Band:	The Chariot
Album:	Wars and Rumors of…

The Chariot are one of the few bands that blend balls out metal riffs with Christian values without coming off as precocious jerks. As with some other bands that have a message, The Chariot manage to keep everybody happy without bludgeoning you over the head with a message. Example? Rage Against the Machine; constant message but it doesn’t get in the way of the rock.

Josh Scogin, the creator and front man of The Chariot,

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Band:	Paper Route
Album:	Absence

From the very first listen of Paper Route’s first full-length album, “Absence”, you receive a sense of cinema. It’s as if this album was written with the intention of scoring one of the many dramatic movies or television shows; not surprising since past works have been featured on the teen drama “One Tree Hill” and on a Nike commercial.

Cinematic music doesn’t necessarily make for the most engaging listen. When a track seems suited to aid a visual stimulus, it lacks without it.  Boards of Canada,

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Band:	Gorillaz
Album:	Bananaz

Gorillaz was one of the most ambitious projects in modern musical history. Not only did they have to write catchy tunes but they also created an entire parallel universe around themselves, complete with heroes, villains, and a mad amount of undead apes.

“Bananaz” tells the story from the project’s inception right up to their breakout performance series at the Apollo Theatre in the Bronx. It documents from the highs of having your album break into the US to the lows of losing members or dealing with a press corps

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Band:	Bat for Lashes
Album:	Two Suns

One of the oddest/best/most interesting albums to come out this month is “Two Suns” by Bat for Lashes a.k.a. Natasha Khan. Khan is the consummate artist, melding music and visual arts into a single entity. According to an interview done when her first album came out, Khan sees her songs not only as auditory slabs of story, but also as visual pieces of work with characters, settings and movement. Listening to “Two Suns” definitely lets us peek into that world; Khan structures her songs

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Band:	Metric
Album:	Fantasies

Metric is one of those bands that I’ve always wanted to like. They’re Canadian , they’re quirky and they’ve got a very cool lead singer. On paper these guys should be a great band, throwing together indie, rock and electronic music. The problem is that I’ve never been able to sit down and enjoy a full album. Something about the way they crafted their songs never spoke to me, with a few exceptions like “Monster Hospital” off of “Live It Out”. I wanted them to be a more

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