Clowns “I’m Not Right” Poison City Records Melbourne, Australia, four-piece Clowns isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel with this one. Instead, what the band has done is set its jaws, crank the amps up to 11 and unleash a good, old fashioned noise-punk album. Teaming up with producer Lindsay Gravina

TLC “20” Epic Even though Left Eye died 11 years ago, and the group hasn’t really been relevant since the turn of the century, TLC still sits as the second biggest-selling female group of all time. (Bananarama is fourth on that list, by the way. Who knew?) The album “20,”

Holy White Hounds ‘Oh Mama’ Independent It’s been almost two years since I reviewed Holy White Hounds’ last EP. At the time, the band was loud, fun and rough. Fast forward 20 months, and only one of those things is still universally true. Thankfully, it’s the important one. “Oh Mama,”

Tim Stop “Across the Atlantic” Independent Stop’s vocals are — and there’s no way to say this without making it sound backhanded — somewhere between your standard Adult Contemporary sound and a poor man’s John Mayer. More specifically, there is nothing particularly offensive about his delivery or style choices, but

Icona Pop “This is…Icona Pop” TEN/Big Beat Icona Pop is intriguing, because it’s a band that seemed to have more potential than might first be evident. Take, for example, its now ubiquitous hit, “I Love It”: Replace the synth beats with a guitar, and put that song in the hands

GWAR “Battle Maximus” Metal Blade It is easy to look at an act like GWAR and assume the music is more about the image than the sound. And frankly, for the first 15 years of the band’s existence, you wouldn’t be far off the mark. But a funny thing happened

Mary McAdams “When You Dive” Independent The best part about “When You Dive” is what happens from the first song to the second. That’s not to say that the rest of the album is a disappointment, but everything that comes after rests upon the table that those first two songs

Jackson and His Computerband “Glow” Warp So you know those times when you’re listening to an album, but you’re not truly “listening” — it’s just kind of on in the background — and then, the next thing you know, you realize that you’ve been doing stuff in complete silence for

O’Brother “Disillusion” Triple Crown Records Ambient acts can sometimes be difficult sells. They don’t tend to produce tracks that are easily digestible by a radio audience, and their propensity to meander through songs can often lead to listener fatigue if you’re not actively doing something besides just listening to the

John Mayer ‘Paradise Valley’ Columbia I don’t necessarily “get” John Mayer’s success. “Continuum” (2006) had a decent feel to it, but since then Mayer has emerged as kind of a one-trick pony: a pretty good guitar player who’s established a penchant for breathy, half-mumbled vocals and songs with lyrics that