indy cd & vinyl

THE ROUNDERS—Wish I Had You “We like to make new music sound old and old music sound new.” This quote comes from the Rounders press material, and it aptly describes their achievement on their debut album, Wish I Had You. Drawing deep from the well of rural Delta and Mississippi blues, this Oklahoma City 5-piece […]

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FIELDS—7 FROM THE VILLAGE 
The Fields, a 5-piece Anglo-Icelandic outfit, are barely a year old, having performed their first live gig in early 2006. Their debut 7-song EP, however, sounds completely confident and mature. While certainly a rock album, 7 From The Village also incorporates a rural,  English flavor in its approach. Filled with multiple […]

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CHUMBAWUMBA—A SINGSONG AND A SCRAP
Known to most only because of  “Tubthumping,” their one fluke hit about working-class solidarity in enjoying a good time, Chumbawumba have actually been around for over 25 years now, purveying their politically-branded music through the Reagan-Thatcher years up to the present day. Their latest album finds them focusing more intently on […]

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LOW FREQUENCY IN STEREO—THE LAST TEMPTATION OF THE LOW FREQUENCY IN STEREO 
Norwegian Grammy nominees in 2001, the Low Frequency In Stereo (LFIS) are only now gaining stateside notice with the domestic release of their third album, The Last Temptation Of the Low Frequency In Stereo. A simple, basic four-piece of guitar, organs, bass and […]

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Menomena takes a more willfully idiosyncratic approach to their pop-rock songs (“art-pop,” anyone?) than the above-mentioned Shins, but that does not lessen the beauty of their work. The opener “muscle ‘n flo” encompasses the elements that make their music both unique and gorgeous.  A stuttery drum beat and elastic bass-line give way to spoken-sung […]

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