Reviews

For such a tiny nation, Iceland (population: 320,000) has produced a hell of a lot of brilliant musicians over the past two decades.

On Brilliant Colors' debut album, Introducing, this all-girl trio looks to genres long gone for inspiration, specifically the fuzzed-out, riff-heavy shoegazer sound.

Oakland post-punkers Clipd Beaks go pre-punk on their second full-length, creating a death-hippie vibe with meandering songs that hover around the five-minute mark like a smoky veil over barren landscapes.

Eschewing the hopeful lullabies and languid odes to taking it easy that made her famous, Corinne Bailey Rae has drastically changed her tune on The Sea, the first release since the death of her husband in 2008.

Deluka are like the teenybopper sisters of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs-they can't possibly live up to their older sibling's cool but still desperately try to emulate their killer style.

The self-titled debut by Grass Widow, an all-girl three-piece from San Francisco, hearkens back to those sweet, sweet days when the iPod was but a glimmer in our collective eye.

With Canadian duo Japandroids, size doesn't matter.

A boy/girl garage-rock duo from the U.K., Little Fish somehow found themselves recording their debut in Los Angeles with Linda Perry, who made her fortune writing songs for the likes of Pink, Christina Aguilera, and Gwen Stefani.

Magnetic Fields' mastermind Stephin Merritt knows how to write poppy love ballads, and Realism is no exception.

Cleveland duo Mr. Gnome boasts a sound that's an impressive balancing act between soft and hard, masculine and feminine, ethereal and earthbound.