[CD Reviews] 
USELESS TRINKETS: B SIDES, SOUNDTRACKS, RARITIES AND UNRELEASED 1996-2007
GENRE | SHLUMP FOLK
VERDICT | LIKE IT SAYS
LABEL | GEFFEN RECORDS
RELEASE DATE | 1.15.08
GEFFEN.COM
Might as well call it Music That Is Not Very Good That Some Losers Have Been Bootlegging So Our Corporate Master Is Demanding We Release It On This Double-Disc Environmental Monstrosity. And yeah, Mr. Eels had a rough life, but, hey, so have I. Does he want to listen to my mopey songs about it? Didn't think so.
[CD Reviews] 
OLD GROWTH
GENRE | PSYCH-GAZE
VERDICT | A GOOD TRIP
LABEL | MATADOR RECORDS
RELEASE DATE | 2.05.08
MATADORRECORDS.COM
[CD Reviews] 
NIGERIA SPECIAL
GENRE | LAGOS GRIT
VERDICT | WORTH ACTUAL MONEY
LABEL | SOUNDWAY RECORDS
RELEASE DATE | 2.05.08
SOUNDWAYRECORDS.COM
The Soundway record label is without a doubt one of the world's finest. Each release is diligently authored, elaborately packaged and researched more than the Kennedy Assassination.
[Now Showing] 
Hindsight's 20/40
Anna Faris and the rest of the gang responsible for the Scary Movie sequels should think twice before they prepare to parody The Eye, the newest American attempt at a Asian horror movie remake. This studio-backed, Jessica Alba shock vehicle is so remarkably wretched and so consistently incompetent that it's far more successful as a comedy than as a horror film.
[Now Showing] 
Unmotivated, unoriginal, uninspiring ...
Untraceable is a dumbed-down technological Silence of the Lambs knockoff that strives for big ideas despite the ineptitude of Gregory Hoblit's direction. It's that rare bad movie one expects to break free from its B-movie barriers at any moment and become something of greater weight and importance.
[Defend Yourself] 
Om is one half of epic doom-stoner band Sleep (the other half being epic doom-stoner band High on Fire) who write songs longer than your average episode of Entourage. Om's new four-song opus Pilgrimage (Southern Lord) takes riffage to another sub-level, where guitar solos are replaced by monstrous drones and drum fills are replaced with Godzilla feet. "
[Music] 
Inside Boston's longest-running garage band
Although the group has been in existence for nearly 15 years, we still wouldn't be surprised if you've never heard of Headband. While not exactly a joke band, Headband certainly doesn't take itself too seriously and sings mainly about, well, music.
[CD Reviews] 
REVENGE SONGS
GENRE | GENUINE HEARTBREAK
VERDICT | DESPITE IT ALL, STILL GOOD
LABEL | BARNES & NOBLE
RELEASE DATE | 2.05.08
BARNESANDNOBLE.COM
Some songwriters have the kind of talent and emotion that, no matter how ludicrous the lyrics or how plaintive the vocals, they cut right to the bone. Joanna Newsom, Jeremy Enigk and Jose Gonzáles are a few that come to mind. Jacob Golden, on a debut that inexplicably will only be available at Barnes & Noble, is like that.
[CD Reviews] 
CIRCULAR SOUNDS
GENRE | SUBPOP GOLD
VERDICT | WINTER WARMTH
RELEASE | 2.05.08
LABEL | SUBPOP RECORDS
SUBPOP.COM
There's plenty of nostalgia coursing through the 14 songs of Circular Sounds, but at no point do we ever get the idea that Stoltz has any pose he's striking—he's just this guy in San Francisco making hooky, intricate pop records under his own name.
[Letters] 
Dear Reader,
This past week, some of you learned a little about where I'm from. The desert can be a hard place—it's not all sunsets and golf. I came to Boston in 2001 and was never without company when it came to watching the Diamondbacks go on to beat the Yankees in the World Series. After being embraced by a town whose hate for all things New York is trumped only by its staunch team loyalty, I was hoping Arizona could have hosted another NY ass-whupping for the Pats, but alas.
