SOUND BITES

MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA Virgin From: Simple Math Released: May 10 How do you follow up record as emotionally raw and sonically bombastic as Mean Everything to Nothing , an album that was so relentless in its execution that I named it the best of 2009?  Well, it appears as though you make it bigger .  Simple Math , Manchester Orchestra's third album (and first as a band no longer flying under the radar), saw the songs grow wider in scope, the lyrics reach further into life's tough questions, and the band finally making with half of their namesake in the form of rich orchestral flourishes that hang over nearly every song like thick, black clouds.

TV ON THE RADIO Caffeinated Consciousness From: Nine Types of Light Released: April 12 2011 will be remembered predominantly as a tragic year for TV on the Radio, with the sad passing of bassist/keyboard player Gerard Smith, who succumbed to lung cancer just eight days after the North American release of Nine Types of Light .  At least he went out on a high note; Nine Types of Light is a gorgeous, sprawling and frenetic album, sometimes all three at the same time. If a complaint must be made about Nine Types of Light , it's that its lighter content seems to be corralled into the first half of the album while keeping much of the harder material stuffed toward the back.  Hopefully, this doesn't signal a lessened desire to rock out; in my opinion, TVOTR's best moments are measured in volume, not scope.  In that respect, Caffeinated Consciousness is certainly high on the list; it's a loud declaration of perseverance, perhaps written with the knowledge th...

THE TREWS Hope & Ruin From: Hope & Ruin Released: April 12 The Trews have always been underdogs.  Just being a band from Antigonish, Nova Scotia is hard enough.  But, when they burst onto the Canadian scene in 2003 with their debut House of Ill Fame , an album that came out of the gate swinging and rocked with such swagger you had to root for them, you thought "they're really going to make it".  However, House of Ill Fame stalled out and never achieved anything higher than modest success.  So, they got legendary producer Jack Douglas (who has worked with John Lennon among many others) to helm the boards for their follow up Den of Thieves .  It was a really good album and spawned four hits in Canada, so their record label turned their eye toward the south, releasing the album in the U.S.  You pulled for them, thinking "they just might make it".  Of course, the Americans didn't take hold of the band, and it was back to the drawing board ...

RED FANG Wires From: Murder the Mountains Released: April 12 If you were wondering when the inevitable sludgy metal entry was going to make its first appearance this year, wonder no more.  Making their recorded debut only two years ago, Red Fang have already turned a lot of heads in the metal community.  After doing some small shows with the likes of Helmet and Crowbar, Murder the Mountains was released to critical priase. Listening to Murder the Mountains , it's easy to see why.  From cover to cover, its rocks hard; riffs are tasty, groove intact, heavy as fuck.  It's as though the boys were sitting around one night sipping on a brew and listening to Melvins' classic Houdini , lamenting the fact that they didn't make albums like that anymore, when they suddenly realized that they could probably make an album like that.  As it turns out, Murder the Mountains isn't quite up to snuff when compared to all-time sludge masters like Melvins, but be patient...

FOO FIGHTERS White Limo From: Wasting Light Released: April 12 Resonating with the warmth of the analog tape it was recorded on and benefiting from some of the band's best songwriting ever, Wasting Light is a hulking slab of rock the likes of which we don't see very often anymore.  Maybe it's because it was produced by Butch Vig, maybe Dave Grohl had the 20th anniversary of Nevermind on the brain.  Maybe Grohl was simply sick of hearing people say the Foos had gotten soft after 2009 single Wheels became a crossover smash.  Whatever the case, Wasting Light grabs you by the throat from the jagged opening salvo of Burning Bridges , and doesn't let go until after the soaring Walk 's final note rings out. In between, the album is chock full of Grohl's uncanny sense of melody; it's a gift that has spawned more hits than you could have fit on their 2009 greatest hits album.  On Wasting Light , though, that gift for melody is filtered through a wall o...

R.E.M.  All the Best  From: Collapse Into Now Released: March 15 It came as kind of a shock when R.E.M. announced in September that they were disbanding after a storied 31-year career.  However, when you look at the events leading up to that announcement, you definitely don't have to look very hard to see the clues.  When Collapse Into Now was released in March, they said they wouldn't be touring for the album; at the time, they cited fear of repetition and ineffectiveness in bolstering album sales, but now it's apparent that they were already set to hang it up. There are lyrical clues on Collapse as well, none more blatant than on All the Best , which sees Michael Stipe singing such plain as day forfeitures as "it's just like me to overstay my welcome" and "I'll sing and rhyme / I'll give it one more time".  Musically, R.E.M. chose to go out on a bit of a high note; Collapse Into Now is a pretty good microcosm of the band's...

DROPKICK MURPHYS Going Out in Style From: Going Out in Style Released: March 1 Even at their fastest and heaviest, Dropkick Murphys have always been one of the most fun bands to listen to.  There's just something about their Celtic-infused punk rock that's a blast to sip whiskey and howl along to, no matter what the subject matter.  If you need confirmation of this, just go see them play a show sometime.  It's as though the Dropkicks are the raucous, tuneful musical manifesto of an Irish wake.  That the title track of their 2011 album Going Out in Style is actually about an Irish wake seems like acquiescence of the highest order. Of course, Dropkick Murphys have traditionally been at their best when telling stories; from the hilariously inappropriate chubby chaser anthem Spicy McHaggis Jig to the harrowing account of drug-induced broken homes in The State of Massachusetts , there's always been a fine art at work in their music.  With Going Out ...