Eryc Eyl

In a match made in piano-rock heaven, Dresden Dolls vamp Amanda Palmer teamed with fellow ivory-tickler Ben Folds to produce this strings-and-spinet stunner. Originally, the singer had planned a low-budget project, showcasing some songs she felt sounded better without Dolls collaborator Brian Viglione's distinctive drumming. Palmer's vocal acrobatics, dynamic pianism,...

Since turning irony-minded heads in 2002 with its debut single "Losing My Edge," LCD Soundsystem has made a name for itself as the leading purveyor of winking dance tracks. With big dumb beats, lyrics skewering all that is hip, and plenty of a-go-go bells, the Soundsystem and its production alter...

The jokes about tentacles and ink could write themselves, so we won't bother. What we will do, however, is note how gleefully the members of Austin's Octopus Project plow through their glitched-out, post-rock instrumentals. Armed with an arsenal of toys, keyboards, drum machines, and samplers, spouses Josh and Yvonne Lambert,...

Listening to Peregrine, the Appleseed Cast's forthcoming album, you'd never know that the group got its start as an emo outfit named December's Tragic Drive in Lawrence, Kansas, during the late '90s. While peers such as the Get Up Kids have taken their adolescent emoting into alt-country territory, the Appleseed...

In the world of instrumental rock, Saxon Shore has little in common with the onanistic, sonically soulless noodling of Eric Johnson or the spaced-out, loosely constructed noise rock of Mogwai. For its latest album, the ensemble teamed with producer Dave Fridmann to produce ten tightly structured, richly layered instrumentals —...