2002 release, On a Wire, the Get Up Kids bounced back with side projects under New Amserdams or as Reggie and the Full-Effect. Both were rather successful endeavors, and the Get Up Kids have seemed to return back to form with...

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Featured Review 2004-04-02 11:24:23
Deerhoof
"Milk Man"
by: Sun-J

Deerhoof have the keen ability to take conventional sounds, and rearrange them in a dyslexic manner, creating an erratic array of tonal hybrids. With their sixth album, Deerhoof increases distortion and cuts out the pointless interludes abundant on Ap...

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Featured Review 2004-03-24 10:10:55
Decomposure
"Taking Things Apart"
by: Pietro Da Sacco

DECOMPOSURE is the audio and visual experimentalist known as Caleb Mueller from Canada. Currently residing in a sleepy little town in Ontario, Caleb lived most of his life in the flat, prairie-ridden areas of Saskatchewan and also went to the Emily Carr I...

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Featured Review 2004-03-24 10:09:06
Nurse With Wound
"Soliloquy For Lilith"
by: Zero Sharp

Stephen Stapleton is someone who needs little introduction to those versed in strange, dark experimental music, but what about those out there who haven't managed to become introduced to the inner circles of the underground? Looking at the release list fo...

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Featured Review 2004-02-19 16:39:39
The Walkmen
"Bows and Arrows"
by: Sun-J

As all the other NYC bands such as The Strokes, The Walkmen incorporate enough grunge guitar to make you dream of wailing guitars. Their 2002 debut, Everyone Who Pretended to Like me is Gone was filled with warm analog sounds, and an overall U2 in...

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Featured Review 2004-02-19 16:38:51
Ride
"Waves"
by: Sun-J

Along with My Bloody Valentine, Pale Saints, Swervedriver and
Chapterhouse, Ride joins company with best shoegaze bands of all time. Riding out their fame, and possibly capitalizing on nostalgic fans thirsty for anything Ride, the Oxford, England b...

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Featured Review 2004-02-13 13:19:56
Meat Beat Manifesto
"...In Dub"
by: Zero Sharp

Jack Dangers is back on the case, this time with a new album reconstructing "RUOK?". I won't say the word remix as that doesn't seem as appropriate of terminology here. It's not that Dangers doesn't know how to remix, the previously released remix album o...

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Featured Review 2004-02-13 13:19:46
Squarepusher
"Ultravisitor"
by: Zero Sharp

After two and half years since Squarepusher's last proper album, "Go Plastic," Tom Jenkinson has had some time to do what he probably does best, reinvent himself. "Ultravisitor" is a rather complex album that seems like the next step in a brilliant evolut...

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Featured Review 2004-02-05 16:54:46
Air
"Talkie Walkie"
by: Sun-J

GREAT NEWS!!! The French have proved themselves to actually be useful. All jokes aside, the French duo of Nicolas Godin and Jean Benoit Danckel have returned with, dare I say...a breath of fresh "AIR?" Well, one thing I refuse to do is compare this al...

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Featured Review 2004-02-05 16:54:29
Mathew Dear
"Leave Luck to Heaven"
by: Sun-J

Minimal techno or Microhouse is what they are calling it these days. Sort of a mesh between jungle and house. Techno "Nsync" with the eclectic, "dirty pop" of today. The music is much simplified then its ancestral genre, yet the fused sounds alienat...

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Featured Review 2004-01-30 15:24:38
Kid 606
"Kill Sound Before Sound Kills You"
by: Zero Sharp

After a release schedule these last few years that borders almost on mania, I'm somewhat surprised that Kid 606 still has new material to release. Well, he indeed does, and his new album, which follows up on "The Illness" EP, is called "Kill Sound Before ...

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Featured Review 2004-01-30 15:24:08
Telefon Tel Aviv
"Map of What is Effortless"
by: Zero Sharp

I only managed to hear a song or two off Telefon Tel Aviv's first album, "Fahrenheit Fair Enough," but like many others out there, I was intrigued, and I enjoyed it. I seemed to have missed a few small releases between then and now, but when "Map of What ...

