The Radio Dept. Clinging to a Scheme Rating: 4.0/5.0 Label: Shelflife/Labrador Undoubtedly a tortoise in the race of releasing records, the Swedes known as the Radio Dept. finally saw their third full-length, Clinging to a Scheme, drop at the end of April. Though the album was originally due in 2008, its release didn’t get much further than a single, “Freddie …

Medications Completely Removed Rating: 4.0/5.0 Label: Dischord Maybe I’m alone in this, but my favorite era of Dischord wasn’t its hardcore beginning or its emo-core peak but instead the strange new territory it began to explore at the start of the 21st Century. This was a time when Fugazi proved to be weirdly prophetic with their sadly underrated The Argument, …

Galaxie 500 Today/ On Fire/ This is Our Music Rating: 4.5/5.0, 5.0/5.0, 4.0/5.0 Label: Domino Though only active from 1986-1991 and leaving behind no more than three studio albums and a handful of EPs, Galaxie 500 is a band often cited by many of today’s indie luminaries as not only a primary influence, but a holy relic much in same …

Elliott Smith Roman Candle/From a Basement on the Hill Rating: 3.5/5.0, 4.0/5.0 Label: Kill Rock Stars It can be tricky to review posthumous releases, especially when an artist died prematurely. On one hand, there is completeness to their work, but on the other it’s hard not to view their work through the prism of their death, especially in the case …

The National High Violet Rating: 4.0/5.0 Label: 4AD Perhaps to no one’s surprise, most of High Violet is exceedingly sad. It’s there in Matt Berninger’s worn-down-and-weary baritone and in the drums, strings, keyboards and horns that underscore these songs and it’s as sure as hell in the singer’s resigned and somber lyrics. High Violet arrives with great expectations and some …

Cornershop Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast Rating: 4.0/5.0 Label: Ample Play Shame on us all for forgetting about Cornershop. The band led by Indian-English singer/guitarist Tjinder Singh are known, if at all, by most contemporary listeners as the band behind an ode to the pleasures of Bollywood cinema and its pop songs, “Brimful of Asha,” a song more heartfelt, …

Frog Eyes Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph Rating: 4.0/5.0 Label: Dead Oceans Through eight years and four increasingly exceptional records, the work of Frog Eyes has held fast to its own near-impenetrable dialectic. Brave listeners learned to keep their guard, navigating a torrent of beautifully orchestrated pandemonium. At the drop of a hi-hat, Carey Mercer’s hushed mumble might explode into one …

Flying Lotus Cosmogramma Rating: 4.5/5.0 Label: Warp Flying Lotus? More like Flying Mushroom. If you’re looking to take a trip without the potential undesirable side effects of hallucinogenics, Cosmogramma should be your drug of choice. The opening Nintendo-induced synth blips in “Clock Catcher” immediately rave us into a perpetual 45-minute warp-speed mindfuck above and beyond even the most innovative electronica …

Dosh Tommy Rating: 4.0/5.0 Label: anticon Revolutions don’t always have to be brutal or violent. Indeed, the most effective revolutions are often eerily quiet, more intellectual coup than an explosive change of fortunes. As the Velvet Revolution to gangsta rap’s French Revolution, the slow, quietly creeping influence of anticon on hip-hop in the 21st Century has been one of pop …

Willie Nelson Country Music Rating: 4.0/5.0 Label: Rounder Records Few musicians know the meaning of artistic reinvention quite like Willie Nelson. Beginning with 1978’s career-and-career-path-defining pop standards album Stardust, the iconic Highwayman has tackled nearly every stylistic nook and cranny short of a Celtic punk-gangsta rap hybrid. Considering his recent dabbles in jazz, Western swing and even reggae, Country Music, …