Reviews
We at 3WK are thrilled to welcome back Dave Powers, a long time friend and music contributor to 3WK. After 4 years of producing programs for MTV2, and 5 years of production at MTV and VH-1, he's realized his dream of stepping out on his own and we're glad to help him out. All of the reviews below were written by him and his group of college radio contributors. Each excerpt links back to his very cool new website."New Music Nation. Enjoy!

Dave's Top 20 for 2007
"For the second year in a row, there was no obvious, A-plus-caliber, Album of the Year (in my opinion)... click here to read more...
1. Band of Horses Cease to Begin (Sub Pop)
2. Menomena Friend and Foe (Barsuk)
3. Bright Eyes Cassadaga (Saddle Creek)
4. White Rabbits Fort Nightly (Say Hey)
5. Portugal. The Man Church Mouth (Fearless)
6. Patrick Park Everyone’s In Everyone (Curb Appeal)
7. Saul Williams The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust (The Fader)
8. The Good Life Help Wanted Nights (Saddle Creek)
9. Okkervil River The Stage Names (Jagjaguwar)
10. Aesop Rock None Shall Pass (Definitive Jux)
11. Parts & Labor Mapmaker (Jagjaguwar)
12. Macromantics Moments in Movement (Kill Rock Stars)
13. Youth Group Casino Twilight Dogs (Anti-)
14. The Bird and the Bee The Bird and the Bee (Metro Blue/Blue Note)
15. Tim Fite Over the Counter Culture (Anti-)
16. Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare (Domino)
17. The National Boxer (Beggars Banquet)
18. Pharoahe Monch Desire (SRC/Universal Motown)
19. Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold (Warner Brothers)
20. The Veils Nux Vomica (Rough Trade)

To read about his Honorable Mentions, click here.

White Rabbits/Fort Nightly/Say Hey (12/02)
"White Rabbits mash an unlikely blend of styles together into a very focused, orginal and memorable brand of rock..."
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Cass McCombs/Dropping the Writ/Domino (10/25)
"A mix of folky pop, light rock and a little psychedelia with delicate melodies..."
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Band of Horses/Cease to Begin/Sub Pop (10/15)
"Dreamy and gorgeous roots rock with guitars that shimmer, sing or rip with a fury..."
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PJ Harvey/White Chalk/Island (10/08)
"Eerie, stripped-down piano ballads that sound like they could have been recorded centuries ago..."
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Iron And Wine/The Shepard's Dog/Sub-Pop (10/02)
"The Shepherd’s Dog is by far the lushest and most diverse Iron and Wine album..."
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Shout Out Louds/Our Ill Wills/Merge (9/21)
"the band still stands out as one of the more lovable retro-minded acts of this decade..."
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Rilo Kiley/Under The Blacklight/Warner Brothers (9/03)
...now they’re on a major label, and they’ve unabashedly declared their love of radio-ready pop...
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New Pornographers/Challengers/Matador (8/24)
Since achieving the indie pop perfection of 2003’s Electric Version, New Pornographers have been scaling back on the snappy, immediate singles and replacing them with more reserved and reflective tunes...
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Okkervil River/The Stage Names/Jagjaguwar (8/17)
Heart-on-sleeve, lyrically dense and Southern/country-flavored indie rock...
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The Mohawk Lodge/Wildfires/White Whale (8/01)
...paranoia and cynicism over a mix of tense, pounding indie rock and breezy, reflective roots rock...
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Portugal, The Man/Church Mouth/Fearless (7/29)
Psychedelic and bluesy prog rock with howling melodies, haunting background vocals/chants/interplay and 70s-flavored organs...
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Editors/An End Has A Start/Epic-Kitchenware-Fader (7/18)
Monstrous guitars echo and swirl, piano gracefully glides...
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Smashing Pumpkins/Zeitgeist/Reprise (7/11)
Zeitgeist rocks much harder than Zwan or Billy’s solo album…some of the time...
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Interpol/Our Love To Admire/Capitol (7/10)
Dissonant and atmospheric rock that bounces between gloomy and forlorn, and hard-driving and hooky..
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Spoon/Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga/Merge (7/09/07)
Downtown, chic indie rock with a poppy bounce that draws from both late 70s post-punk and Motown...
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Rasputina/Oh Perilous World/Filthy Bonnet (6/27/07)
Cello-driven, avant-garde folk, pop and aggressive rock...
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White Stripes/Icky Thump/Warner Brothers (6/22/07)
Once again, The White Stripes present a leaner and grittier version of Led Zeppelin that can be just as primal…or just as pretty...
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Polyphonic Spree/The Fragile Army/TVT (6/20/07)
...plenty of glorious, grandiose and communal sunshine, but this time The Polyphonic Spree frequently have a harder hitting sense of urgency...
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Queens of the Stone Age/Era Vulgaris/Interscope (6/18/07)
Simultaneously throwback and forward-thinking riff rock with a mix of fuzzy and funky grooves...
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National/Boxer/Beggars Banquet (6/08/07)
Somber and brooding indie rock that never gets caught up in its darkness...
