Cloudspeakers

The title doesn’t lie: The Morning Benders’ second album is both sonically hefty and generous with the reverb. But even while Big Echo’s dreamy, cinema-ready chamber pop provides a fine reason to b... Read more

Josh Rouse’s latest album deflects most listeners’ first complaint with its title. Born in the Midwest, Rouse married a Spanish woman and moved to Valencia five years ago. Post-move efforts like Su... Read more

For true believers, Drive-By Truckers albums are like sprawling 10-course banquets that provide continued nourishment over the course of many listens. For the uninitiated, though, all the meaty cha... Read more

Aloha’s 2000 debut album That’s Your Fire arrived at a time when freeform song structures and jazzy instrumentation dominated the indie scene, and in that context, Aloha’s addition of recognizable ... Read more

It might seem strange to praise a rapper for his progressive attitude toward women and sex when he has songs like “Move Bitch” on his résumé. But on Battle Of The Sexes,Ludacris treats his strong f... Read more

Where did jj come from? The Swedish duo, unknown and perhaps nonexistent until recently, put out two albums in the past eight months; both are very good and very cryptic. jj n° 2, last year’s conci... Read more

On their first two records, The Whigs heralded a short turnaround time for the ’90s alt-rock sound. The band’s in-your-face hooks, which revisited the 1990s’ booming, guitar-driven style, seemed de... Read more

“I’m just runnin’ a temperature / Happiness is for amateurs,” Jason Collett drawls on Rat A Tat Tat’s first track, “Rave On Sad Songs,” perhaps mocking the role of a self-pitying folkie, embracing ... Read more

As much as first albums can capture bands in their purest form, debuts can also find them over-emulating influences, regurgitating what inspired them instead of building upon it. That was the knock... Read more

The Shins have put out three fantastic albums that combine James Mercer’s jangled songwriting with a chilly psychedelic atmosphere. Brian Burton, a.k.a. Danger Mouse, has put together a string of s... Read more