It seems entirely unfair to label Sunset Rubdown a side project. The band, the brainchild of Wolf Parade co-founder Spencer Krug, began as a series of lo-fi recordings Krug produced and recorded by his lonesome and which then morphed into the highly-skilled, wildly-confident, incredibly tight unit it is today.

The band’s latest is last week’s Dragonslayer another solid collection of epic prog-like whimsy filled with the type of imagery and imagination that’ll make even the most jaded D&D fan swoon. The songs on Dragonslayer include references to disgruntled kings, lost loves, silver moons and the aforementioned dragonslayers. This is the band’s second LP for Bloomington’s Jagjaguwar (Secretly Canadian’s kissing cousin) and it improves on nearly everything from their debut for the label, 2007’s Random Spirit Lover.

…more

Annie Clark has yet to write a bad song. The strikingly beautiful (just check out either of her LP covers or do yourself an even bigger favor and go see her live) singer-songwriter began her career touring with the likes of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens before releasing 2007’s magisterial Marry Me (Beggar’s Banquet) which included such barnstormers as the gnarly “Marry Me” single and the seductive “Your Lips Are Red.”

The LP boasted of Clark’s myriad skills and operatic singing voice and proved girls may indeed be having all the fun. Clark is a true whiz with a guitar, treating it like it’s her ideal lover and worst enemy, all at the same time.

Last month’s Actor (Beggar’s Banquet) is even better. …more

Sometimes, it doesn’t take a whole lot to recognize talent. I stumbled across Richard Swift’s 2005 debut The Novelist/Walking Without Effort because the b/w cover of the double disc reminded me of an author photograph for one of those old Grove Press paperbacks, which I highly doubt was accidental. No song on the album clocks in at longer than three minutes but each contains multitudes. …more