Joshua Klein

The Mars Volta Frances the Mute The inevitable destination of any progrock (or even prog-inclined) band is up its own rear end. That's just the nature of the beast. While...

Head of Femur's "Ringodom or Proctor" was one of the best albums of 2003, period. Local band or not, its inventive mish-mash of new wave, art-rock and orchestral pop is...

Lou Barlow Emoh Lou Barlow has always proven himself capable of writing good songs, but he's generally lacked the discipline to release an entire album of them. It's no wonder...

Kylie Minogue Ultimate Kylie In an alternate universe, Kylie Minogue would have gone down as a one-hit wonder, just a tiny Australian soap opera star that had some fluke success...

Tori Amos The Beekeeper Tori Amos has been kooky from Day 1, but her last two albums--the weird covers disc "Strange Little Girls" and the proggy post-9/11 travelogue/concept album "Scarlet's...

LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem James Murphy, one half of the production duo the DFA, has been moonlighting in his own punk/funk outfit LCD Soundsystem. After a flurry of cool singles...

Tim Booth Bone While "Bone" is being positioned as James singer Tim Booth's solo debut, such a distinction ignores the wonderful collaboration with composer Angelo Badalamenti that Booth recorded back...

Chicagoland has fostered dozens of great power-pop acts, from Cheap Trick to Material Issue. At the rate their going, the M's may be next on the national radar. Last year's...

The Moaners Dark Snack Why is it that duo acts almost always drop the bass and record as guitar/drum combos? Fortunately, in the case of the Moaners, it doesn't really...

Lee Ann Womack There's More Where That Came From Lee Ann Womack has shown that you can be embraced by the country community without necessarily conforming to the slick sound...