Want to save a quick grand? Buy The Local Anesthetic! Tags: Allen Ginsberg, Colorado, Defex, Frantix, Peter Buck, Punk, Thurston Moore...

The Raveonettes' Lust Lust Lust bursts with '50s and '90s sound elements. Tags: Album Reviews, Baltimore, New Releases, Ottobar, The Raveonettes, thrushes...

A continuous mix hellbent on turning your brain into salad through the easy access point of your ears, Pulling Teeth's Martyr Immortal (Deathwish) is the kind of record that takes you behind Ottobar, smashes your face into a car hood a few times to make its point, and then gives you a ride home beca...

Out last week on Tent City Records, Freedom of Speech Means Talk Is Cheap is the first we've heard from Destroy Everything in several years. From the clever album art with its sardonic take on American iconography, Freedom makes no bones about the anarchist ideals (at its most conservative far left:...

Released last fall, Jason Dove's We Should Be Together is a dramatic amalgam of classic pop, pluckiness, and a rock intensity rarely heard in heartfelt indie songs such as these.  The beefy groove of "So You Know" is bolstered by the knob-turning of J. Robbins (Jawbox), who recorded the album i...

A long-overdue nod to a record that came out January 8: Yiddish finds its place with The Shondes' progressive, feminist, queer-core riot record The Red Sea. Already the recipient of many Sleater-Kinney references, due at least in part to the warble of Louisa Solomon. The monotone but urgent shout ha...

Doffing his hard rock side for a dozen songs, Brian Grosz comes through with Bedlam Nights (click to buy), a personal, imperfect, rather beautifully damaged album. Grosz may look like a beefier Daughtry with a Tom Waits swagger on his album cover, but on disc he sounds a thousand times more real tha...

In any year, it's a real challenge to pick ten albums that mark the best of the year. Comparing lists, you'll find several here that make many critical lists. You will also see some questionable choices. Selections were made for musical talent, challenging compositions, catchiness, and buzz-worthine...