All Authors >

REYAN ALI

Latest Articles

Tycho | Dive

Ghostly International (2011)
In order to appreciate Dive properly, you'll need one thing: headphones.

By: REYAN ALI | November 29, 2011

Baths submerse electronics in dreamy detail

Kind of blue
Will Wiesenfeld believes in making purposeful choices.

By: REYAN ALI | November 21, 2011

Coliseum | Parasites

Temporary Residence Limited (2011)
Coliseum are a band acutely aware of their strengths — perhaps too much so.

By: REYAN ALI | November 22, 2011

Crystal Antlers sharpen their psych-punk fireworks

Once more with feeling
At this point in Crystal Antlers' young career, their most powerful song is still the turbulent, desperate "Andrew."

By: REYAN ALI | November 03, 2011

Carpark (2011)
Tinny, lonely keyboards and aching romanticism lead the way for Player Piano's first two tracks, but a minute into "Today Is Our Life" it seems like the dude wants to create a song hopeful enough to end an '80s teen rom-com on a high note.

By: REYAN ALI | August 03, 2011

From the bedroom to beyond with Craft Spells

Temple of gloom
There's been an enormous wave of musicians gaining notoriety for creating work where they sleep, and subsequently seeing their star rise as blogs have picked up on the results.

By: REYAN ALI | July 28, 2011

Com Truise | Galactic Melt

Ghostly International (2011)
The glassy, hallucinogenic, and goofy electronics straddle this indecisive middle ground between creating something soothing and something to get your blood pumping.

By: REYAN ALI | July 26, 2011

Crystal Antlers | Two-Way Mirror

Recreation Ltd. (2011)
Crystal Antlers' latest can be a pretty frustrating record — not because of what it is but because what it isn't.

By: REYAN ALI | July 19, 2011

Taking Back Sunday are back on the scene

Pride of strong island
For a lot of people, just mentioning Tell All Your Friends reignites a bunch of old motifs and memories. For me, nostalgia accounts for half of my affection, whereas the album's raw, naïve tenacity justifies the remainder.

By: REYAN ALI | July 13, 2011

Fucked Up scale new concept heights, eye closure

High wired act
Fucked Up have always relished the idea of screwing with people's heads. Case in point: when Deranged Records issued 2002's "No Pasaran," the first of dozens of 7-inch records by the Toronto band, several indie distribution houses initially refused to stock it.

By: REYAN ALI | June 24, 2011

The Antlers find strength in dream-pop numbers

Going full burst
The indie-rock world adores its creative hermits more and more every day.

By: REYAN ALI | June 09, 2011

White Denim | D

Downtown Records (2011)
White Denim's D just won't be ignored. The Austin quartet's fourth studio LP is an album so dense, so unstoppably kinetic, that the flurry of movement makes background listening impossible.

By: REYAN ALI | June 07, 2011

Face to Face | Laugh Now, Laugh Later

Antagonist (2011)
Putting 1999's Ignorance Is Bliss aside, Face to Face still sounds the way they always have.

By: REYAN ALI | May 25, 2011

The World/Inferno Friendship Society lead a punk cult

Anarchy in the BK
If Ann Orrin had done some crafty editing on her 2008 documentary about the World/Inferno Friendship Society, it would have been easy to confuse the band with some fringe religion.

By: REYAN ALI | May 20, 2011

Blank Dogs | Collected By Itself 2006-2009

Captured Tracks (2011)
Mystique is a powerful tool, as Mike Sniper knows well, since it helped get Blank Dogs, his bedroom-project-turned-band, a healthy amount of press.

By: REYAN ALI | May 18, 2011

Young Widows seek beauty and mortality in noise

Sludge hammer
It's not much of a leap to imagine Young Widows hanging out in a funeral home.

By: REYAN ALI | May 03, 2011

Pantha du Prince | XI Versions of Black Noise

Rough Trade (2011)
Outright blandness is the worst sin in all of art.

By: REYAN ALI | May 06, 2011

Cold Cave unearth a new wave of noise pop

Retro-active
Wes Eisold didn't realize he was undergoing the experience that would inspire Cold Cave's Cherish the Light Years until the experience was over.

By: REYAN ALI | April 19, 2011

TV Ghost | Mass Dream

In the Red (2011)
Welcome to beautiful Lafayette, Indiana: population 67,000, plus the four rapidly disintegrating psyches of the guys in TV Ghost.

By: REYAN ALI | April 13, 2011

Sampling rock success with the Go! Team

Sound tracking
To hell with the average indie-rock band consisting of "four blokes with guitars" — Ian Parton isn't having any of it.

By: REYAN ALI | April 06, 2011

Parts & Labor | Constant Future

Jagjaguwar (2011)
Everybody forgets just how good Bear vs. Shark were. After the band split in 2005, their furious inventiveness and impeccable grasp of topsy-turvy songwriting somehow evaporated into the cultural mists.

By: REYAN ALI | March 31, 2011

< prev 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | next >