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Featured Review 2004-01-22 18:46:06
Jaylib
"Champion Sound"
by: Sun-J

Stones Throw, underground's most underrated record label, presents a dream collaboration. One of those combos that can only be imagined through a curious post from a hopeful underground back packer. Hip-hop Detroit prince, Jay Dee AKA Jay Dilla teams u...

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Featured Review 2004-01-22 18:45:33
Lucero
"That Much Further West"
by: Sun-J

Well, now that Ryan Adams is off in La La land, as his sound achingly closes in on rubbish with each and every release, what is an alt-rock/ country/ punk fan to do? Well, remain calm and keep your hopes confident, because Lucero is every chocolate in F...

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Featured Review 2004-01-18 12:54:37
Plastikman
"Closer"
by: Zero Sharp

After nearly five years of silence, Richie Hawtin's minimal side-project, Plastikman, unexpectedly is seeing another release. "Closer," the fifth for Plastikman, doesn't really visit too much new ground, however, for those fans of minimal techno, there ar...

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Featured Review 2004-01-16 13:57:17
Pimmon
"snaps*crackles*pops"
by: Zero Sharp

Up until this point, the only exposure I had to Pimmon was through his appearance on Fatcat Records' Split series with his side of beatless tracks that managed to be slightly noisy and warm at the same time. Needless to say, when I picked up "snaps*crackl...

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Featured Review 2004-01-08 16:25:55
David Dondero
"The Transient"
by: Sun-J

When you think of David Dondero, think of Jack Johnson, Ben Harper and Edwin McCain (and not that ultra poppy song, "I'll Be"). David Dondero's music is more on the folk side, but a similar acoustic soloist with vocal renderings which are reminiscent of...

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Featured Review 2004-01-08 16:23:38
The Books
"The Lemon of Pink"
by: Sun-J

Fronted by Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong, The Books have a manic but eclectic twist to their musical compositions. Their debut, 2002's Thought for Food, was an inconsistent, unorganized jungle of vocal samples and electronic progress, yet the Toml...

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Featured Review 2003-12-27 16:26:34
Wheat
Per Second, Per Second, Per Second...Every Second
by: Sun-J

Formed when two members met in a 1997 art class in the modest Taunton, Massachusetts. Wheat collectively released a debut one year later. 1998's Medeiros was an indie rock release. Wheat were soon filtered, and then tagged with cult followings. ...

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Featured Review 2003-12-27 13:55:47
Azure Ray
Hold on Love
by: Sun-J

From Athens to Omaha. From Warm to Saddle Creek. Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor's journeys metaphorically chronicles through the passion of their music. Often labeled as slow core, the female duo started off one November with an EP of acoustic g...

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Featured Review 2003-12-18 20:29:15
Photek
"Modus Operandi"
by: Zero Sharp

Under the guise of suggesting solid Christmas presents for those who like music, I'm deciding to go back into the past again to my favorite year of 1997. This time, I want to talk a little bit about drum and bass; more particularly, some of the albums for...

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Featured Review 2003-12-19 08:27:27
Drum and Bass Compilation
No U Turn presents "Torque"
by: Zero Sharp

This is the second of the drum and bass retrospective reviews, and this time we'll be revisiting the dance floors of 1997, and the starts of the style which came to be known as techstep. Starting around 1996, No U-Turn and Emotif, among other labels, help...

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Featured Review 2003-12-12 14:29:38
The Decemberists
Her Majesty, The Decemberists
by: Sun-J

Historical preservation through storytelling is a lost art. Long gone are days when one's word of mouth can conjure up, and amplify a hero's deeds, or a villain?s shrewd mischief. The closest reference we have is Greek and roman mythology which preserves ...

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Featured Review 2003-12-12 14:29:26
Her Space Holiday
The Young Machines
by: Sun-J

After dropping albums under the names, Home is Where you Hang Yourself, and Manic Expressive, it's not hard to see why Marc Bianchi's records are so dark and melancholy. The San Francisco native, and soft spoken romantic, combines acoustic g...

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Featured Review 2003-12-05 13:54:05
Plaid
"Spokes"
by: Zero Sharp

For the long-time electronica listeners who remember names well, it would come as no surprise that the new album from Plaid should sound good. For the rest of us, here's the back history: the duo that makes up Plaid, Andy Turner and Ed Handley, have been ...

