Favorite Albums:

Colt Ford – Declaration Of Independence | Niki & the Dove – Instinct | Elle Varner – Perfectly Imperfect  | Rob Zombie – Mondo Sex Head

10 Years – Minus the Machine – Rock
10 Years is an American alternative metal band, formed in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1999.  I liked the first half of the album more than the second half. But enjoyed pretty much every song. This is one of those metal albums where there isn’t a lot of screaming, which is how I like it. Check out a full review on The New Review
Recommended Tracks: Minus the Machine, Backlash, Dancing with the Dead

Antibalas - Antibalas -  Afrobeat

Antibalas is a Brooklyn-based afrobeat band that is modeled after Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 band and Eddie Palmieri’s Harlem River Drive Orchestra.  Breakfast at Tiffany’s is my all time favorite movie, and this album made me think of the party scene.  It’s 60′s party music! This is only a six track album, but each song lasts about 6-10 minutes. Check out a full review on Rolling Stone
Recommended Tracks: Dirty Money, Ibiji

Antony and the Johnsons – Cut the World – Pop  [Live]
Antony and the Johnsons are a music group presenting the work of Antony Hegarty and his collaborators.  Future Feminism is not a song, but dialog.  It’s kind of strange and will take you off guard at first, but it’s actually very wise thought provoking words.  For being a live album, it sounds AMAZING. Beautiful full orchestra and vocals.   Check out a full review on Clash Music
Recommended Tracks: The Crying Light, Cut the World, Cripple and the Starfish

Certain People I Know – Certain People I Know – Indie
Certain People I know is a Chicago based Indie band.  It’s a really good upbeat album.  There are both female & male vocals.  They alternate, but ti’s primary the male who sings.  Check out a full review at Destroy the CYB
Recommended Tracks: All You Gotta Do is Show, King of Shots, Make It Up

Colt Ford – Declaration Of Independence – Country
Jason Farris Brown known professionally as Colt Ford, is an American country music artist and former professional golfer. He has released three albums via his own Average Joe’s label, and has charted four singles on the Hot Country Songs charts. This album starts off with… Country rap?  It’s really awesome whatever you want to call it, immediately hooked me.  I rarely love a country album, but damn this is a good album!
Recommended Tracks: Answer to No One ft. JJ. Lawhorn, Back ft. Jake Owen, All of My Tomorrows ft. Russell Dickerson

Elle Varner - Perfectly Imperfect – Soul
Gabrielle Shellise Varner (born February 12, 1989), simply known as Elle Varner is an American recording artist.  This album wasn’t on my radar, but I came across it looking for early streams.  I am glad I found it, amazing soul singer.  She proves British women are not the only ones who can do soul right.  Check out a full review on Washington Post.
Recommended Tracks: Only Wanna Give It To You Ft. J.Cole, Sound Proof Room, Oh What A Night

Lianne La Havas – Is Your Love Big Enough? – Soul
Lianne La Havas is an English folk and soul singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.  It’s a good album, she has a beautiful voice, and very relaxing.  Check out a full review on The Guardian
Recommended Tracks: Lost & Found, Au Cinema, Is Love Big Enough?

Niki & the Dove – Instinct – Electropop
Niki & The Dove are an electropop trio that originate from Stockholm, Sweden. The group, which consists of members Malin Dahlström (vocals), Gustaf Karlöf (keyboards) and Magnus Böqvist (drums), formed in February 2010 and are co-signed by Sub Pop and Mercury Records.  Think electropop beats with Tegan & Sara vocals.  I personally love it!  Check out a full review on Pretty Much Amazing
Recommended Tracks: The Drummer, In Our Eyes, Somebody

Redd Kross - Researching The Blues – Rock
Redd Kross, a rock band from Hawthorne, California, had their roots in 1978 in a band called The Tourists begun by brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald while they were still in middle school.   Honestly, it’s too 90′s garage band sounding for me.Check out a full review on Pitchfork
Recommended Tracks: Researching the Blues, Nu Temptations, Choose to Play

Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band – Between The Ditches – Country
The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band is a three-piece American country blues band from Brown County, Indiana. They play more than 250 dates per year at venues ranging from bars to festivals.  Checkout a full review on Nuvo
Recommended Tracks: Devils Look Like Angels, Something for Nothing, Between the Ditches

Rob Zombie – Mondo Sex Head – Rock
Rob Zombie is an American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He founded the heavy metal band White Zombie and has been nominated three times as a solo artist for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. Last autumn in loo of Korn & Skrilex’s collaboration I had a discussion about dubstep with a DJ friend of mine.  He claimed dubstep only belongs with rock music, I disagreed.  Today, this album proved him half way right.  I think dubstep works with other genres, but unlike Korn, Rob Zombie made dubstep mix perfectly with rock. Now the album isn’t all dubstep, it’s only like one song.  But it is all remixes.  Check out a full review on Artist Direct
Recommended Tracks: Thunder Kiss ’65 – JDevil Number of The Beast Remix, Let It  All Bleed Out – Document One Remix, Pussy Liquor – Ki’:Theory Remix

Sixpence None The Richer - Lost In Transition -  Pop
Sixpence None the Richer is an American rock/pop band that formed in New Braunfels, Texas, eventually settling in Nashville, Tennessee. In my opinion, the problem with a lot of bands from the 90′s is that they are unable to transform their sound outside of that era, or they transform it so much they are not even the same band.  They actually do a pretty good job balancing the transition. You have to remember that Six Pence is a Christian band, so there are songs about god sprinkled in.  Many of the songs can be taken as Christian or not, up to the listener. Check out a full review on Jesus Freak Hideout.
Recommended Tracks: Radio, Should Not Be This Hard, Sooner or Later

So Many Wizards – Warm Nothing – Indie
So Many Wizards are an LA-based band that record deceptively simple songs with guitars and drums. Nima Kazerouni, an Iranian refugee, spent time in Jamaica and Europe before he found his way to the sunnier climes of Cali, where he fell in with the ever-productive experimental art scene based around The Smell and Pehrspace, where he met his bandmates Erik Felix, Geoff Geis, and Frank Maston.   They remind me of a dreampop version of Hellogoodbye.  Check out a full review on Music OMH
Recommended Tracks: Into A Daze, Inner City, I Like It Here

Sweet Valley – Stay Calm – Beat Tape
Sweet Valley is a side project of Nathan Williams of Wavves and his brother Kynan.  There really is no lyrics on this album.  The best way to describe this is two artists playing around with different sounds and genres.  It’s worth a listen.  Check out a full review on Pitchfork
Recommended Tracks: Total Carnage, Malibu Games

The American Scene – Safe For Now – Rock
The American Scene is a group of friends from Berkeley, CA who formed a band out of sheer boredom.  This is an amazing up and comping pop punk indie band, whatever you want to call it (genre classification is hard!).  They have some key lyrics, you know, the type you just want to tweet.  They don’t stand out too much from other bands in the genre, but that’s not so much a bad thing. Check Stu a full review on Roth N’ Roll
Recommended Tracks: Just Say It, Shape Shifter, Safe for Now

Turbonegro – Sexual Harassment – Rock
Turbonegro is a Norwegian punk rock band that was initially active from 1989 to 1998, and later reformed in 2002. Their style combines glam rock, punk rock and hard rock into a style the band describes as “deathpunk”.  Check out a Full review on About.com
Recommend Tracks: TNA (The Nihilistic Army), Mister Sister, You Give Me Worms