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TPC crams debut with energetic beats

Canadian quartet, Tokyo Police Club is back"" with their full length debut, Elephant Shell, armed with an arsenal of new songs and full of energy.  

Alright, for a fake band

It's hard to know how to look at Flight of the Conchords. What comes first, the hilarious HBO series or the music? Exactly how seriously do Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement take themselves as musicians? Anyone who followed the HBO series knows they're obviously outstanding comedians, but how are they as songwriters? Well, as displayed on their self-titled debut, better than one would think.  

Xylophone rock never sounded so agreeable

Los Campesinos! have all the makings for another crappy pop band. They gained their following and signed a record deal off the success of their MySpace profile, they shared an exclamation point with Panic at the Disco, their song titles are as long as Fall Out Boy's and they have a xylophone. 

'Alarming' turn of events temporarily halts Madison performance

Alt-rockers the Alarmists were all set to make their Madison debut this weekend. They were billed to play at Café Montmartre with Blueheels for what promised to be a spirited Saturday night crowd. But they never made it.  

Sigur Rós release two discs of mystical rarities

The latest release from Sigur Rós is a bare bones, getting to know us"" piece. The shy band least expected to go unplugged reappears after two years with a double-disc compilation of unreleased live rarities and fully acoustic tracks. _Hvarf/Heim_ is the companion album to Sigur Rós' new documentary ""Heima,"" which was filmed during their 2006-'07 tour of their home country, Iceland, and shown at this year's Madison Popfest. _Hvarf/Heim_ is not exactly a soundtrack, but an unveiled, down-to-earth approach to their renowned transcendental sound. The enigmatic band invites us _Heim_ - meaning ""home"" - to reveal subtlety and humanity of their best-loved songs. 

The Cardinal sits down with a graphic novel artist

Ed Piskor is a 24-year-old cartoonist based out of Pittsburgh, Penn. He attended the prestigious Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art for one year. Not long after, his drawings caught the eye of the renowned graphic novelist Harvey Pekar, who chose Piskor to illustrate for his graphic novel, ""Our Movie Year."" Pekar asked Piskor to work with him again in his latest graphic novel, ""Macedonia,"" slated to come out May 1. 

Indie favorites keep on rockin’ in the Cold War with forceful full-length debut

When the Cold War Kids released their EP Up in Rags in early 2006, one thing was clear: These kids were going to be big. With music blogs giving these guys a lot of love, they were quickly catching on, but still a well-kept secret. To their advantage, they were signed to Downtown Records, also the label for Art Brut and Gnarls Barkley, and fans were waiting for their much-anticipated full-length release.  

This Noir is more than black & white

Manchester, England's Jim Noir burst onto the scene with his tune ""Eanie Meany,"" used to striking effect in the ubiquitous Adidas ads which ran during the 2006 World Cup. Since, his three home-recorded EPs, made with backing group the Beep Seals, have been compiled and expanded upon as the Tower of Love full-length album. 

Stevens’ ‘Christmas’ a real gift

Indie-rocker Sufjan Stevens does a brilliant job convincing music fans that not all modern Christmas songs have to suck. A much needed change from female vocalists whining to Santa Claus to bring them a boyfriend, Songs for Christmas is a collection of five years worth of Christmas EPs offering a mixture of Steven's renditions of classic carols along with his cleverly observant originals. 

Ben brings old songs back into the fold

‘Feminem’ establishes sovereignty

Lady Sovereign is a 5'1\ white female rapper from Britain who Jay-Z signed to Def Jam after asking her to give him one on-the-spot freestyle. Even if she could only be described by two of these traits, it would be enough to tantalize the British music press hype machine, and so the combination of all of these has made it so anyone with a remote interest in music has probably heard of ""the biggest midget in the game"" even if they have no idea what she sounds like.  

Black Keys successfully mix on Potion

It's remarkable how captivating the Black Keys manage to be, considering that Magic Potion—like much of the band's catalogue—consists solely of Dan Auerbach's scathing, strutting one-line blues licks matched with Patrick Carney's slyly abrasive, shuffling percussion. This is ingeniously simple music: raw, unhinged and devilishly cool.  

This Milwaukee band brews a beautiful noise

Milwaukee is becoming a hotbed of noise. The Good Luck Joes, a band that records and resides there, is quickly emerging among the city's elite class of bands breaking out and being recognized on the national scene. The band's talent, musical maturity and youthful enthusiasm are by far the most refreshing to come out of the city.  

Far from Hell’s Belles: Scottish septet go happy

For a band that tends to write melancholic songs about the outcast and overlooked members of society (Judy hiding under the covers with a flashlight reading about horses or Anthony hiding melted Toblerone under his school uniform), Belle and Sebastian have made an abrupt 180 on their new album, The Life Pursuit. An album of undeniably fun and upbeat songs, this release is already 'pursuing' higher chart positions. The first single, a simple but delightfully catchy pop song that dares to rhyme 'poet' with 'throat' (pronounced 'throw-it'), is currently at No. 13 on the British charts.  

Pigeon John ready to soar at live show

One of underground hip-hop's most promising, eclectic and hilarious MCs, Pigeon John, is scheduled to burn things up tonight at Madison's Inferno club. Taking a break from working on his new album and touring, Pigeon John spoke with The Daily Cardinal about his career, music and why worshiping God in the nude is the way to go.  

Dissenting Opinions’Albums of the Year

Joe Lynch, arts editor-elect 

Matt’s band is a big fish in a small Pond

Okay, first up: Matt Pond is a person. Matt Pond PA is a band. The singer-songwriter moved from New Hampshire to Pennsylvania in 1998, chose the moniker to reflect his new surroundings, and then formed a band to back him up.  

Band presents super 'Fun' Atmosphere

Atmosphere wastes no time establishing how energetic and polished You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having is-from the moment the thick beat kicks in on the opening track, the duo of producer Ant and singer Slug press forward unrelentingly, unleashing a series of tracks that compose their most well-rounded and musically coherent album to date. 

UW fraternity takes up biking to football games for charity

This weekend will not be of typical fashion for one of UW-Madison's fraternities.  

It's not over 'til the actor tries to sing

Don't be scared. You did not have a rough weekend and sleep away three days like you may think. Today is Monday-Dan will be taking my place on Wednesday. We're going to discuss what happens when stars attempt \the crossover.""