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Featured Review 2003-12-05 13:54:26
Luke Vibert
"YosepH"
by: Zero Sharp

In some ways, it was probably just a matter of time. Between becoming well known for his drum 'n' bass work as the off the wall Plug to the more classic style of Amen Andrews, in addition his work in twisted hip-hop as Wagon Christ, and well, himself, it ...

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Featured Review 2003-11-27 13:31:21
Mates of State
"Team Boo"
by: Sun-J

Mates of State's first album, My Solo Project, was a journey into the sound of a husband and wife tandem who dropped the guitars in trade for a chamelian organ. Impacting the richtor scale with great force, My Solo Project set the stage for...

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Featured Review 2003-11-27 13:31:05
Aesop Rock
"Bazooka Tooth"
by: Sun-J

Still living off the respect Labor Days garnered, Aesop Rock has returned with an album full of vintage Def Jux produced gems along with an unbrandished, sweeping tornado of boastful verbal treats. Ian Bavitz, affectionally known as Aesop Rock pre...

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Featured Review 2003-11-20 11:56:47
[The User]
"Abandon"
by: Zero Sharp

Before starting this review, I should probably admit that I have a quite the soft-spot in my heart of hearts for both pipe organs and good conceptual ideas. For me, then, the new album by [the user], the same [the user] who brought a classical style symph...

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Featured Review 2003-11-20 11:56:05
Klute
"Lie Cheat, and Steal"
by: Zero Sharp

Although it seems like the two genres should be easily intertwined, the ability to produce both quality breakbeats and drum and bass seems to elude most producers. Enter Klute, a low-profile drum and bass producer that has been consistently putting out so...

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Featured Review 2003-11-13 10:23:48
The Shins
"Chutes Too Narrow"
by: Sun-J

Usually when a band debuts strong, and are labeled with more potential than the Olsen twins at fifteen, their sophomore efforts are usually considered flops or not on par with the first release. Few artists have the ability to improve with the second r...

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Featured Review 2003-11-13 10:23:35
Lyrics Born
"Later That Day"
by: Sun-J

Tom Shimura AKA Asia Born AKA Lyrics Born. From Soulsides Collective, to the now quickly surging Quannum indie label. Shimura has seen it all. A loyal artist on a once withering label, the man now known as Lyrics Born has had his music pigeonholed fo...

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Featured Review 2003-11-06 15:56:55
Kid Koala
"Some of My Best Friends are DJs"
by: Zero Sharp

Kid Koala seems to know how to have fun. His new album, "Some of My Best Friends are DJs" is rather chalked full of it; there's a comic book, a travel chess set, and a long, entertaining video clip seeming in the style of "johnny the Homicidal Maniac" and...

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Featured Review 2003-11-06 15:55:43
Chris Clark
"Empty The Bones of You"
by: Zero Sharp

"Empty the Bones of You" marks Chris Clark's sophomore full-length release on Warp Records. With his first release, he showed himself to be a worthy artist to be on Warp, but that was most of it; he sounded like the standard Warp artist. "Ceramics is the ...

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Featured Review 2003-10-30 12:27:25
Mojave 3
"Spoon and Rafter"
by: Sun-J

Ten years ago, Mojave 3's functional group dropped an album under the name Slowdive called Souvlaki, and they were quickly accredited into the "shoegazing" movement. Essentially a genre which bridged the gap between light country and experimental r...

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Featured Review 2003-10-30 12:32:51
Atmosphere
"Seven's Travels"
by: Sun-J

Everyone's girfriends' favorite rapper is back. Slug AKA Sean Daley AKA Seven returns with his groups fourth album, Seven's Travels. Perhaps the most notable, and profitable indie hip hop act out there, Atmosphere is comprised of MC Slug, produce...

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Featured Review 2003-10-23 10:38:28
Patric C.
"Hitler 2000"
by: Zero Sharp

A Beginner's Guide To Digital Hardcore
- part 3 of 3


Welcome back to the last of the digital hardcore reviews. If you missed the first two reviews two weeks ago, I would recommend going back and looking at the reviews for Alec Empire'...

