This was my second time at D.C.’s Rock and Roll Hotel in the span of a month, this time to catch The Annuals. Technically the band goes without the “the,” but for the sake of reader-friendliness, I’ll be including the definite article. The show was on a Sunday night, which was curious given The Annuals’ […]

Rating: 8.0 Ambient electronica, as the name implies, is a genre that demands scale over scope. Brian Eno?s gift to music has had a rather uneven history, mostly owing to the fact that it?s extremely difficult to get right without tottering into either instrumental overload or the dubious lure of world music. Furthermore, as technology […]

Rating: 7.9 Luke Temple succeeds where most modern folk rockers go astray. He concentrates on formulating visual music rife with vivid imagery instead of wearing his heart on his sleeve through acoustic slush. This is the reason why so many folk rockers turn out dreck and ultimately join the ranks of achy douches who happen […]

Rating: 5.5 Maps is the pet project of Northampton electro-head James Chapman and We Can Create is his full-length debut. The disc is a mix of shoegaze and New Order, a digital aquarium in which synthetic swims with organic. The synthesizer roadways mix with Chapman’s breathy vocals and his continental drift of beats and rhythms […]