Alternative Music Reviews & Recommendations
By Anthony Carew, About.com Guide to Alternative Music
Sift through the unending sprawl of alternative music. Pore over Top 10 lists teeming with amazing recommendations, and weigh up new releases by these thorough, in-depth, critical reviews.
- Latest Album Reviews
- Other Album Reviews
- Top 10 Lists by Year
- Top 10 Lists by Record Label
- Top 10 Lists by Genre
- Definitive Albums: 1960s - 1970s
Latest Album Reviews
The latest longplayers put under the unwavering critical scalpel. Learn which records are worthy of the hype, which are best avoided, and why.
- Devendra Banhart 'What Will We Be'
- Kings of Convenience 'Declaration of Dependence'
- The Flaming Lips 'Embryonic'
- Built to Spill 'There is No Enemy'
- Dead Man's Bones 'Dead Man's Bones'
- Michael Hurley 'Ida con Snock'
- Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions 'Through the Devil Softly'
- The Big Pink 'A Brief History of Love'
- Fool's Gold 'Fool's Gold'
- Why? 'Eskimo Snow'
- Yo La Tengo 'Popular Songs'
- Gossip 'Music for Men'
- Julian Plenti 'Julian Plenti is... Skyscraper'
- Discovery 'LP'
- Dinosaur Jr 'Farm'
- God Help the Girl 'God Help the Girl'
- Tortoise 'Beacons of Ancestorship'
- Dirty Projectors 'Bitte Orca'
- Sonic Youth 'The Eternal'
- Grizzly Bear 'Veckatimest'
Other Album Reviews
Notable records from the recent past, run-over and reviewed to within an inch of their longplaying life.
- Andrew Bird 'Noble Beast'
- Animal Collective 'Merriweather Post Pavilion'
- Arthur Russell 'Love is Overtaking Me'
- Bat for Lashes 'Two Suns'
- Clues 'Clues'
- Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band 'Outer South'
- The Decemberists 'The Hazards of Love'
- Franz Ferdinand 'Tonight: Franz Ferdinand'
- Handsome Furs 'Face Control'
- Here We Go Magic 'Here We Go Magic'
- Jeffrey Lewis ''Em Are I'
- Max Tundra 'Parallax Error Beheads You'
- Papercuts 'You Can Have What You Want'
- Parenthetical Girls 'Entanglements'
- Phoenix 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix'
- St. Vincent 'Actor'
- TV on the Radio 'Dear Science'
- Various 'Dark was the Night'
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs 'It's Blitz!'
- review archive
Top 10 Lists by Year
Swiftly seize upon the indie realm's most prized specimens with these categorically categorizin' Top 10 lists.
- 10 Great Debut Albums from 2009
- Top 10 Breakout Acts of 2009
- 10 Bands to Watch at CMJ 2009
- Top 10 Albums of 2009's First Half
- Top 20 Albums of 2008
- Top 20 Albums of 2007
- 10 Acts to Watch at SXSW 2009
- 10 Great 2008 Debuts
- 10 Most Disappointing Albums of 2008
- 10 Killer Under-the-Radar Albums from 2008
- Top 10 Breakout Acts of 2008
Top 10 Lists by Record Label
Carefully-vetted lists of the very best records released by some of alternative music's most important record labels.
- Top 10 Constellation Albums
- Top 10 Kill Rock Stars Albums
- Top 10 Matador Albums
- Top 10 Merge Albums
- Top 10 Sub Pop Albums
Top 10 Lists by Genre
The albums that defined a style, a sound, or a scene; the benchmarks upon which genres were built.
Definitive Albums: 1960s - 1970s
The radical records that broke the mold, moved music forward, and influenced generations of musicians.
- The Monks 'Black Monk Time' (1965)
- Os Mutantes 'Os Mutantes' (1968)
- Brigitte Fontaine 'Comme à la Radio' (1969)
- Scott Walker 'Scott 4' (1969)
- Vashti Bunyan 'Just Another Diamond Day' (1970)
- Michael Hurley 'Armchair Boogie' (1971)
- Neu! 'Neu!' (1972)
- Television 'Marquee Moon' (1977)
- The Raincoats 'The Raincoats' (1979)
- Public Image Ltd. 'Metal Box' (1979)
Definitive Albums: 1980s
In the independently-minded '80s, alternative music came of age. A conservative political era inspired radical records whose rage still inspires to this day.
- Young Marble Giants 'Colossal Youth' (1980)
- The Feelies 'Crazy Rhythms' (1980)
- The Fall 'Hex Enduction Hour' (1982)
- Daniel Johnston 'Yip/Jump Music' (1983)
- The Smiths 'The World Won't Listen' (1987)
- Dinosaur Jr 'You're Living All Over Me' (1987)
- Sonic Youth 'Daydream Nation' (1988)
- The Pixies 'Doolittle' (1989)
- Nirvana 'Bleach' (1989)
- The Field Mice 'Snowball' (1989)
- Galaxie 500 'On Fire' (1989)
Definitive Albums: 1990s
The '90s found 'alternative music' turned into a depressing major-label commodity. Yet, during this grey age, these technicolor classics proved that there were still sonic frontiers yet unexplored.
- My Bloody Valentine 'Loveless' (1991)
- Pavement 'Slanted and Enchanted' (1992)
- Mazzy Star 'So Tonight That I Might See' (1993)
- Arthur Russell 'Another Thought' (1994)
- Guided by Voices 'Bee Thousand' (1994)
- Palace Music 'Viva Last Blues' (1995)
- Tortoise 'Millions Now Living Will Never Die' (1996)
- Stereolab 'Emperor Tomato Ketchup' (1996)
- Belle and Sebastian 'If You're Feeling Sinister' (1996)
- Elliott Smith 'Either/Or' (1997)
- Spiritualized 'Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space' (1997)
- Built to Spill 'Perfect from Now On' (1997)
- Neutral Milk Hotel 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea' (1998)
Definitive Albums: 2000s
Alternative music rewrites itself into radical new shapes. Genres are blurred. The notion of the 'band' is rewritten. The internet levels the playing field.
- Boredoms 'Vision Creation Newsun' (2000)
- Radiohead 'Kid A' (2000)
- The Avalanches 'Since I Left You' (2000)
- Clouddead 'Clouddead' (2001)
- The Flaming Lips 'Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots' (2002)
- Joanna Newsom 'The Milk-Eyed Mender' (2004)
- Animal Collective 'Sung Tongs' (2004)
DVD Reviews
Alternative music on screen. From concert-films, to investigative documentaries, to oddities from strange musical frontiers.
- Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man
- Meeting People is Easy
- Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
- Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell
Book Reviews
The alternative music library, from autobiography and hagiography, to longform criticism and underground zines.
