Descendents - Somery

Somery is an overview of the Descendents' SST records, drawing equally from each album released by that label. Although this means a handful of great songs from their best albums are missing, Somery nevertheless selects the highlights from their occasionally uneven records, making it a useful and comprehensive retrospective.

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Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope

On Begin to Hope, Regina Spektor treads a delicate balance between her anti-folk past and her present home on Sire Records. Though the label re-released Soviet Kitsch in 2004, Begin to Hope is Spektor's first original material for Sire, and it feels more like a major-label debut than Soviet Kitsch ever did. The album's big, glossy production and preponderance of drum machines and keyboards inches Spektor toward territory that isn't exactly mainstream, but is closer to a more conventional adult alternative singer/songwriter sound. Her songwriting mirrors this, too: "Field Below," which finds her wishing for the countryside while living in the city, has a mellow, appealingly rambling vibe that grows from the traditional singer/songwriter roots of Joni and Carole; "Better" takes the breathy, literate, pretty side of Spektor's music and tailors it into a radio-friendly single. "On the Radio" takes it a step further and becomes a smart, funny, and sad meta-single, with lyrics like "We listened to it twice/Because the DJ was asleep" backed by poppy synths and beats. But even though Begin to Hope's first few songs might suggest otherwise, Spektor is much too freewheeling and quirky a talent to stick to the straight and narrow for the entirety. Show tunes, classic soul, the Bible, and the backs of cereal boxes are all inspirations for the album. And whether she quotes the melody from Doris Payne's "Just One Look" and pairs it with lyrics about orca whales on "Hotel Song," or begins the lovely, confessional closing track, "Summer in the City," with the line "summer in the city means cleavage," Spektor uses them in unexpected ways. She also places some truly surreal, heady tracks toward Begin to Hope's end: "Lady" is a torchy number arranged for piano, saxophone, and typewriter, while "20 Years of Snow" is buoyed along by impressionistic keyboards that twinkle and tumble like a just-shaken snow globe. "Apres Moi," one of the album's most impressive tracks, showcases her classical piano training, her Russian heritage, and those biblical influences to ominous, paranoid effect. Leaving the more unique, quintessentially Regina Spektor-esque tracks at the end of Begin to Hope isn't so much a bait-and-switch as is a clever way to lure in and loosen the inhibitions of new fans. The album feels like getting to really know someone: at first, it's polite and a little restrained, but then its real personality, with all of its charming idiosyncrasies, finally reveals itself.

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Avett Brothers - The Gleam Ep

The Avett Brothers are a non-traditional bluegrass band that originated in Concord, North Carolina. The band is made up of two brothers, Seth and Scott Avett, and a third member Bob Crawford. Risen from the ashes of Seth and Scott's former rock band Nemo, The Avett Brothers combine old-time country, bluegrass, punk, pop melodies, folk, rock and roll, honky tonk and ragtime to produce a sound described by the Washington Post as "post civil-war modern rock", or by other reviewers as "grungegrass". The group themselves eschews labels, feeling that "none would do the music the justice. It's simply left up to each person to extract his or her own account from the Avett's music."Their live performances, generally at smaller venues, showcase their use of three-part harmony and southern rock feel, and are admired for being intense, energetic, and soulful.

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Joanna Newsom - Walnut Whales

Walnut Whales is the self-distributed debut EP by Joanna Newsom. It was released on CD-R in 2002. Though the majority of the tracks were re-recorded, with very slightly altered lyrics, for her debut full length album The Milk-Eyed Mender, three of the songs — "Erin", "Flying a Kite", and "The Fray" — are otherwise unreleased. Being a limited edition release it is now unavailable outside of file-sharing networks and second hand exchanges.

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The Anniversary - Designing For a Breakdown

The Anniversary's debut album, Designing a Nervous Breakdown, blends their skill at crafting emotional, punky-yet-melodic songs with a fondness for new-wave synths. Little analog flourishes pop up on songs like "The 'D' in Detroit," which also features pleasant boy-girl vocals and driving guitars. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" recalls the delicate, intertwined guitars and endearingly awkward vocals of bands like Joan of Arc or Modest Mouse, while "All Things Ordinary" and "Emma Discovery" don't forsake melodic complexity for their charging rhythms. A strong debut, Designing a Nervous Breakdown reaffirms that traditional indie rock can still sound fresh and lively.

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Spitalfield - Better Than Knowing Where You Are

Growing up in the public eye has never been an easy task for a young band. We have had the distinctive pleasure of watching SPITALFIELD mature from a pop-punk band out of the suburbs of Chicago into an impressive, fierce, and very smart rock band…and this was only with their first two records! The whole world took notice on their critically acclaimed second record, Stop Doing Bad Things, making it evident that the “SPITALFIELD sound” was becoming a whole new beast altogether.

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