Sing Sing (1984-1994)
Artist: Honeymoon Killers
The Last Place to Go
Artist: Boxhead Ensemble

The Boxhead Ensemble is a collective of ever-changing musicians that provide the soundtrack for the film Dutch Harbor. Featured on this record are Will Oldham, of Palace fame, Edith Frost, Ken Vandermark and a host of others. Last Place to Go was recorded during the European tour of Dutch Harbor. The musicians provided improvised accompaniment... Read More

Moon Pix
Artist: Cat Power
Community Score: 6.83
The Black Light
Artist: Calexico
Community Score: 8.00

Deeper and richer than their debut, Spoke, Calexico's second album expands upon the sun-baked, cinematic sound of before with the addition of Latin jazz rhythms, mariachi trumpets, and pedal steel; in and of themselves, the group's songs are not exactly compelling, but they're produced with such a fine sense of texture and atmosphere that The... Read More

TNT
Artist: Tortoise
Community Score: 8.67

Expected by many to continue leading the post-rock brigade into a new fusion with dub and electronics, Tortoise instead turned yet another corner with their third album, TNT. Adding guitarist Jeff Parker to cement their musicianship as well as their connections to Chicago's fertile jazz/avant-garde scene, the band returned with a record of... Read More

Camoufleur
Artist: Gastr del Sol
Community Score: 7.55

Jim O'Rourke's last album with Gastr del Sol is a subdued, meditative affair, bringing together elements of folk, jazz, film music, and the avant-garde. "The Seasons Reverse" opens the album with a deceptive, gentle melody and strummed, hushed guitars. Its sound and leisurely pace set the tone, but not the style, for the rest of the album. Each... Read More

New Lands
Artist: Flying Saucer Attack
Community Score: 8.00

Likely titled New Lands due to Flying Saucer Attack being lauched upon "phase two" (as the liner notes put it), this release finds FSA down to Pearce and Pearce only, as before with a bit of help here and there from Rocker and, on "Present," the co-writing skills of two members of Amp. That the first two tracks are called "Past" and "Present"... Read More

Tone Soul Evolution
Artist: The Apples in Stereo
Community Score: 5.62

The second full-length album by the Apples in Stereo isn't as surprising as their debut, 1995's Fun Trick Noisemaker, but it doesn't sound like simply more of the same. Graced with a larger budget and access to a fully equipped 24-track recording studio for the first time, the group (particularly singer/songwriter/producer Robert Schneider) is... Read More

When I Was Born for the 7th Time
Artist: Cornershop
Community Score: 5.67

When I Was Born for the 7th Time is a remarkable leap forward for Cornershop, the place where the group blends all of their diverse influences into a seamless whole. Cornershop uses Indian music as a foundation, finding its droning repetition similar to the trancier elements of electronica, the cut-and-paste collages of hip-hop, and the skeletal... Read More

Bad Timing
Artist: Jim O'Rourke

With Bad Timing, O'Rourke attempts a return to the organic atmosphere of acoustic guitar from his explorations in electronica. The album consists of four songs clocking in at roughly ten minutes each, and is characterized by O'Rourke's ambient acoustic exploration. Three of the tracks enlist various instruments from cello to trumpet and even... Read More

Retrospective
Artist: Pin Group

Siltbreeze's Retrospective is a re-issued collection of recordings by New Zealand's seminal Pin Group (fronted by Roy Montgomery) -- the disc includes the "Ambivalence"/"Columbia" 7" (actually the first single issued on the Flying Nun label), the "Coat"/"Jim" 7", the Pin Group Goes to Town EP, a live cover of War's "Low Rider" and two low-fi... Read More

Silur
Artist: Tarwater
Community Score: 8.00

One of the best shots fired by the European post-rock brigade, Silur advances the focus on broad-ranging electronics from Tarwater's previous work to concentrate on Kraut-inspired mechanistic rhythms as a backdrop to an assortment of atmospherics ranging from scratchy '60s-pop samples, spoken-word passages, understated hip-hop turntablism, and... Read More