I love EPs, even though there are so many reasons to hate them. EPs are generally overpriced CDs which contain only one good track. They rarely include rare songs that will never be released again (hellllllooooo box sets). A lot of recent EPs just seem to be remixes, too, and for the most part, I despise remixes of rock songs. Yet lately I’ve gotten two excellent EPs, which remind me of just how exciting a good EP can be. The first one was from …

We all know the drill about rarities compilations: they’re esoteric, obscure, often tough listening, little more than grab bags for serious listeners who fancy themselves as musical archivists. “For fans only,” right? And most of the time, frankly, it’s the truth.
But what critics like us rarely acknowledge is that there’s something thrilling about a good odds ‘n’ sods disc, too, even if it’s from a band whose logo we wouldn’t feel comfortable getting tattooed on our asses; it’s the feeling of discovery, of adventure, …

Between the years of 1970 and 1973, Johnny Cash quit drugs and alcohol, started a massively popular TV show on the ABC network, met with Richard Nixon, and recorded a number of children’s songs. Columbia Records has since remastered and re-released Johnny Cash’s Children’s Album (now for the first time on CD), the strange and beautiful document of a family-friendly, transitional period in the Man in Black’s life. Those who were children during the album’s initial 1975 release will enjoy this remastered …

You never forget the moment when you fall in love for the first time. It was a beautiful warm summer night when Suzie and I pulled up to the drive-in in my big brother John’s gorgeous apple-red 1955 Ford Thunderbird convertible. We snuggled close together, and a few dancing junk-foods later, the movie began to play. As she was unwilling to put out even the slightest, I was feeling pretty lukewarm when it came to Suzie. Yet, as I watched the credits roll on …

I feel as if everybody (or at least every indie kid and compulsive Pitchfork reader) has already heard The Boy Least Likely To. Didn’t everyone and their dogs already give this record two thumbs up last fall, around the time of its release in the UK? It’s easy to assume that only cheapskates and those afraid of the Man have waited for the United States release to get their admission to The Best Party Ever; yet an album as sweet and playful as this …

The Royal Order of Rabbits is a “happy” cult started by Gram Rabbit. The cultists are followers of the band, and you’ll probably recognize them as the people with the sedate grins and bunny ears, if you should ever happen into a Gram Rabbit show. And really, after hearing Cultivation, a listener should be able to understand why the cult of The Royal Order of Rabbits was started. Much like a cult, Gram Rabbit’s second release will only appeal to a select few.
The major …

The first track off The Sounds’ sophomore effort, Dying to Say This to You, is entitled “Song with a Mission.” So to start, let me just get this out of the way: no band whose album art resembles an American Apparel ad as closely as this one should ever be allowed to lay claim to a “mission.” Ever.
Unless, of course, that mission is just to make a helluva catchy pop album… in which case our hypothetical band would be in mighty good company. Right …

Sondre Lerche does not fit into my stereotypes of a Norwegian musician. He does not play death or black metal. He does not kill his fellow bandmates. Nor has he ever (at least to this reviewer’s knowledge) burned down a church in the names of Satan and rock and roll. And until now, it’s never mattered: Lerche’s prior releases, Faces Down and Two Way Monologue, were artful pop records which cemented the then-teenager as a musical phenom. Those albums found the right mixture …

It’s all but unavoidable: The press for Witch’s self-titled debut will be dominated by references to J Mascis, the alt-rock living legend who lends both musical talents and an impressive head of hair to the band. And in a way, that isn’t so bad; most listeners of catholic tastes won’t find it too hard to see parallels between Witch’s monolithic hard rawk and the more plodding aspects of Mascis’ “other” gig, Dinosaur Jr. (“Sludgefeast,” anyone?). Indeed, the jet-fueled riffage and shrieking solos which lurch …

I remember vividly the first time I stumbled across Nardwuar the Human Serviette. It was the summer of 2002, and I, like many music listeners, was just embarking on what would be an ongoing love affair with the White Stripes. I’d bought three of their records — White Blood Cells, De Stijl and a bootleg of the 2001 Peel Sessions — watched their buzzmaking MTV Movie Awards performance, and even seen them in concert for the first time, at Chene Park in Detroit …