Crocodiles
Summer of Hate

By Cam Lindsay

With Wavves signing to Fat Possum it seems the door has opened for more feedback- and fuzz-soaked lo-fi to follow in his hype-filled footsteps. Though signed to the label at the same time as their fellow San Diegan, Crocodiles have somehow managed to elude a smothering by the press despite their history as members of post-hardcore spazzoids the Plot To Blow Up the Eiffel Tower. As Crocodiles, Charles Rowell (synth/guitar) and Brandon Welchez (vocals/programming) unabashedly exploit a serious '80s fixation using grimy production and feverish efficiency. It never feels very authentic, as they expel the same unruly noise as explicit influences the Jesus & Mary Chain on carbon copy anthem "I Wanna Kill," or get spiritual on "Sleeping With the Lord," a track that is so Spacemen 3, Pete and Jason should seriously reconcile purely to sue. But like the punks they are, Summer of Hate isn't about making some original statement; it's about being miserable and converting that emotion into something fun. To paraphrase the Reid brothers: everything's awesome when you're down. (Fat Possum)

Blank Dogs - Under and Under
Though he's become somewhat of an underground hero in a short period of time because of his anonymity and mounting body of work, the prolific Blank Dogs is really just a guy from Brooklyn who loves making music. His name's Mike and in the last couple of years he's put out a remarkable stockpile of l ...Read More
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Dave Longstreth assures me he is neither a Queen nor a Gastr Del Sol fan. And although there are elements of bombast and compositional complexity on his band's newest, and best, album, I am prepared to accept it. Still, the architect of Bitte Orca doesn't worry that a track like the operetta- ...Read More
The Lodge - Take That, Devil
Certainly a super-group for fans of the mid-'90s Halifax pop explosion, the Lodge are a dynamic, new venture for some grizzled, multi-talented indie rock vets. Before experimental pop band Neuseiland called it a day, their line-up consisted of Charles Austin and Drew Yamada (the Super Friendz), Andr ...Read More
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Phoenix have always been the Parisian underdogs amongst peers like Air and Daft Punk, but four albums in the pop group have finally found the record that should raise them to that level. Following 2006's more rock-focused It's Never Been Like That, the band have jumped back into the studio wi ...Read More
1090 Club - Natural Selection
23 Skidoo - Seven Songs / Urban Gamelan / Just Like Everybody
Akron/Family - Set ‘Em Wild Set ‘Em Free
Anarbor - Free Your Mind
Andy White - Garageband
Ant - These Long Dark Country Roads
Art Brut - Art Brut vs. Satan
Belmez - Apariciones
Black Math Horseman - Wyllt
BrakesBrakesBrakes - Touchdown
Brasstronaut - Old World Lies
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Ceti Alpha - Telemetry
Crippled Black Phoenix - 200 Tons Of Bad Luck
Cryptacize - Mythomania
Dan Zimmerman - Cosmic Patriot
Death Cab For Cutie - The Open Door
Deradoorian - Mind Raft
Desario - Zero Point Zero
Diamond Watch Wrists - Ice Capped at Both Ends
Doves - Kingdom of Rust
Duff McKagan’s Loaded - Sick
Eat Skull - Wild and Inside
The French Impressionists - Amelia Rosselli
The Ghost is Dancing - Battles On
The Horrors - Primary Colours
Immaculate Machine - High On Jackson Hill
Jane's Addiction - A Cabinet of Curiosities
The Kingsbury Manx - Ascenseur Ouvert!
The Love Language - The Love Language
Lovers - I Am The West
Meat Puppets - Sewn Together
Metric - Fantasies
The Monks - The Early Years 1964 — 1965
Nick Lowe - Quiet Please... The New Best of Nick Lowe
Novillero - A Little Tradition
Nu Sensae - Nu Sensae
Our Brother the Native - Sacred Psalms
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
Pearl Jam - Ten
PJ Harvey & John Parish - A Woman A Man Walked By
Razorlight - Slipway Fires
Rodriguez - Coming From Reality
The Scutches - The Scutches
Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Slim Twig - Contempt!
St. Vincent - Actor
Starsailor - All The Plans
Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years
Tara Jane O'Neil - A Ways Away
Tyvek - Tyvek
Various Artists - Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers!
Various Artists - Covered, A Revolution In Sound: Warner Bros. Records
The Veils - Sun Gangs
White Cowbell Oklahoma - Bombardero
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Explosive and precise, Etaoin Shrdlu knowingly wink at the perception that their post-hardcore math rock musical approach might be a throwback while simultaneously contributing something vibrant to punk rock with Mating Calls. Featuring members of significant bands like Blake, I Can Put my Ar... Full Review
"I've got a fever and the only cure is dead angels."
-Bayonetta

Ever since the Christmastime gaming deluge ended, I've been killing a lot of angels. Though God's messengers have been bad guys in other pop-cultural products ― His Dark Materials book trilogy, the pas... Full Review
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