Category: Reviews
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Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner appears on the new Queens Of The Stone Age album and it would seem he was influenced by them from the sound of the new Monkeys’ song, “Do I Wanna Know?” The guitars on the mid-tempo number sound ever so slightly QOTSA-ish and there’s no denying that the sludge-ish beat of…
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I’ll always miss Wolfmother, but, let’s face it, Andrew was the voice, guitarist and chief songwriter, so he basically *is* Wolfmother. So, I suppose it made sense that he would release his new album under his own name after the last line-up of Wolfmother disbanded. But there’s another reason why this album is better suited…
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Shadows is the third album by Australian singer/songwriter Lenka. Her name might not sound familiar, but you’ve surely heard her music as it’s been featured on Grey’s Anatomy and in the movie Moneyball, as well as appearing in advertisements for Apple, Coke and Old Navy. Billy Crystal even sang part of “The Show” — a…
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Critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Jann Klose was born in Germany and raised in Hamburg and Kenya, South Africa. He arrived in the United States as an exchange student in Cleveland. It wasn’t long before he was performing in the Cleveland Opera Chorus. He went on to perform in touring productions of such Broadway shows as Jesus…
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These New Puritans have always been rather bizarre and I’m pleased to say that they continue to be so. That said, they’re three albums in now and they’ve yet to make the same album twice. On the contrary, if you played someone all three albums they would never guess that they were all the work…
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Boards Of Canada have always put out fascinating music. While much of it has been relatively mellow, many of their songs being downright ambient, there’s also been a sense of foreboding about many of their compositions. Their long-awaited new album Tomorrow’s Harvest has all of these elements. There are some fairly calm songs, but most…
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“You should be dying / dying, dying, dying,” Danzig sings — no, screams — during “You Should Be Dying.” If that sounds lame to you, then I’m sure this album would not suit you. But if you have a dark side that those lyrics might appeal to, then I should think you’d really enjoy this…
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The last album by CSS, otherwise known as Cansei de Ser Sexy, was 2011’s La Liberacion. While “I Love You” and “Hits Me Like A Rock” were uber-catchy pop gems, the rest of the Brazilian band’s third album felt somehow misguided. And their second album, Donkey, was only slightly better. Their first album, however, was…
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The KISS album Monster, produced by Paul Stanley & Greg Collins, is the band’s 2012 follow up to 2009’s Sonic Boom. In general I considered Sonic Boom the return to form that the band hadn’t had since Revenge, and also that it was the closest they’d come to an album worthy of those released in…
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Ben Lee’s new album, Ayahuasca: Welcome To The Work, was inspired by an experience he had while tripping on the extremely strong hallucinogenic plant ayahuasca. He’s described the experience as life-changing and he wanted to pay tribute to the plant as a result. If it sounds silly, well, yes I suppose it is a bit…
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Lou Doillon might be unknown to most people here in the United States, but in her native France she’s practically royalty, being the daughter of the famous French singer/actress Jane Birkin and the acclaimed film director Jacques Doillon. She’s also the half-sister of actress/singer Charlotte Gainsbourg and step-daughter of the late French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.…
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Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme’s last project was Them Crooked Vultures, the all-star album he did with Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin). I tried very hard to get into their self-titled album, but it never managed to grip me. The musicianship was top notch, but the songs…
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Liberty ‘N’ Justice is a Christian hard rock/heavy metal band formed in 1991 by Justin Murr and Patrick Marchand. They released four albums as a band, but in 2002 the group broke up. Only Justin Murr, a bassist and songwriter, decided to keep Liberty ‘N’ Justice going by enlisting a who’s who of hard rock…
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If you’ve ever wished that Camera Obscura would do away with their catchy hooks and up-tempo tunes then your prayers have been answered. Sort of. Here’s what singer Tracyanne Campbell told The Scotsman about the making of their new album, Desire Lines: “There are a couple of pop songs on the record but I was…
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I became a Tricky fan in 1996 when I bought his album Pre-Millennium Tension after a girl I’d just be out on a date with said that she loved him. She really emphasized the word “love,” and it was clear that she more or less worshiped the guy. I thought she was pretty wonderful, so…
