Iceland’s Sigur Rós return to once again prove that you don’t have to understand what the hell you’re hearing to fall in love with it. Their new album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, is the band’s fifth full-length offering, and perhaps their most dynamic. The album opens with “Gobbledigook,” a tumbling tune that sounds an awful lot like Arcade Fire, and is followed by “Inní mér syngur vitleysingur” which both seem to foretell a more robust—almost glam-era Bowie—grandeur to come. As a whole, however, the album settles somewhere …

Sad bastard-music lovers of the world rejoice: Coldplay has released a new album. Much has been made about their choice of producers on Viva la Vida—the band’s fourth release— and with good reason. The most famous of the bunch is Brian Eno, whose work with U2 is legendary, and for a band that started off with the ambition of becoming Radiohead Jr. Coldplay has evolved more into U2 Lite. Look no further than the instrumental opener, “Life in Technicolor”, or the track that follows, “Cemeteries of London” with its Bono-like …

After nearly twenty years and five albums as the front man for The Wallflowers, Jakob Dylan has gone solo. At first glance the album’s title, Seeing Things, could look sort of ominous with song titles such as, “Evil Is Alive And Well”, “Everybody Pays As They Go”, and “War Is Kind,” considering who his old man is. But listen to the album and you’ll quickly realize the second coming of The Times They Are A-Changin’ this is not. Jakob Dylan paints his canvas with concise, impressionist brushstrokes. Dylan isn’t a …

“Heart Songs” seems to have two meanings, and the way they don’t get along showcases a dilemma. The first meaning is as obvious as it is harmless: Rivers is paying tribute to the songs and artists that have affected him in one way or another throughout his life. The second meaning is a little more delicate, and feels a bit like eavesdropping since it’s probably unintentional. It sounds like someone searching for his muse. In the bridge, Rivers climactically recalls listening to Nirvana’s Nevermind, and what a breakthrough that album …