Check Our Catalog “The group’s self-titled debut shows that it has more than one flashy single to offer.”–Billboard
Monthly Archive for October, 2009
Check Our Catalog “With Raconteurs bassist Jack Lawrence and guitarist-organist Dean Fertita helping out, the pair cut Horehound in three weeks, but these are all top-notch songs, rooted in Seventies dirtbag rock.”–Rolling Stone
Check Our Catalog “Kristinia DeBarge’s winning debut, fresh and seemingly sun-kissed, makes her summer [2009's] answer to Rihanna. The two share a similar vocal timbre and the same pop charms.”–People Magazine
Fabolous: Loso’s Way
Posted in Rap/Hip Hop, Rock/Pop on Oct 2nd, 2009
Check Our Catalog “Fabolous alternates typical gun-toting swagger (who knew he called his gun Nadia? Who cared?) with the kind of clever wordplay that should be keeping other MCs up at night. This is a record simply built to make the Brooklyn-born rapper huge.”–Boston Globe
Matt Hires: Take Us to the Start
Posted in Rock/Pop on Oct 2nd, 2009
Check Our Catalog “The quaver in Hires’ voice is nearly omnipresent, although the sheer energy of “Listen to Me Now” effectively masks that vocal tic. Although ballads make frequent appearances, Take Us to the Start sounds best at its most brisk, when Hires trades the coffeehouse aspirations of his slower songs for something more akin [...]
Check Our Catalog “Full of the kind of catchy tunes that usually mean a record label has spent a mint on expensive writers and producers, but the writing is all her own work. Her lyrics are more intelligent than your average 21-year-old’s, more sophisticated young woman than gobby teen.”–The Guardian
Check Our Catalog “Shaka Rock may not expand Jet’s range, but its high-energy guitar assaults should impress modern rock audiences.”–Billboard
Michael Johns: Hold Back My Heart
Posted in Blues, Rock/Pop, Soul, Southern Rock on Oct 2nd, 2009
Check Our Catalog “Johns makes his post-Idol debut with Hold Back My Heart, a surprisingly strong album that finds him doing what he does best: soul, Southern rock, and contemporary blues.
Check Our Catalog “On their fourth release in as many years, the boys don’t entirely topple their Tiger Beat pedestal, but with Lines’ PG-13 sentiments and wailing guitars, they try hard to leave their tween-dream innocence behind.”–Entertainment Weekly
Check Our Catalog “For many listeners Webber’s descent into Cat Power-style calamity will be the hook; others may find it a precious affectation. Then again, some people can’t see any beauty in a lonely overcast day.”–Boston Globe
Check Our Catalog “This one leaves its generational competition in the dust and is wise beyond this songwriter’s years, and to be frank, leaves his own previous identity as simply a bedroom balladeer to history.”–All Music Guide
Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band: Outer South
Posted in Rock/Pop on Oct 2nd, 2009
Check Our Catalog “Oberst just sounds more energized than he has in years on Outer South, while still producing songs that roll out smoothly, buoyed by catchy choruses, memorable lines, and some of the most spirited singing and playing of his career.”–The Onion
Check Our Catalog “Ursa Major isn’t Third Eye Blind’s crowning jewel, but it’s a welcome return to form after such a lengthy hiatus”–Billboard
Queen Latifah: Persona
Posted in R&B, Rap/Hip Hop, Rock/Pop on Oct 2nd, 2009
Check Our Catalog “Few vocalists who can sing and rap can display such versatility on one album.”–All Music Guide
Check Our Catalog “Ledisi wails and belts with a kind of power previously untapped–in recorded form, at least–all the while maintaining remarkable finesse.”–All Music Guide
Crosby Loggins: Time to Move
Posted in Rock/Pop on Oct 2nd, 2009
Check Our Catalog “He also brings a touch of jazz to the proceedings with hints of smoke and elegance in that voice. The songs themselves are a tuneful lot with nimble musings on love (“Heaven Help Me’’) and the expectations of filling big shoes (“Good Enough’’).”–Boston Globe
Cass McCombs: Catacombs
Posted in Rock/Pop on Oct 2nd, 2009
Check Our Catalog “Despite the sparser arrangements and increased focus on direct lyricism, it’s every bit as aurally hypnotic as his previous work. It seems like he realized there was someone he really did want to sing to.”–Pitchfork
Eugene McGuinness: Eugene McGuinness
Posted in Rock/Pop on Oct 2nd, 2009
Check Our Catalog “Singular pop craftsmen (and women) who can successfully tow the line between commercially viable and artistically sovereign are few and far between in the 21st century, which makes the arrival of Eugene McGuinness a true cause for celebration.”–All Music Guide
Rhett Miller: Rhett Miller
Posted in Alt-Country, Rock/Pop on Oct 2nd, 2009
Check Our Catalog “On this fine self-titled set (produced, as was the most recent 97′s album, by Dallas-based Salim Nourallah) Miller works his familiar mixture of ’60s-pop jangle and alt-country twang, singing about the highs and lows of love like someone who just experienced them for the first time.”–Billboard
Mos Def: The Ecstatic
Posted in Rap/Hip Hop, Rock/Pop on Oct 2nd, 2009
Check Our Catalog “The Ecstatic is easily his finest full-length since “Black on Both Sides,” his 1999 solo debut.”–Spin