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Featured Review 2003-10-23 10:38:19
Meat Beat Manifesto
"Storm the Studio R.M.X.S."
by: Zero Sharp

The problem when people remix classic, influential music is that it's generally neigh-impossible to bring it back to the level that it was before. If nothing else, the new album of remixes of Meat Beat Manifesto's "Storm the Studio" shows how much from th...

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Featured Review 2003-10-16 12:06:14
Death Cab For Cutie
"Transatlanticism"
by: Sun-J

Don't get the picture misconstrued or take the band's relationship to be "staind." Despite the fact that "it's been a while," since the band got down for some serious writing. Their latest musical offering, and October 7th release, Transatlanticism...

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Featured Review 2003-10-16 12:05:56
King Geedorah
"Take Me to Your Leader"
by: Sun-J

It's the return of the three headed monster from outer space...Or at least that is what MF Doom considers himself on his latest release, Take Me to Your Leader, which he put out under his new moniker, King Geedorah. After just having released an al...

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Featured Review 2003-10-23 09:02:15
Alec Empire
"The Destroyer"
by: Zero Sharp

A Beginner's Guide To Digital Hardcore
- part 1 of 3


In the early nineties, on the ever-so surly streets of Berlin, a group of people who saw both the brilliance of jungle and its relative tameness was helped create a genre that fell ...

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Featured Review 2003-10-23 09:03:03
Christoph De Babalon
"If You're Into It, I'm Out of It"
by: Zero Sharp

A Beginner's Guide To Digital Hardcore
- part 2 of 3


This review is the second in the series of three reviews looking back at a few classic releases that started a genre at the same time as flying under the radar of many people who wo...

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Featured Review 2003-09-29 20:17:42
Enon
"Hocus Pocus"
by: Sun-J

After indie outfit band Brainiac decided to part ways, few expected much from guitarist John Schmersal. Though, he soon retaliated critics and naysayers by hooking up with a couple of garage band musicians and dropped an album under the name Enon, 2000's...

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Featured Review 2003-09-29 20:13:44
Stereophonics
"You Gotta Go There To Come Back"
by: Sun-J

From the hype their '97 release, Word Gets Around, the Welsh three piece Stereophonics were spontaneously thrown into a never ending race for the princes of brit-pop-rock title. A fast accomplishment for any act, especially since '97 was the year...

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Featured Review 2003-09-16 09:34:42
Northern State
"Dying in Stereo"
by: Sun-J

What do De La Soul and Public Enemy share in common? Well besides the obvious, they both share the same origin as the tri-feminine Northern State. Who the hell is Northern State you wonder? A group of three women; Hesta Prynn, DJ Sprout, and Guinea Lov...

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Featured Review 2003-09-16 09:35:04
Bonobo
"Dial M for Monkey"
by: Sun-J

Bonobo's are the rarest of all the great ape species. One of humankind's closest relatives, the Bonobos are tiptoeing the line of extinction. These underrated primates are enclosed by a world of mystery, and in fact, most know not of their existence.
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Featured Review 2003-09-09 13:10:12
Kid 606
"The Illness"
by: The Wally Llama

Kid 606's the Illness brings home the flavor of melodic sythns, drumbeats, and a little bit of vocals, rolled up into one crazy CD package that includes the original 12" version and some bonus songs which vary from rhythmic to spastic. The first track, t...

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Featured Review 2003-09-11 08:17:57
Amon Tobin
"Verbal Remixes & Collaborations"
by: The Wally Llama

Amon Tobin's "Verbal Remixes & Collaborations" features a rich blend of some very interesting remixes and collaborations that range from the fantastic to the peculiar. It starts off with an untitled track by both Amon Tobin and Kid Koala, now if you're a...

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Featured Review 2003-09-03 19:03:28
Black Box Recorder
"Passionoia"
by: Sun-J

Passionoia is album number three from Britain's resident cynical lyricist Luke Haines. Haines is also the captain of Autuers, and Baader Meinhof, whom put out one record back in '99. In addition to all this musical whoring, Haines also has a couple albu...

