As Adrian Sherwood helps transform these Near Jazz Experience songs, the listener gains a much wider viewpoint.

The Bad Signs remind me of Mazzy Star mashed up with Roy Orbison, but with country-influenced female lead vocals.

A kick directly into the ass, Garbage’s “Girls Talk” finds Shirley Manson building — with teeth-clinched menace — toward a furious howl.

With the second, and title track, from forthcoming Lazaretto album, Jack White makes a bold move away from the amped-up blues of the initial “High Ball Stepper.” You May Also Like: Four Jacks and a Jill, “Master Jack” (1968): One Track Mind

Bruce Springsteen’s American Beauty finishes with a multi-tracked solo celebration of 5 o’clock freedom, and a layered meditation on the shelter that love provides. But that’s not how it starts. You May Also Like: Nils Lofgren’s ready for Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band’s return: ‘Some hope that lingers’ JohnnyRead More

There’s a moment, just when you get comfortable with the idea that this is a paean to home, love and hearth, when Bruce Springsteen sharply widens the lens. All around this couple, despite the illusion of a cocoon of safety and of love, there are troubles, there are questions, thereRead More

Fans were understandably taken aback when Neil Young suddenly pulled Time Fades Away from the list of releases for Record Store Day, though they likely assumed he simply wanted to continue tinkering with the out-of-print 1973 live document. You May Also Like: David Crosby is reaching out to Neil Young,Read More

It isn’t exactly a shock to see news of a new Boards Of Canada album, not after they snuck out a handful of copies (literally) of a surprise single for Record Store Day a week ago for very lucky buyers to stumble upon. You May Also Like: The Cretins, “Haven’tRead More

The Only Way To Go Is Straight Through begins like a train grinding to a sparks-throwing stop — except it never stops. It just keeps throwing sparks, keeps getting louder, and brighter, and closer. You May Also Like: Merzbow/Pandi/Gustafsson with Thurston Moore – Cuts of Guilt, Cuts Deeper (2015) TomRead More

Ben Gibbard doesn’t have the market cornered on elegiac piano-driven balladry. Turns out Chris Walla, his long-time bandmate in Death Cab for Cutie, is issuing just such a ruminative bit of melancholy for Record Store Day. You May Also Like: Death Cab for Cutie, “Black Sun” from Kintsugi (2015): OneRead More