Division Day
Beartrap Island
Eenie Meenie (2007)
Division Day are a fairly new band from Los Angeles and they are going to turn some heads with their debut full-length, Beartrap Island. The four-piece band plays a delicate mix of indie and post-rock music. The songs on Beartrap Island fall someplace between the soft indie rock numbers that I would liken to Sunny Day Real Estate, the post-rock … Read more
Dizzee Rascal
Maths + English
XL (2007)
Despite the abrasive nature of U.K. garage, Dizzee Rascal has performed the extraordinary task of achieving eminence in various circles of British music, from his immediate contemporaries in grime and hip-hop to the less approximate in metal and indie. The Arctic Monkeys have gotten in on some mutually reciprocal sampling, and Dizzee was an unexpected highlight of 2004's Carling Festival; … Read more
Do Make Say Think
You, You're a History in Rust
Constellation (2007)
Instrumental music, I've found, requires patience to fully appreciate it. Sitting through detached, quiet parts of songs is by no means difficult, but it can definitely test a listener's musical patience. Canadian cohorts Do Make Say Think have been writing instrumental music since the mid 90's. Akin to label-mates Godspeed You! Black Emperor, they write extremely cohesive, powerful and moving … Read more
Do Make Say Think
You, You're a History in Rust
Constellation (2007)
In recent years, post-rock has become the urban sprawl of independent music. Invasive, bloated, and undeniably comfortable, it has steadily, albeit consciously, delineated from its richer, more substantive origins to assume the role of pleasant background music, antiseptically reliable but hopelessly predictable. Tortoise's feral meanderings and Mogwai's bulky, aggressive overtones have been replaced by Explosions in the Sky's brand of … Read more
Don't Mess With Texas
Los Dias de Junio
Moonlee (2007)
Don't Mess with Texas is my first exposure to any artist from the country of Croatia. Despite reading through their one-sheet, I was a little skeptical of what I might hear - some crazy gypsy folk perhaps? Nevertheless, Los Dias de Junio made its way into my CD player and I was rewarded for my lack of abandoning hope. Los … Read more
Down to Nothing
The Most
Revelation (2007)
Ryan Groat should be presented with some sort of award for the riffs he came up with on The Most, Down to Nothing's third full-length and first for Revelation Records. Seriously, not only are the riffs thundering and inventive, they get stuck in your head for weeks, even months on end. Mr. Groat I award with this Riffy for Most … Read more
Drawing Voices
Drawing Voices
Double H Noise/Hydra Head (2007)
Drawing Voices is easily one the most experimental and groundbreaking projects that I have come across in all my years of listening to and reviewing music. Mastermind Craig Dongoski with help of Aaron Turner of Isis/House of Low Culture has taken the art of drawing and writing and transformed it into an auditory experience. The two as Drawing Voices have … Read more
Dustin Kensrue
Please Come Home
Equal Vision (2007)
All right doggies, saddle up. It's time to slip off those slip-on vans and lace up a pair of shit kickers; the terrain gets a lil' rough up ahead. That's right, y'all better trade in those half inch gauged earrings for a ten gallon hat because we're about to take a bucking ride through the romantic Midwest with Dustin "Dusty" … Read more
Dusty Rhodes and The River Band
First You Live
Side One Dummy (2007)
With an Americana backbone, Dusty Rhodes and The River Band play a type of rock similar to CCR, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and other sixties acts that incorporated a strong folk/country influence into their sound without being gimmicky. Can't place those names? Then imagine Flogging Molly less punk, more rock n' roll, less Irish, earlier 20th century American. Imagine … Read more
Earth
Hibernaculum
Southern Lord (2007)
It is not often that a band is willing to revisit prior recorded works in a new musical style. With Hibernaculum, the lauded Earth do just that. However, they do more than just rehash old material. Dylan Carlson and company instead breathe new life into the songs and gives listeners, fans, and interested parties a striking bridge between the "louder," … Read more
Eastern Blok
Folk Tales
Independent (2007)
World music is a funny thing. It begins with the purest of intentions: to invite the listener to explore the country of its origin by providing an aural guide to its history, its peoples, its struggles and its victories. The thing is, almost the entire genre has been co-opted by new age douchebags seeking to show their eclecticism by having … Read more
El Ten Eleven
Every Direction is North
Bar/None (2007)
Some would argue that post-rock has, in recent years, become overpopulated with carbon copies of Explosions in the Sky. Although I am not so sure about that myself, I can definitely see that there are some bands falling into a bit of a quiet-loud-quiet, delayed and reverbed guitar formula. Not that I am complaining, because I have to dig pretty … Read more
El-P
I'll Sleep When You're Dead
Definitive Jux (2007)
Nas' latest release makes the claim that hip-hop is dead. If he paid attention to the underground, he'd know the genre is not only alive and well but with a pulse fresher than ever. Five years after the release of his first solo release, Fantastic Damage, El-P returns with I'll Sleep When You're Dead, an album proving why El's label … Read more
Elliott Smith
New Moon
Kill Rock Stars (2007)
Elliott Smith's tragic death is seemingly unavoidable when talking about his music. It seems so interlinked with the subject matter of his songs that one must always connect the two; many of his lyrics seem to prophesize his untimely death, referencing his unhappiness and growing drug addiction, and it's this that seems to draw many people to Smith's music. In … Read more
Eluvium
Copia
Temporary Residence (2007)
Music has a way of bringing out many emotions in the listener. Whether it is fun music in the summer while you are having a good time or the making of a mixtape for a girl that you are trying to impress, music plays a very important role in all of our lives. We all have that one album that … Read more
Empire! Empire! (I was a Lonely Estate)
When the Sea Became a Giant
Independent (2007)
The key word that comes to mind when listening to When the Sea Became a Giant is light. Everything is light. The vocal delivery is a deep reminder of the roots of emo, where a different kind of melancholy built its empire (no pun intended, I lied, yes it was). The guitars let off an air of innocent intensity. The … Read more
End of a Season / Many Men Have Tried
Split
Refoundation (2007)
I've always enjoyed sampling international hardcore or punk. Sometimes it's nice to have a reality check. It seems like sometimes we're under the impression that hardcore is an expressively American creation or tradition, and though the genre certainly manifested itself in the states, predominantly, often times international bands have perfected it. I'd never heard of either of these bands before … Read more
End of Level Boss
Inside the Difference Engine
Exile on Mainstream (2007)
It's all about the riffs for these English lads: big, thick, rumbling and sometimes peculiar riffs. I have to say that I have always had a deep affinity and a strong weakness for this kind of music. There has always been a warm and cozy feeling to music that takes a lot of influence from the stoner and doom genre, … Read more
