Album Review: Sleigh Bells, Bitter Rivals

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Seattle – Sleigh Bells has always toyed with the line between loud noise-rock and jangle-pop, a combination that’s somehow seems to work. The Brooklyn duo released its third album, “Bitter Rivals”, October 8th and with it, has proven that the combination alone isn’t a recipe for success. Bitter Rivals is not the most listenable album from the

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Daughn Gibson Live at Brooklyn’s Glasslands

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The punk drummer, truck driver, deep-voiced experimental country crooner Daughn Gibson rolled through Brooklyn recently, playing an enigmatic set with a backing band at Glasslands. I saw him once before at Knitting Factory during CMJ last year, when he was just with his drum machines, samplers, and librarian-esque keyboard player. This time around he was

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Mood Rings Messed With My Head at Cameo

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Imagine having your own dream sequence, and being pulled into this ethereal haze, full of light but with dark visceral undertones. Atlanta-based dream pop band Mood Rings’ set at Cameo was a lot like that. There was so much dreaminess that a girl in a long, flowing white dressed stepped forward around the middle of

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Album Review: Brazos, Saltwater

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Brazos’ Phosphorescent Blues came out amidst the 2009 explosion of indie-infused folk that was led by now sensationalized Mumford and Suns and, perhaps to a lesser degree, Tallest Man on Earth, Elvis Perkins and those likes. In that wave, Brazos released its debut album Phosphorescent Blues as a perfect addition to any 2009 indie-folk playlist

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Album Review: The Lone Bellow

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  Why yes, I am a mainstream Country enthusiast. I do enjoy a nicely crafted Country-pop collection that barely scratches the surface somewhere between folk, rock, faux-pop and traditionalism without any real connection to musical history, lyrical depth or intriguing multi-layered instrumentation. However, when an album of incredibly dizzying heights, regardless of textbook genre definitions,

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