Mates of State “Team Boo” (Polyvinyl) Mates of State are husband-and-wife combo Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel that play spunky childlike drum-and-keyboards pop with slight attention deficit disorder. Case in point: album opener “Ha Ha” is three minutes of rollercoaster…
Owen “Self-Titled” (Polyvinyl) Joan of Arc, Cap’n Jazz, Owls and American Football member Mike Kinsella did EVERYTHING on this record and in his own studio, to boot. The results are quite impressive. Mellower and spacier than American Football, but actually…
Volcano, I’m Still Excited!! “Self-Titled” (Polyvinyl) First of all, the name-I know, it sucks. Big time. Can you imagine saying to your friends, “Hey, let’s go check out Volcano, I’m Still Excited!! at Johnny Logburn’s place tonight!” Of course not.…
Rainer Maria ““Anyone in Love with You (Already Knows)” (Polyvinyl) Rainer Maria’s sound captures what emo sounded like before it crept onto MTV. It’s pretty, climactic, and powerful, and on this latest release, a live cd/dvd combo, they show us…