LAURIE ANDERSON “BIG SCIENCE” NONESUCH
Twenty-five years ago, Laurie Anderson released her debut, Big Science, a distillation of her eight-hour performance piece, United States I-IV. Trimming the fat and leaving ice-cold bone, Big Science achieved some commercial success due to the surprising popularity of the eight-minute centerpiece, “O Superman (For Massenet),” which reached number two as [...]

BAD BRAINS “BUILD A NATION” MEGAFORCE/OSCILLOSCOPE
Bad Brains are one of the greatest bands of all time—unequivocally—and so I approached their first record in 18 years as Bad Brains proper with great trepidation. The positive: the band sounds tighter than ever. Whether it’s old-school speed-punk or chilled-out Rastafarian reggae, Gary “Dr. Know” Miller, Earl Hudson, and [...]

By Harry Kellerman

PAUL McCARTNEY, “MEMORY ALMOST FULL” HEAR MUSIC
It’s easy to write off Memory Almost Full (BTW ROFL) as a carefully-planned cash-cow blockbuster. It’s also almost entirely wrong. McCartney’s Starbucks record deal and his spotty corporate past definitely helped this record sound soulless, contrived, and overproduced (the awkward drum programming, the unnecessary lo-fi vocal treatment [...]

By Doran Walot
FEIST “THE REMINDER” POLYDOR
The problem with Leslie Feist’s new album is right there in the title. The opener (“So Sorry”) sounds like a Norah Jones castoff. The fourth track, “The Park,” is a dead ringer for Iron and Wine. The sixth (“Sealion,” apparently a Nina Simone interpretation) sounds like the Killers’ attempt at [...]

By Antero Garcia
BATTLES “MIRRORED” WARP
When this precise instrumental quartet began quietly releasing EPs through Warp, fans didn’t feel a rock band was a good fit for this seminal electronica label. But Battles definitely bring the dance on their full-length debut. Standout track “Atlas” finds the band trading riffs and (reasonably) straightforward drum beats over a [...]

By Antero Garcia
LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III “STRANGE WEIRDOS: MUSIC FROM AND INSPIRED BY THE FILM KNOCKED UP” CONCORD
Loudon Wainwright’s latest album is another strong collection of acoustic guitar and sardonic lyrics, wry and profound and understated and just like any number of other Loudon Wainwright albums—but it’s also fitting that such a “dad rock” album acts [...]

By Camella Lobo
ELECTRELANE “NO SHOUTS NO CALLS” TOO PURE
No Shouts No Calls is a heartfelt return to the heavy Farfisa organ, fuzzy guitars, haunting church-choir vocals and marching-band drums of 2004’s The Power Out—we always believed they would make it back, even though they abandoned pop sensibility and predictability in the meantime with their hard-to-reach [...]

As told to Kevin Ferguson
OLA PODRIDA “OLA PODRIDA” PLUG RESEARCH
“It’s a really good singer-songwriter record. It reminds me of older Pedro The Lion. They’re from Austin originally, but now they’re based in Brooklyn. I went to elementary school with the main guy in the band, David Wingo. I also played little league baseball with him! [...]

By Lauren Arevalo
OUT NOW CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG “5:55” VICE
I was wondering why the music sounded like an exact combination of Air and the Divine Comedy—then I found out Charlotte Gainsbourg employed Air to compose the music and the Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon and Jarvis Cocker to write the lyrics, plus Air/Radiohead veteran Nigel Godrich as producer. [...]

As told to Kevin Ferguson
MARC BROUSSARD “S.O.S.: SAVE OUR SOUL” | VANGUARD RECORDS | OUT JUNE 26
“Although his debut Carencro featured a credible Little Willie John-style rave-up as the single ‘Home,’ most of Broussard’s songwriting has landed on the blander side of adult-contemporary shoe leather. On this sophomore release, Broussard puts his bluesy voice to [...]