Pinegrove, "Darkness (acoustic)" After a very good and well-received second album (Cardinal), Pinegrove ran into some serious problems that derailed the band after accusations surfaced about Evan Hall. It was a messy situation that Hall and the band tried to handle head-on, eventually going through...
Let's Go Bowling, "Identity Crisis" The final Let's Go Bowling album, Stay Tuned, feels a little like they were finally letting the commercial winds blow them along towards rock. While their previous records had been pretty traditional, this one definitely feels more of a piece...
Richie Hawtin, "Aliens Don't Boogie" I'm never really sure how to credit this record. It's Richie Hawtin putting together a mix record, so do I credit him? Or the artist that did the original track? I choose the former on purely utilitarian grounds, which is...
Tricky, "Brand New You're Retro" Maxinquaye is one of the three pillars of trip-hop, along with Blue Lines and Dummy. What's striking about all three records, besides them all being great, is kind of how dissimilar they all end up feeling. There's a murky darkness...
Less Than Jake, "Automatic" As the majors decided that ska, and especially ska-punk, was Really Hot, a bunch of bands signed contracts even though it probably didn't make a ton of sense. But, honestly, Less Than Jake wasn't a bad bet by the labels. There's...