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Featured Review 2003-09-03 19:00:19
Motion City Soundtrack
I am the Movie
by: Sun-J

Just to give a quick background on Motion City Soundtrack, the band originally stemmed from high school friends, guitarists Justin Pierre, and Joshua Cain. After recording a 7 in 1999 in a band and going through a number of lineup changes, the main two ...

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Featured Review 2003-08-29 13:07:11
Merzbow
"Animal Magnetism"
by: Zero Sharp

With what is about his 250th release, Merzbow's back on Alien8, possibly the most popular experimental label to date, with a new album, "Animal Magnetism." As the cover art would suggest, he chose to arm himself with his laptop, his guitar, and sounds sam...

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Featured Review 2003-08-18 09:59:00
Monty Alexander
"Impressions in Blue"
by: Sun-J

Monty Alexander, the Jamaican born pianist has fiddled with many genres in creating a buzz for himself. Alexander has explored Bob Marley tributes, as well as ventured to create live albums with various Jamaican musicians, namely reggae legends Sly and R...

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Featured Review 2003-08-25 18:53:21
Fall Out Boy
"Take This to Your Grave"
by: Sun-J

As a reviewer I am turned on to some of the world's greatest unheard musical talent. Though it is seldom that I come across a true gem. In fact it was only once, Atmosphere's "Godlovesugly." So after hearing praise form a friend, and noticing their cha...

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Featured Review 2003-08-14 13:19:34
Rob Dougan
"Furious Angels"
by: Zero Sharp

A year or more ago, I bought a down-tempo single that was incredible. By the name "Clubbed to Death", it was a beautiful piece of film-noir influenced trip-hop, and it mentioned being from an upcoming album. Now by the time I'd almost forgotten about the ...

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Featured Review 2003-08-14 13:18:22
Mu-ziq
"Bilious Paths"
by: Zero Sharp

Mu-ziq's new album "Bilious Paths" stakes out a lot of new territory for Mike Paradings. In the new semi-tired genre of drill and bass and IDM, Mu-ziq decides to stake out into the dirty bass and samples akin to nu-school breaks. Don't worry, though, it's...

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Featured Review 2003-08-05 17:23:18
Madlib
"Shades of Blue"
by: Sun-J

The man of mystery has returned, though this time not as his alter ego, high octave rapping Quasimoto, but as himself, the surreal madman behind the boards, Madlib. Known to his blood as Otis Jackson Jr, Madlib has been creating magic in the studio for ...

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Featured Review 2003-08-05 17:19:41
Thrice
"Artist in the Ambulance"
by: Sun-J

After representing screamo with there indie release, Illusion of Safety, the quartet from So cal (as in Irvine) jumps ship, and releases their first major debut, Artist in the Ambulance. Usually when kids get signed to majors they sell out. They change...

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Featured Review 2003-07-29 19:52:46
London Elektricity
"Billion Dollar Gravy"
by: Zero Sharp

The genre of drum and bass is an expansive playground to say the least. On one side stands the minimal, dark sound that Ed Rush, Optical, and the boys of Renegade Hardware have explored beautifully. On another side stands the unrelenting darkness of Dom a...

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Featured Review 2003-07-29 19:51:47
Tricky
"Vulnerable"
by: Zero Sharp

Perhaps the best way to enjoy the newest album by Adrian Thaws, aka Tricky, is to forget the past. The former member of Massive Attack has come a great distance since helping to invent trip-hop and releasing a solo debut of staggering genius in "Maxinquay...

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Featured Review 2003-07-21 16:36:55
Pinback
"Offcell"
by: Sun-J

Rob Crow and Armistad Burwell IV are the dynamic duo that is Pinback. Pinback is a blend of pop and post rock with hints of emo (mainly from the lyrics), though what sets these two apart from other bands is their ability to display a more full, live guita...

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Featured Review 2003-07-22 09:58:26
Adult
"Anxiety Always"
by: Sun-J

Who else to lead the pop synth revolution than a married couple from Detroit? After causing more than just a stir in electrolashes underground, Nicola Kuperus and Hubble Adam Lee Miller are back after two years since their last LP with another full-lengt...

