i hate the sound of guitars

Artist of the Week: Love is All
It took me a while to warm to Love Is All. The coalescing of three members from the (underwhelming, to me at least) twee band Girlfrendo into the textbook post-punk act Love Is All made me suspicious of bandwagon-jumping, since it happened when retro post-punk was suddenly very marketable. [...]

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artist of the week: Ted Leo and The Pharmacists
Song of the Week: Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”
After a few spins few through The Brutalist Bricks, it’s clearly another entry in Ted Leo and The Pharmacists’ increasingly long and impressive unbroken series of really good albums. I know that songs [...]

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Artist of the week: Vulgaires Machins
Here’s a working definition of lack of critical distance: on Friday, March 12th, I learn that the new Vulgaires Machins album, Requiem pour les Sourds had been released on March 2nd. I’m frustrated that there’s been nine whole days that I could have been listening to this album, but wasn’t. [...]

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I started keeping a list of every record released this year that I listened to all the way through at least once. It quickly got sorta long, so I’m breaking it up by month: January (and 2009 holdovers), February, March, April
I’ll update the “Awaiting” section monthly.
Awaiting
The Capstan Shafts
Elk City – House of Tongues, 1 [...]

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Artist of the week: So Cow
On the latest release, Meaningless Friendly, So Cow basically sounds to me like a slightly (but not obnoxiously) lo-fi amalgam of Television Personalities, The Wedding Present, and Boyracer: smart, catchy, sometimes noisy pop with a distinctly from-across-the-pond air. (The original C86 scene is an obvious influence, and Beat Happening, too.) [...]

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Artist of the Week: Buzzcocks
I try not to get too caught up in the whole expanded/remastered reissue thang, but I’m making an exception for these updates to to the original Buzzcocks releases. The albums are rounded out not only by contemporaneous singles and a passel of demos, but also full live sets. I dived in [...]

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Every new album I listened to in February.
Feb
Buzzcocks – Love Bites (reissue)
Paula Carino – Open on Sunday
Giant Drag – Swan Song (ep)
Juliana Hatfield – Peace & Love
Hussalonia – Dear Hussalonia: Letters from Animals, Mostly Ducks
Magnetic Fields – Realism
Robert Pollard – We All Got Out of the Army
Quasi – American Gong

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