2006-10-25 16:14:00
Elvis Perkins can't be accused of bowing down to folk-music cliches: His masterful songs are graceful and tender but never whiny or obvious, while Dylan, Cohen and both Buckleys linger as only slight influences. In "While You Were Sleeping," Perkins takes a poetic, meandering stroll through the tangled gardens of nostalgia.
2006-10-17 17:32:00
Of all the musicians aspiring to the grandiose, room-filling pop-rock of Coldplay or U2, few make a lasting impression. But the Texas band Pompeii outshines its many similarly inclined contemporaries by injecting a bit of force into its chiming, melodic, mid-tempo indie-pop.