Indie
Stephen Carradini
I’m not sure why I’ve encountered large amounts of jazz-influenced post-rock this year, but I’ve heard so much of it that I’ve got Colin Stetson’s mindblowing “New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges” atop my current best of 2011 list.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
Although Colourmusic spent a great amount of time talking about the sex-related aspects of “My _____ Is Pink” here, a secondary theme of the record is the most immediately noticeable part: Ryan Hendrix wanted to make an album that people could play when they work out.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
Not listening closely to “Tamer Animals” by Other Lives will cause you to miss most of what makes it so great.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
“Movement One” is based in a slowly picked acoustic guitar and features distant drumming for energy. The music and passionate radio sample of an unnamed rock star’s deadly accident create a memorable point in the first cut. The whole thing is underlaid with an easy, noninvasive drone that pulls the multiple parts together.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
Wow. An Album of the Year Grammy, mega sales and sold-out tours almost made me forgot where indie rock came from.

Indie
Stephen Carradini

Having a singular vision is difficult, especially when it’s so singular that listeners don’t get it.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
Old cars don’t have MP3 hookups, and those radio receivers always dissolve into static.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
Every now and then, I’ll get an album that promises something along the lines of an “AM radio” experience. This is usually a signifier that the disc in hand is a jumbled mess of genres and moods.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
Sometimes you can get too mature.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
I’ve been making as much racket as I can about optimistic prog-rock.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
I’m pretty sure the whole chillwave genre was born of nervousness. New artists, afraid of their own voice, cloaked everything in waves of reverb.

Indie
Stephen Carradini

It’s hard to be on the other side of a masterpiece.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
The positive prog-rock movement that Fang Island helped break last year has been a blast to listen to.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
Imagine that “Kiss Each Other Clean” isn’t by Iron & Wine, and you could really like the album.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
For an album that boasts 13 different instruments, eight vocalists and a bling-tastic title, I expected the Oklahoma City-based Kite Flying Robot’s debut to be a giddy, stuffed-to-the-hilt affair.