Quickie Album Reviews: Sunset Rubdown, The Raconteurs, & Caspian

Sunset Rubdown – Shut Up I Am Dreaming (Absolutely Kosher)
Certain songs haunt whereas others are haunted. Seething with shuttering spirits, Shut Up I Am Dreaming is an album inhabited entirely by songs of that latter nature. All at once raucous and ethereal, it’s what one should expect from Spencer Krug, Wolf Parade co-marshal, Frog Eyes sideman, and emerging songwriter of increasing skill, promise, and prominence. – Josh Berquist

The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers (V2 Records/Third Man)
Although most “supergroups” tend to come and go like bad relationships, let’s hope The Raconteurs’ honeymoon period lasts a little longer, since The White Stripes' Jack White, solo-artist Brendan Benson, and the rhythm-section of Cincinnati’s excellent Greenhornes have simply captured lightning in a bottle here. Whether it’s the middle-eastern flavored title track, the glammed-up Store Bought Bones, or the glorious pop/rock of Together, from start to finish, Broken Boy Soldiers doesn’t disappoint. – Gabe Burger

Caspian – You are the Conductor (Dopamine Records)
Somewhere in the unmapped musical terrain between the wintry-pretty instrumental work of Austin’s Explosions in the Sky and SF’s power chord laden Fucking Champs lays Massachusetts’ Caspian. With their debut album You are the Conductor, they put the rock in post rock, then drop it in some deep, dark river to drown you in sound. – Joe Fielder