By Laura Studarus, eMusic ContributorArbouretum's fifth full-length sees the Baltimore-based quartet painting their desert doom tunes black. Drawing from a wellspring of nature-based imagery, and sludgy walls of rock guitar, the band has created another wide-sweeping meditation on damnation… more »
By Mike Powell, eMusic ContributorDon't let the big, mature title distract you: America is still a Dan Deacon album, and Dan Deacon's music is, more or less, the same sublimely hyperactive stuff it's always been. The main difference between… more »
By Marissa G. Muller, eMusic ContributorOn their fourth album Bloom, Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand present a stronger picture of the overcast dream-pop aesthetic they've maintained since their 2006 debut. And, much like an abstract painting, Teen Dream's glossier older… more »
By Rachael Maddux, eMusic ContributorOn Bloom, the fourth record by Baltimore duo Beach House, there aren't hooks so much as sultry tendrils perpetually beckoning towards some smoky, purple-lit back alley that never entirely materializes. Alex Scally's guitar ribbons and… more »
By Laura Studarus, eMusic ContributorLower Dens' sophomore album, Nootropics, is named after a class of memory-enhancing drugs. It's a bit of a misnomer. The Baltimore-based quartet craft songs that unfold and disperse like lazily-blown smoke rings. It's more like… more »
By Mike Powell, eMusic ContributorIt's easy to hear the Baltimore duo Beach House as victims of prettiness. Their songs — mid-tempo puffs of teary indie-pop flecked with old soul and country — wouldn't dare intrude on a mellow mood… more »
By Caryn Ganz, eMusic ContributorIn the summer of 2010, Katy Perry revealed her vision of a Teenage Dream: top-down drives in convertibles, cotton-candy clouds, and perky, sexed-up pop. Baltimore duo Beach House unveiled their version of the Teen Dream… more »
By Yancey Strickler, eMusic ContributorBeach House is a lovely, unassuming straight pop record played as drone by Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand, two nice folks from Baltimore. On a strictly aesthetic level, Beach House fits neatly into the well-heeled… more »
