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RYAN REED

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Beastie Boys | Hot Sauce Committee Part Two

Capitol Records (2011)
"Back on the mic, it's the anti-depressor," flows King Ad-Rock over raunchy drums and speaker-busting clavinet in "Make Some Noise," the bravado launching pad of Beastie Boys' eighth studio album.
By: RYAN REED  |  May 06, 2011
explosions list

Explosions in the Sky | Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

Temporary Residence Limited (2011)
Temporary Residence Limited (2011)
By: RYAN REED  |  April 27, 2011
PB list

Panda Bear | Tomboy

Paw Tracks (2011)
Tomboy , Noah Lennox a/k/a Panda Bear's third studio album, kicks off with "You Can Count on Me," a slab of intoxicating psychedelia that's quintessentially Panda Bear, from the gorgeous choir-boy vocal harmonies (enunciated to crisp perfection) to the plentiful reverb to the uplifting, major-key message of family commitment.
By: RYAN REED  |  April 13, 2011
Scattered trees list

Scattered Trees | Sympathy

(Roll Call/EMI 2011)
On "Love and Leave," a painfully straightforward alt-guitar ballad on an album full of painfully straightforward alt-guitar ballads, Chicago's Scattered Trees can't decide which early-period Chris Martin moment they'd like to ape.
By: RYAN REED  |  April 06, 2011
dodo_t

The Dodos | No Color

  Frenchkiss (2011)
Francisco duo the Dodos, makes a lot of broad statements on the band's fourth studio album. Fortunately, the music fills in the blanks
By: RYAN REED  |  March 23, 2011
rem_t

R.E.M. | Collapse Into Now

Warner Bros. (2011)
It's tough for a band nearly 30 years into their singularly influential career not to dissolve into an adjective. But R.E.M. have taken their moniker on quite a musical journey.
By: RYAN REED  |  March 16, 2011
beach_t

Beach Fossils | What A Pleasure

Captured Tracks (2011)
This EP is an eight-song follow-up to Beach Fossils' homonymous full-length debut from 2010, and these days, Dustin Payseur and his band of chilled-out '80s worshippers have their sound down pat.
By: RYAN REED  |  February 23, 2011
Young Galaxy new album Shapeshifting

Young Galaxy | Shapeshifting

Paper Bag (2011)
The synthesizer called and Young Galaxy answered. On their third studio full-length, the Canadian indie-pop trio have gone all-out digital, laying down their guitars as sacrificial lambs and bowing to the altar of '80s electro-pop legends like Eurythmics and Depeche Mode.  
By: RYAN REED  |  February 16, 2011
iron_t

Iron & Wine | We Kiss Each Other Clean

Warner Bros. (2011)
Sam Beam, the bearded craftsman otherwise known as Iron & Wine, is the very personification of musical consistency.
By: RYAN REED  |  February 01, 2011
CWK_T

Review: Cold War Kids | Mine Is Yours

Interscope (2011)
A lot of people are going to hate this album, but not everyone.
By: RYAN REED  |  January 27, 2011
Cloud_Thumb

Cloud Nothings | Cloud Nothings

Carpark Records (2011)
There's still something borderline poetic about a teenage dude recording a collection of lo-fi punk/pop songs on a laptop in his bedroom.
By: RYAN REED  |  January 18, 2011
01142011_SmithWesternsList

The Smith Westerns | Dye It Blonde

Fat Possum (2011)
If the Smith Westerns' homonymous 2009 debut perfectly captured the awkward, waning days before high-school graduation, then their sophomore effort is the Chicago indie quartet's college existential-crisis record, more sprawling and a tad wiser while still hitting its target of raw, British Invasion–style psychedelia
By: RYAN REED  |  January 11, 2011
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