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So we’ve got a non-music announcement first: we’re unveiling the cover art of The Keeper of Dreams: A Dozen Stories and Poems, beautifully done by RISD grad Matthew Vidalis (link to site right here). We don’t have a release date for it yet, but it will likely be sometime in Nov.-Dec. Pretty sweet-looking, no? Let’s put up some links to stories, too: “The Madness of the Gods,” penultimate draft, we should say; and “The Sentence,” which is not for the faint of heart. The collection is a mix of flash-fiction, poetry, and, of course, short stories of various lengths. We’ll keep you updated on itRead More →

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Fluffer – “Skopsi”Self-Released-out now 3 / 5 Bloomington, IN psychedelic rock trio Fluffer make a supreme effort here on their debut full-length. They’ve got their songs down, set up the drum set, and get rolling right into the thick of rock; they pound through almost a dozen, but despite their energy, we have trouble finding them compelling. They’ve written them well enough (see the rumbling, tumbling “Relic”), and they’re spot-on with their instruments, but the songs here largely don’t click with us. Compulsion is that element that takes a shrieking weird vocal and turns it into AC/DC classics, and we think that’s the weakest pointRead More →

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Har Mar Superstar – “Bye Bye 17”Cult Records-out now4 / 5 Don’t be put off by the unappetizing white dude on the cover: Sean Tillman, aka the Superstar, aka guy who looks like he lives in his mother’s basement, has an uncanny sense of retro-funk-soul in his soul. He’d fit somewhere between Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones on the retro-soul label Daptone – due to alphabetical sorting – and would do it with style, playfulness, sheer joy. Bye Bye 17, which clocks in just under 30 minutes, is quick but oh-so-good, is funky, down-to-earth, is indeed a white male Sharon Jones, does indeed channel MotownRead More →

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Rhye – “Woman”Universal Republic-out now4 / 5 It takes an international duo – Canadian Mike Milosh and Danish Robin Hannibal – to make a great, understated symphonic pop album. Woman is all of these things and more: svelt, chic, gliding with controlled, velvety falsettos, minimalistic strings and piano. It is a brilliant debut from the now-L.A.’ers, with each song a lament of love, a sexy, adult take on subdued, smoldering passion. It’s Rhye’s understatement that sells these tracks, that makes them mature and relatable, each a masterful understanding of love; as opposed to crooning, over-the-top power-pop junk. These are the kind of songs that areRead More →