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Perry Farrell's Satellite Party/Ultra Payloaded/Columbia (6/04/07)
Sleek, sexy and spiritually awakened doses of cosmic, funky, dance party rock and down-tempo, orchestrated, electro grooves...
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Voxtrot/Voxtrot/Playlouder (5/31/07)
...the warm vocals caress and enrapture you, while the hooky, multi-faceted songs whip you in many satisfying directions...
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Through The Sparks/Lazarus Beach/Skybucket (5/29/07)
Bouncy, piano-and-organ-driven pop reminiscent of The Minus 5 and Summer Teeth-era Wilco...
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Fields/Everything Last Winter/Atlantic-Black Lab (5/24/07)
Mystical, atmospheric and epic modern rock with a mix of acoustic and electric guitars, plus both hard-charging and sedated rhythms...
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Mary Timony Band/The Shapes We Make/Kill Rock Stars (5/15/07)
Mary takes you into an escapist world with cosmic noises, fantasy images and enchanting moods...
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Wilco/Sky Blue Sky/Nonesuch (5/09/07)
...Sky Blue Sky has a decidedly 70s, Americana feel reminiscent of legends like The Eagles, Bob Dylan and The Grateful Dead...
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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club/Baby 81/RCA (5/03/07)
...a clearer, more impactful and less narcotic hybrid of everything they’ve tried in the past...
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Veils/Nux Vomica/Rough Trade (5/01/07)
British rock/pop that bounces between dirty and manic, bright and theatrical and mellow and sentimental...
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Arctic Monkeys/Favourite Worst Nightmare/Domino (4/30/07)
Smack-you-over-the-head riffs and basslines seize your attention and dare you to ignore Arctic Monkeys’ precise and pummeling Brit punk...
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Nine Inch Nail/Year Zero/Nothing-Interscope (4/20/07)
Power drill riffs, pummeling beats and distorted digital freakouts create the prerequisite, futuristic chaos you expect from Trent Reznor...
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CocoRosie/The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn/Touch and Go (4/10/07)
A bizarre and utterly original mixed bag...
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Bright Eyes/Cassadaga/Saddle Creek (4/04/07)
On Cassadaga, any hint of their lower-fi past is pretty much scrapped in favor of an exquisitely polished alt country rock production...
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Future Clouds and Radar/Future Clouds and Radar/Star Apple Kingdom (4/03/07)
Psychedelic indie pop with some bright harmonies, fuzzed-out guitars, trippy organs, strings, horns and more...
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Low/Drums and Guns/Subpop (3/26/07)
Brooding contemplations on the war in Iraq and war in general...
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Modest Mouse/We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank/Epic (3/22/07)
A beefier, more mainstream-rock-radio-friendly Modest Mouse...
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Cinematics/A Strange Education/TVT (3/22/07)
...they create a borderline-depressed, low-key vocal arrangement along with Bloc party-esque guitar riffs...
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Illinois/What The Hell Do I Know? EP/Ace Fu (3/21/07)
On their debut EP, Illinois show they can make loose, rowdy, and melodic music that boasts an impressive, hard-to-categorize range...
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!!!/Myth Takes/Warp (3/20/07)
The seven dance punkers of !!! continue doing what they do best on Myth Takes, creating infectious bass lines that will make the most negative Nancy tap along to the groove...
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Andrew Bird/Armchair Apocrypha/Fat Possum (3/15/07)
Andrew Bird is a sublimely talented musician who can craft uniquely playful and intricate compositions...
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Ted Leo and the Pharmacists/Living With the Living/Touch and Go (3/13/07)
...As always, Ted & Co. keep the spirit of The Clash, Elvis Costello and the Jam alive, but continue to carve out their own niche behind the strength of Ted’s powerful pipes...
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Arcade Fire/Neon Bible/Merge (3/6/07)
Grandiose, kitchen-sink orchestrations collide with workmanlike, punk minimalism to create a sound that is both meticulously gorgeous and sloppily raw...
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National Lights/The Dead Will Walk, Dear/BloodShake (3/02/07)
Light alt country/folk with lots of acoustic guitar, lap steel guitar, banjo, mandolin and understated keyboard drones...
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Elvis Perkins/Ash Wednesday/XL (2/27/07)
Poetic, yearning and hopeful folk rock with acoustic guitar, upright bass and light but steady drums as a foundation...
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Peter Bjorn and John/Writer's Block/Almost Gold (2/13/07)
A mix of classic British pop, rock and shoegaze elements...
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Apples In Stereo/New Magnetic Wonder/Yep Roc (2/08/07)
The Apples in Stereo are quirky, sunny, happy and nuts...
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Of Montreal/Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?/Polyvinyl (2/06/07)
...Picture the Beach Boys pop harmonies mixed with the whininess of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah...
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Menomena/Friend And Foe/Barsuk (2/06/07)
...transcendent mix of creativity and avant-garde ambition...
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VietNam/VietNam/Kemado (01/31/07)
Sprawling, blues-riffing drug music that incorporates the psychedelic guitar noodling of Jimi Hendrix...