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Featured Review 2003-07-16 17:30:20
Abstract Polygon
"Deselect Mindbox EP/ Mad EP: Mavoo's 3rd Day of 2nd Grade"
by: Zero Sharp

I'm not really sure how to give a name to this first release from the new Canadian label Tribal Treble so I won't try. The idea behind it is good: the release is actually two seperate albums rolled into one package. The two are only marginally related so ...

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Featured Review 2003-07-15 20:11:03
The Cinematic Orchestra
"Man With a Movie Camera"
by: Zero Sharp

The Ninja Tune roster is as mysterious as it is diverse. That being said, I've never heard anything on the label more sublime and majestic than The Cinematic Orchestra. This release, "Man With a Movie Camera" came from a commission four years ago to creat...

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Featured Review 2003-07-07 15:37:25
Mars Volta
"De-loused in the Comatorium"
by: Sun-J

Travel back a few years, and the punk scene is buzzing with word of the next Nirvana stationed out in El Paso, Texas. Five kids with enough energy and charisma to power their genre to mainstream success (which was done eventually). Though, some things a...

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Featured Review 2003-07-07 13:14:11
Ugly Duckling
"Taste the Secret"
by: Sun-J

Three white guys from Long Beach are what Ugly Duckling consists of. Two MCs and one DJ to be precise. Back for the second time with the release of Taste the Secret after enjoying much deserved success from their first release Journey to Anywhere. As u...

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Featured Review 2003-07-01 13:32:17
Yoshimi and Yuka
"Flower With No Color"
by: Zero Sharp

What do you get when you send two musicians to a secluded spot with a truck full of instruments and a good idea? Well, in the case of "Flower With No Color" by Yoshimi P-we (from the Boredoms) and Yuka Honda (from Cibo Matto), you get music that would hav...

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Featured Review 2003-07-01 13:30:46
Nobukazu Takemura
"Songbook"
by: Zero Sharp

Nobukazu Takemura must be a busy man. Including "Songbook", he now has released 3 albums on two different labels. "Songbook" falls under his Child View project, a name he sometimes goes under. Stepping away from the digital, he teams up with Aki Tsuyuko t...

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Featured Review 2003-06-24 11:08:06
Hint
"Portakabin Fever"
by: Sun-J

Personally, when I go to clubs I hate hearing those redundant techno songs with the glitches and the constant beeping and clicking that repetitively distraughts your brain waves to death. Johnathan James, a self proclaimed ?techno artist with a palette f...

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Featured Review 2003-06-24 11:06:55
Lagwagon
"Blaze"
by: Sun-J

After several releases since 1992 and claiming a cult-like following, Lagwagon decided to put the punk production on hold, and split in different directions to pursue side interests. Drummer Dave and singer Joey Cape muddled with Me First and the Gimme G...

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Featured Review 2003-06-19 10:25:55
Four Tet
"Rounds"
by: Zero Sharp

"Rounds" marks Kieran Hebden's third solo release under the name Four Tet. Somewhere between free jazz, glitch electronica, hip-hop, and loop-based music sits this album in all of its slow-growing, lush, organic sounding glory. The whole album has a rathe...

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Featured Review 2003-06-18 17:35:05
Loren Connors
"Departing of a Dream Vol. 2"
by: Zero Sharp

Last year, Loren Connors (aka MazzaCane Connors) released an album loosely designed as a tribute to Miles Davis' "He Loved Him Madly." Fragile and floating, minimal accoustic gituar sounds drifted across other beautifully constructed bass and electric...

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Featured Review 2003-06-10 17:51:17
Ed Harcourt
From Every Sphere
by: Sun-J

His sound is that of a Tom Waits meets Badly Drawn Boy. A mix of U2, and Frank Sinatra. A blend of country and teen pop, especially pop. His damn songs are so catchy; they're still stuck in my head one week later. Fresh off a Mercury award nominating ...

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Featured Review 2003-06-10 17:50:01
Catherine Irwin
Cut Yourself a Switch
by: Sun-J

Does anyone remember Freakwater? The band consisting of two vocal geniuses, Janet Bean and Catherine Irwin whom drew comparisons to practically every great country duo there ever was? Well, Cut Yourself a Switch marks the return of Freakwater, though th...

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