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Today marks the release of the album Realism, the newest from The Magnetic Fields. The group’s frontman, singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt, says that the new record is a direct followup to the group’s 2008 work, Distortion… showing a softer (and slightly trippy) side to the band’s unconventional pop. Merritt said “I thought of the two records as a pair and I kind of wanted them to be called True and False. But I couldn’t decide which I wanted to be called True and which I wanted to be called False. They both have to do with the notions of truth and falsehood in recording and music—not particularly with the lyrics but with the production style. Distortion went as far as one could really go in the direction …

Norah Jones’ new album The Fall showcases a different side to the sultry singer. Contributing to this record is producer Jacquire King, who’d previously worked with Kings of Leon, Modest Mouse and Tom Waits. Also, Jones enlisted new co-writers such as Ryan Adams and Okkervil River’s Will Sheff, while continuing work with Jesse Harris. The album also features a top notch band of session musicians who have worked with artists such as REM, Johnny Cash, and Herbie Hancock (among many other greats). When I first read about the new album, it seemed set up to be a “rock” version of Jones… However, this album is certainly not “rock,” though it is expanding her range from jazz and pop into realms of blues, soul, and maybe just a tiny …

Check out this review of Julian Casablancas’ Phrazes for the Young via our buddies at A Future in Noise:

“Based on the press-hype around the album and the fact that Casablancas has been again looking like the picture of cool for this generation, it’s refreshing to hear that the sound meets, and exceeds, expectations.

Phrazes only contains 8 songs, each is 4 minutes+, making a distinct change from the short punch of many Strokes tracks – in fact, you wouldn’t mistake this for a Strokes album at all. These are meandering, textured pieces. and while there is very much an 80s-inspired vibe here (read: The Cars), this album is yet another 2009 example of the trend towards unashamedly embracing both retro and futuristic-sounding electronics.”
You can read the whole …

From the first time you heard “Runaway” you knew Cartel had “it.” Immense talent, the ability to write a gripping hook, and to top it all off they had an unbelievable vocalist in Will Pugh. But then you listened to the rest of Chroma, and the majority of it made you think, “What, did they give up halfway through?”

Then, in 2007, Dr. Pepper and MTV teamed up to promote Cartel’s second album, Cartel. Even Wyclef Jean stepped in to do some producing. When you finally heard “Lose It,” and “Wasted” you thought, “Finally, this is it.”

But then you heard the album. You couldn’t even call it a sophomore slump. It wasn’t that it was a step back, it was standing in place–just more of the same old thing. Sure, there was three …

A friend of mine said to me the other day that Metric are what Yeah Yeah Yeahs would sound like if she actually bothered to hire musicians and producers. I think that’s dead wrong (and I told my buddy so). Metric sounds like Death Cab’s fairer sex–digital mope that is occasionally brilliant. Karen O sounds like Chrissy Hynde’s musical heir, and with all her moods. When she does lo-fi, its for good reason.

Nowhere is this more evident than on the soundtrack to Where the Wild Things Are (in theatres now), and especially the opening track “Igloo”, which you can listen to here.

There isn’t much to this 1:49 song. An acoustic guitar, a kid humming, a tambourine. But its a beautiful, equally wistful and haunting tune. …

I rarely partake in normal family activities. I realize this is unfortunate, but fact. I’m not much for family movie night or Sunday dinners and that kind of thing. However, when my mom told me she was taking my three sisters to see “Where the Wild Things Are” I nearly jumped out of my seat to tag along. Sadly I realized that uh (duh) it’s not out yet. So instead, my mom and sisters went to see “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” (“freaking terrible” I think, was her opinion), and I decided to investigate for some more news involving the Spike Jonze/Dave Eggers/Maurice Sendak project.

We are now less than a week away from release (Friday, October 16) and there’s a collective excitement growing. Movie buffs …

“Let the wild rumpus start!” the words of Max, the newly installed king of the land of the Wild Things, start off Karen O and the Kids simple stomper “Rumpus”. It’s a celebratory order and a celebratory song, the “first order of business” as James Gandolfini (who voices the lead Wild Thing) puts it, of any 8-year-old monarch worth his salt.

And the song displays precisely the kind of seriousness about having fun that is one of the hallmarks of childhood. It’s all up-tempo, foot-stomping electric guitar, xylophone and an unself-conscious children’s choir belting out the mantra (“Go! Go! Go! Go!) It’s pure joy expressed purely.

But as with any kid lost in the unbound wildness of make-believe–the sugar rush inevitably wears off, and the rumpus of the childrens’ …

Okay so the excitement and fanfare surrounding the Where The Wild Things Are movie has become frenzied. We’re less than two weeks from the release date and yet more awesome news has surfaced–if you can handle it.

The soundtrack to the movie is not a mix of the indie-hits you’ve heard during the trailers. There is no Arcade Fire, no Sigur Ros. Instead there is thirteen original songs performed by Karen O (of Yeah Yeah Yeahs fame) and the Kids, and one cover (a Daniel Johnston song, “Worried Shoes”). The Kids, as they’re affectionately known, are comprised of Brian Chase, Nick Zinner, Bradford Cox and two of The Raconteurs. Oh, and a choir of children who sing and yell and cry and are generally fantastic. The songs themselves, …

My, oh my, whatever happened to those boys who made Your Favorite Weapon?

Fear not, this question will not go unanswered! Jesse Lacey proclaims in “Vices,” “Those days are dead, forgive me. Those days are dead, forgive me.”

Now before you get mad and give your retort, try this. Lest we forget “The No Seatbelt Song” is also a part the band’s first release. Were we too blinded by the catchy pop-punk to see this coming? These moths were inevitably going to break out of their cocoon, and after eight-plus years of metamorphosis, they have.

While Daisy is a harsh listen at first, we should be prepared for shock with Brand New. Upon hearing “Sic Transit Gloria…” my thought was essentially, “What the *@!& is this?” Similarly …

What’s that old saying about cornering a wounded animal?

Well, Keith Buckley and Every Time I Die has been feeling cornered it seems, and they’ve responded by aurally mauling your face. After “Gutter Phenomenon” and “The Big Dirty” took a lighter, catchier turn (if you can ever use the words “light” and “catchy” to describe ETID), “New Junk Aesthetic,” their fifth full-length, is incomparably brutal.

Right off the bat, “NJA” shows you the next evolution of ETID. “Roman Holiday” starts with piercing feedback and morphs into slow, destructive power chords. Keith proclaims that this time around “we are the death of the party, we are the life of the funeral.” They have not come to fool around. The pulsing guitars, pounding drums and furious vocals are backed with an ominous chorus of “oohs.”

Once …

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