Knee-deep in producer Francis Falceto’s stellar Ethiopiques series, I was moved to catch The Budos Band live a few years ago, when they were serving up funked-up, instrumental jams by way of Addis Ababa circa 1972. Four years on, and the Budos are back. This time, someone’s tossed Africa 70’s stateside inheritors into their custom […]

I work in an office. More specifically, I am a writer who works in an open office plan, sharing a cubicle with two other souls and a world of interruption. To signal that “I’m working, goddamnit,” I don the fanciest pair of noise-canceling headphones this non-profit gal could afford and loop house-heavy DJ mixes until […]

On Our Love, Dan Snaith and company return with the warm, detailed electronica/pop hybrid that listeners have come to expect from Caribou (formerly Manitoba). And just as he’s done on all of his preceding titles, Snaith has conspicuously incorporated new genre influences, and used them to build an overarching, thematic foundation. Previous albums have seen him absorbing Aphex Twin-inspired electronic abstraction, shoegaze, psychedelia, sunshine […]

I’m not sure you can call Kodiak Deathbeds a supergroup, since it only has two people in it. But in this case, they’re two of the most versatile and talented musicians around. Derek Fudesco is an excellent guitarist who went from playing filthy, big chord rock anthems in Murder City Devils to post-punk squalls in Pretty […]

Here’s some lovely stoner/psychedelia from Los Angeles foursome Talk In Tongues. They’re working similar terrain as the Tame Impala & Pond cabal does, with nice big drums and guitars and reverbed vocals. The band changed its name from Brother Blyss a couple of months ago; other than that I don’t know a thing about them, […]