i hate the sound of guitars

You’ve got just about a month left to place an order from Asaurus Records, the micro-indie label that releases beautiful hand-packaged CDRs from the likes of Pants Yell!, Colin Cleary, The Mathletes, and many more. There’s a very generous selection of free tracks to download, too. Among the “I Hate the Sound of Guitars”-endorsed discs […]

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There’s basically nothing I don’t love about Smokers Die Younger’s X Wants the Meat.
I love the cheap-sounding keyboards (Casio? I can live in hope). I love the also cheap-sounding and frequently fuzzed-out guitar and bass (Slates amps and Skinny Rat guitars? Sounds like they could be), the determinedly plonky single-note guitar lines they play, and […]

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We interrupt the continuing coverage of the Blue Öyster Cult catalog to bring you a late addition to the 2006 year’s best list…
On January 1st, 2008 I finally finished my “not quite the best of 2006″ mixes. Yes, six. The most recent addition to make the list was The Electric Kisses, a perfect fusion of […]

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Indie-rock trio Eisenhower Field Day dish up textbook-perfect indie rock on this LP (a 2003 EP is appended to the current release). Guitarist/lead vocalist Noah Butler has a slightly yelpy tenor to which bassist Holly Butler’s harmonies provide welcome sweetening. They play with conviction and the songs are are full of interesting dynamic and textural […]

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I love this band so much that I’m untrustworthy on the subject. Usually I cringe when backing vocals stray out of tune or when tempos drift between instruments. When B for Brontosaurus exhibits these flaws (which they do sometimes, especially live) I make excuses to find it charming, rather than grating. “Their enthusiasm outpaces their […]

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At their best — “Pollution,” and “Stagnant,” — Apple Betty remind me strongly of the garagey side of Barbara Manning: tuneful and gritty, with lyrics that will insult no one’s intelligence. At their worst — “Full Inside,” and the unlisted no-bonus track “Sweatpant Boner,” — they play the “we’re cute women, and we we […]

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