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Clinic/Visitations/Domino (1/26/07)
Hypnotic organs grind and drone, fuzzy guitars slash and echo...
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Youth Group/Casino Twilight Dogs/Anti- (1/25/07)
Gorgeous, inspired and sentimental rock that manages to make vast-sounding arrangements feel intimate and warm...
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The Good, The Bad And The Queen/The Good, The Bad And The Queen/Parlophone-Virgin (1/24/07)
Damon’s vocals glide and airy harmonies float over a hodgepodge of complex rhythms...
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Deerhoof/Friend Opportunity/Kill Rock Stars (1/23/07)
Synths romp, bleep and twinkle and guitars chug, riff and bend...
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The Shins/Wincing The Night Away/Subpop (1/23/07)
The Shins’ signature whimsical and dreamy pop...
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Rob Crow/Living Well/Temporary Residence Ltd. (1/18/07)
Living Well is as hypnotic and beautiful as Pinback’s best work...
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Frenemies/Birds In High School/PEACEgang (1/17/07)
A loose and lo-fi showcase of several classic indie rock flavors...
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The Broken West/I Can't Go On, I'll Go On/Merge (1/12/07)
Indie pop with bouncy pianos and organs...
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Zutons/Tired Of Hanging Around/Deltasonic (12/13/06)
Tired of Hanging Around is probably one of the most well-produced and uproariously entertaining/toe-tapping albums to come out this year...
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Suburban Kids With Biblical Names/#3/Minty Fresh (12/13/06)
A mix of quaint, colorful and bouncy pop (think Belle and Sebastian), quirky, monotone and highbrow indie folk...
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+/- /Let’s Build A Fire/Absolutely Kosher (12/05/06)
+/-'s CD Let’s Build a Fire offers a significant change from their former CDs...
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This Moment In Black History/It Takes A Nation Of Assholes To Hold Us Back/Cold Sweat (12/05/06)
It Takes A Nation of Assholes… comes at you loud, comes at you fast, and will kick your ass...
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Brand New/The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Of Me/Interscope (11/29/06)
In three albums, Brand New have evolved from disposable poppy punkers to intense, career artists. You have to have a high tolerance for pain-drenched, slow-burning epics to appreciate The Devil and God Are Raging Inside of Me...
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These Arms Are Snakes/Easter/Jade Tree (11/17/06)
The mammoth and intimidating riffs of Tool meet the sonic aggression of At the Drive-In. The end result is a noisy mix of metal and hardcore with throbbing rhythms and barking vocals that rip through the tense atmosphere...
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Benjy Ferree/Leaving the Nest/Domino (11/14/06)
Backporch folk, old-time country, swingin’ rockabilly, 60s mod rock, Brit pop, chamber pop and more with a modern, indie rock spin. The vintage flavor is beefed up with period-sounding violins and cellos, creaky harmonicas and early 20th century harmonies, but the production keeps it 21st century...
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Badly Drawn Boy/Born in the U.K./Astralwerks (11/13/06)
Sentimental soft rock ballads and grand, mid-tempo reflections with piano, orchestrated strings and muted horns (he’s become somewhat of British Burt Bacharach). Plus, there’s often a spiritually uplifting side that can move into musical theatre territory (think Godspell)...
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31Knots/Polemics EP/Polyvinyl (11/08/06)
The askew melodies and controlled tension of DC hardcore with a serious hunger to push the envelope. Their dynamic experiments leave room for horns, pipe organ, explosive guitars, chaotic electronics and more to pop up at a moment’s notice...
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Evens/Get Evens/Dischord (11/06/06)
With only MacKaye on hard-strumming and nimble acoustic guitar and Farina pounding out intricate and varied percussion there’s never a dull moment with their rhythmic attack and freakishly good chemistry...
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Blood Brothers/Young Machetes/V2 (10/27/06)
Spastic hardcore with a dual vocal assault that alternates between throat-shredding shrieks, eerie and calmer abrasions and a surprising amount of wicked and accessible harmonies. On top of that, Blood Brothers add some downright poppy bounce with some of the organ parts...
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Casket Salesmen/Sleeping Giants/Longhair Illuminati (10/26/06)
Driving riffs and fierce percussion spread out into densely layered soundscapes with a tribal mystique...
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My Chemical Romance/The Black Parade/Reprise (10/25/06)
Death-fixated, arena-sized anthems with a flair for the theatrical and melodramatic. Much of the raw, on-the-verge-of-collapse frenzy of the excellent Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (my #3 album of 2004), is tempered by a slicker, more ornate sound reminiscent of Queen and more suited for commercial radio...
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Chin Up Chin Up/This Harness Can't Ride Anything/Suicide Squeeze (10/20/06)
Up-tempo indie-rock with a bright, jittery jangle. Synths and organs regularly add atmospheric texture, along with cameos by cello, vibraphone and harmonica...
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Beck/The Information/Interscope (10/10/06)
A classic mishmash of Beck elements (funky folk, electro grooves, bluesy stomps, stream-of-consciousness rap and gentle melodies) meet Nigel Godrich’s bread and butter (spaced-out, elegant atmosphere created with unexpected sounds)...
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