Check Our Catalog “Elements of psychedelic, Middle Eastern, and even Latin sounds have entered their mix, without sacrificing their dance party cachet.” –All Music Guide
Monthly Archive for November, 2010
Check Our Catalog “The Tufts-bred pop rock quartet is still interested in layering varied instrumentation— banjos and synthesizers, warped electric guitars and clanging bells — to achieve different textures, “Easy’’ just feels a bit cleaner and less symphonically ambitious. But that doesn’t mean it’s less diverse.” –The Boston Globe
The Young Veins: Take A Vacation!
Posted in Rock/Pop on Nov 24th, 2010
Check Our Catalog “In 2009, [Ryan] Ross and [Jon] Walker quit Panic at the Disco to form their own group, and the first album from their new combo the Young Veins, Take a Vacation!, is clearly influenced by early British Invasion era pop/rock, particularly the crunch and melodic sense of the Kinks, the graceful energy [...]
Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses: Junky Star
Posted in Alt Rock, Alt-Country, Contemporary Country, Contemporary Folk, Country, Country Rock, Folk on Nov 24th, 2010
Check Our Catalog “Whether backed by simple guitar or a full-band ramble, Bingham’s intricately detailed portraits of the wayward and lost are some of the best short stories you’ll hear all year.” –Entertainment Weekly
Check Our Catalog “Following 2008′s enjoyable “Microcastle,” “Halcyon Digest” is both Deerhunter’s most straightforward and best collection of songs: The melodies here are fully formed but don’t sacrifice the band’s hazy tones.” –Billboard
Check Our Catalog “The mere idea of sharp tunesmith Ben Folds partnering with equally clever — and music-minded — novelist Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity’’) to record an album of songs with music by the former and lyrics by the latter is enough to send fans of both into paroxysms of pure pop joy. The execution [...]
Check Our Catalog “The Witmark performances were intended simply as sketches for other artists to record, and thus present Dylan with his guard down. They were sung in a voice that was deadpan, mischievous, that linked cries of Dust Bowl indignation and the lonesome drone of the blues to a rock ‘n’ roll future brimming [...]
Check Our Catalog “Local boy Eli “Paperboy” Reed isn’t so local anymore. Now based in Brooklyn instead of Brookline, Reed has been touring Europe for several months, satisfying that continent’s thirst for authentic American soul and R&B. And when it comes to lyrical soul vérité and scorching vocal performances that conjure greats from Sam Cooke [...]
Toby Keith: Bullets in the Gun
Posted in Contemporary Country, Country on Nov 20th, 2010
Check Our Catalog “It’s full of shoot-from-the-hip cleverness, whether it’s the screenplay-ready gunslinger’s tale of the title track or the down-and-out character-lovelorn and a Chicago Cubs fan…Keith and his cohorts do all this with such offhanded dexterity that it’s easy to overlook the craft of it all.” –Billboard
Gyptian: Hold You
Posted in Reggae on Nov 20th, 2010
Check Our Catalog “Hold You, the album, is filled with worthy follow-ups and support material, all of it performed in that cool, almost woozy, and almost whiney style Gyptian is known for, although he does sound more confident and in control than usual.” –All Music Guide
Check Our Catalog “Neil Young calls his new album with producer Daniel Lanois “folk-metal,” and the description is pretty apt. “Le Noise” (Reprise) was recorded with just voice and guitar, but Lanois’ sonic treatments make it sound as epic as the Grand Canyon.” –The Chicago Tribune
Check Our Catalog “A bracing, propulsive listen, the hardest rock Yorn has ever recorded.” –All Music Guide
Check Our Catalog “With Norah Jones choosing to pursue a career as a Bohemian singer/songwriter, the door was wide open for a singer like Nikki Yanofsky: a bright, cheerful jazz-pop traditionalist happy to sing those old songs once again. And so she does on here 2010 debut, Nikki, produced in tandem by the legendary Phil [...]
Check Our Catalog “Not interested in playing merely roadhouse blues, Earl has, since the 1990s, built a steady stream of diverse, ambitious recordings marked by consistency and growth. This one is no exception. Spread the Love is easily among Earl’s most satisfying and groundbreaking recordings.” –All Music Guide
!!!: Strange Weather, Isn’t It?
Posted in Alt Rock, Dance Pop, Indie, Rock/Pop on Nov 18th, 2010
Check Our Catalog “The sound popularized by the California band and like-minded label DFA (stuttering snares and high-hats, honking saxophone, cowbell and wood block percussion, disco guitar licks) would soon become synonymous with the decade’s urban club zeitgeist. Ten-plus years and four records later, their raw, post-punk-colored-funk attack still sounds as compelling as it did [...]
Dwele: W.ants W.orld W.omen
Posted in R&B on Nov 18th, 2010
Check Our Catalog “Dwele organizes the songs of his fourth album into thematic thirds. The conceptual presentation isn’t merely cosmetic. If it was pre-planned as a means to foster a set that is distinct, not just lyrically but also sonically, in relation to Subject, Some Kinda…, and Sketches of a Man, it worked. The first [...]
Lady Gaga: The Remix
Posted in Dance & DJ, Dance Pop, Electronica, Rock/Pop on Nov 18th, 2010
Check Our Catalog “Gaga has employed a collection of more-than-capable producers to make her dance-ready smashes from “The Fame” and “The Fame Monster” even more propulsive on “The Remix.” Stuart Price flips around the chorus of “Paparazzi” to emphasize Gaga’s sense of longing, while Passion Pit turns “Telephone” into a delicious mix of techno, dubstep [...]
Check Our Catalog “Drummer Stacy Jones already had his hand in rock & roll prior to his gig with American Hi-Fi. Having been a part of some of the 1990′s biggest alternative acts, Letters to Cleo and Veruca Salt, Jones turned his experience inside out for his own musical project. Jones looked toward the vibrancy [...]
Check Our Catalog “On first listen, the disc seems unassuming because of its subtlety, but slowly it reveals its layers. The tracks about love, devotion, and transcendence are refreshingly honest and (mercifully) lacking in leering lasciviousness.” –The Boston Globe
The Black Crowes: Croweology
Posted in Blues Rock, Hard Rock, Rock/Pop on Nov 18th, 2010
Check Our Catalog “The Black Crowes reflect on 20 years of music with a two-CD set of newly recorded, mostly acoustic renditions of songs from their back catalog. “Croweology’’ serves as a reminder that the Crowes may be one of the country’s most underrated and misunderstood bands. Too often pegged as a Stones-ian retro act, [...]