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MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY

Latest Articles

The Fall | Your Future Our Clutter

Domino (2010)
If you didn’t know any better, you might think that Your Future Our Clutter is a recording of a raving old lunatic heckling a very solid instrumental band.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | April 27, 2010

Sam Amidon | I See the Sign

Bedroom Community
Sam Amidon is fascinated with the songbook of old Americana, and his radical yet tasteful reimaginings of traditional folk ballads and hymns breathe new life into a form often seen as quaint and old-fashioned.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | April 15, 2010

Red Sparowes | The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies The Answer

Sargent House (2010)
Post-rock bands are like silent-film actors — bereft of words, they tend to use broad gestures to ensure that you get the point.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | March 30, 2010

These New Puritans | Hidden

Domino (2010)
Hidden is a real UK horror show, mixing grim, industrial beats with mannered, regal horns and a persistent aura of foggy uneasiness. These New Puritans reveal a penchant for æsthetic violence and revolutionary action that, though rarely convincing, matches the uncompromising intensity and martial tenor of the music.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | March 09, 2010

Clogs | The Creatures In The Garden Of Lady Walton

Brassland (2010)
Fusion experimenters Clogs take a modern approach to folk-flavored chamber music.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | March 03, 2010

Pit Er Pat | The Flexible Entertainer

Thrill Jockey (2010)
Pit Er Pat, the minimalist duo of Fay Davis-Jeffers and the dubiously named Butchy Fuego, have pared down their sound in search of simple beauty, but the result is an icy album utterly lacking in energy.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | January 27, 2010

RJD2 | The Colossus

RJ's Electrical Connections (2010)
RJD2 has fallen prey to self-doubt — having decided, it would seem, that sample-based music lacks authenticity, he's embarked on an ill-advised attempt to become a "performer."

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | January 13, 2010

Trans Am | What Day Is It Tonight? Trans Am Live, 1993 - 2008

Thrill Jockey
Trans Am are distillers of guilty pleasures, mixing fat AOR riffs with sleazy electronic accents and a propulsive attitude typically reserved for arcade soundtracks. What Day Is It Tonight? covers the DC-area band’s 20-year history with high-quality, high-energy live cuts taken from their many tours.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | November 24, 2009

The Black Heart Procession | Six

Temporary Residence (2009)
Formed in sunny San Diego, the Black Heart Procession write the kind of gloomy, downcast dirges you'd expect from less hospitable climates.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | October 06, 2009

Fool's Gold | Fool's Gold

Iamsound (2009)
A big band with a big sound, Los Angeles-based Fool’s Gold come off as self-consciously cosmopolitan.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | September 22, 2009

Review: Castanets | Texas Rose, the Thaw and the Beasts

Asthmatic Kitty (2009)
Although based in a rustic, country-western sound, Ray Raposa's Castanets are irreverent, using familiar elements like pedal-steel guitars and gospel choruses in defiant ways.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | September 15, 2009

Review: Wild Beasts | Two Dancers

Domino (2009)
It would be easy to overuse singer Hayden Thorpe's ebullient falsetto and dilute its campy majesty. Wild Beasts, a dreamy English quartet with a penchant for licentious lyrics and showy flourishes, know better.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | September 09, 2009

Yo La Tengo | Popular Songs

Matador (2009)
Yo La Tengo are articulate, thoughtful purveyors of highbrow pop.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | August 19, 2009

Review: Robert Pollard | Elephant Jokes

Guided By Voices Inc. (2009)
Pollard doesn't care whether you listen to his music. The entire world could be rendered deaf and he'd still put out a half-dozen albums a year, driven by a need to express the twisted melodies and schizophasic lyrics that clutter his brain.

By: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | August 10, 2009