Angel Olsen
My Woman
Jagjaguwar (2016)
Angel Olsen has been very active since the release of her debut cassette Strange Cacti, revealing a very promising work. Her dark indie folk/rock tone had a haunting effect, which peaked with Half Way Home and the excellent Burn Your Fire For No Witness. The delicate folk tones of Olsen were engulfed by a healthy dose of reverb, ample amount … Read more
Bon Iver
Bon Iver
Jagjaguwar (2011)
The fact that this album is self-titled is really surprising. A self-titled album usually represents and displays everything the artist embodies. Their most predominant musical characteristics, if you will. For Justin Vernon, Bon Iver is not his standard modus operandi. It’s way better than that.The album starts off with “Perth,” a really powerful introduction to the journey you will be … Read more
Dinosaur Jr.
Farm
Jagjaguwar (2009)
This may be going out on a limb here, but Dinosaur Jr.'s reunion album in 2007, Beyond was one of the best albums of said year, if not one of the best reunion albums ever. Bands reuniting is always seen as a lame cash-in attempt by artists going bankrupt, but with Beyond it felt more like Dinosaur Jr. were making … Read more
Foxygen
...And Starpower
Jagjaguwar (2014)
Since the first time I heard the dewy-eyed lyric, “I caught you sipping milkshakes in the parlor of the hotel,” I’ve been somewhat smitten with the psychedelic princes behind Foxygen’s screwball absurdum: moody-broody Jonathan Rado and Kevin Barnes incarnate, Sam France. Following the release of their hugely successful breakout album, 21st Century Ambassadors, it seems Rado and France decidedly opened … Read more
Minus Story
Heaven and Hell
Jagjaguwar (2005)
Following up what was my #1 record of the year last year, Minus Story recently released an EP titled Heaven and Hell on Jagjaguwar. Six tracks and five songs, this EP contains four Minus Story songs, one Misfits cover, and one ghost story. The title track starts the record off in a very good way. Right away you'll notice the … Read more
Okkervil River
The Stage Names
Jagjaguwar (2007)
It's a rare commodity to find a record that just seems to get it right. I mean really get it. The kind of disc that echoes your little world, your thoughts and your feelings, back to you in lines that you just wish you had the talent to write yourself. The kind of album that has you walking the long … Read more
Okkervil River
The Stand Ins
Jagjaguwar (2008)
"But there's this idea that nobody can tell you if something is good or not, you have to decide whether you think it's good. And nobody is more of an authority than anyone else." The quote above is part of a response singer Will Sheff said when interviewed about his then forthcoming record The Stage Names. The interviewer had asked … Read more
Okkervil River
The Stand Ins
Jagjaguwar (2008)
I have this vaguely unpleasant sensation lately when listening to The Stand Ins that Okkervil River's Will Sheff (guitar and vocals) is peering in the windows at me. I'm probably not alone in this, though. Throughout The Stand Ins, universal themes are rendered in careful fragments, and anchored with lyrical details so seemingly specific that they're almost biographical. Sure, Okkervil … Read more
Pink Mountaintops
Outside Love
Jagjaguwar (2009)
Shoegaze and psychedelics just naturally go hand in hand. Sure, you can have one without the other, but you'd probably be cheating yourself of one of two things: a spiritual epiphany, or a night of sitting on your ass in your room staring blissfully into the space. Alright, maybe there isn't really a difference between the two, but Pink Mountaintops … Read more
Sharon Van Etten
Tramp
Jagjaguwar (2012)
I’m not going to lie. I’m reaching a bit out of my comfort zone on reviewing this one. And, yes, the rating system is a bit skewed toward albums that fit into my more typical listening genres. In other words, it would take Sharon Van Etten a hell of an album to secure a high score. Tramp, her third release, … Read more
Sunset Rubdown
Dragonslayer
Jagjaguwar (2009)
Spencer Krug may be our generation's Robert Pollard. Both seem to excrete music. Both create surreal visions full of vibrant characters and dense metaphor. Like Pollard's best albums, Dragonslayer sweeps us across a landscape replete with broken lovers and ephemeral romance and lonesome dirges. The connections between characters, images, and ideas are easier to spot than on 2007's more elusive … Read more
Swan Lake
Enemy Mine
Jagjaguwar (2009)
n theory, this band should be really, really fucking good - a supergroup composed of three accomplished artists already involved with various supergroups of their own. Dan Bejar (Destroyer, New Pornographers), Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes, Blackout Beach) and Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown) collaborating and throwing around their signature esoteric surrealist sounds like a aural feast. Buzz surrounding Enemy … Read more
