Tag: #albumoftheday

  • Back in July I reviewed Lorde’s mesmerizing and mind-blowingly good single “Tennis Court” and its glorious B-side “Swingin Party.” And I felt like I was late to the party, having only just heard the 16 year old New Zealand native — real name Ella Yelich-O’Connor — for the first time then, this even though her…

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  • As someone who’s seen every episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation, it was hard for me to take Drake seriously as a rapper at first. I did like his mixtapes, but it was difficult to listen to them and not think of poor Jimmy from Degrassi, who was shot and wound up in a wheelchair…

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  • Glasgow, Scotland’s synthy, electro-pop trio CHVRCHES have received more than their fair share of hype during the past year. But it’s all very well-deserved, and even well-earned, as the band has been keeping super busy, working the press and, more importantly, bringing their music to audiences everywhere between playing festivals like SXSW and touring as…

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  • Takatsuna Mukai is a multi-instrumentalist who plays electric violin, electric guitar, synthesizer and bass guitar, in addition to being a wizard with programming. Takatsuna first arrived in London in 1991 and has been busy making music, and doing other music-related projects, ever since. During his first decade in the UK, he collaborated with Timothy Turnbull…

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  • “Can you imagine a love that is so proud / It never has to question why or how?” asks Placebo vocalist Brian Molko over glittery guitars during “Loud Like Love,” the upbeat opening and title track from the band’s new and seventh album. “We are loud like love / We are loud like love,” he…

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  • If you love synthy, ’80’s-inspired pop with sleek beats and beautiful electro-touches then you’re sure to immediately fall in love with Diana Vickers’ new album, Music To Make Boys Cry, her sophomore effort and first for the label So Recordings. Honestly, it doesn’t get much better than this. These 10 songs are sure to fire…

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  • If I listen to a new album over and over again, I either end up liking it more and more each time or I like it less and less each time. I always have some sort of emotional reaction. But if I don’t like an album the first time I listen to it then chances…

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  • NOTE: The videos posted with this review are NOT safe for work. We repeat, NSFW. Goldfrapp’s 2010 album Head First found them doing retro synth pop and it was a catchy delight, but I’ve always preferred their more organic records, namely their 2000 debut, Felt Mountain, and 2008’s Seventh Tree.  I’m pleased to say that…

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  • Sophie Maurin is a new French pop singer/songwriter who seems to be taking France by storm, or at least that’s the impression I’ve gotten from the things I’ve read about her online. Regardless, her music is amazing. And the artists I’d most compare her to aren’t even French artists, actually. Her style of whimsical songwriting…

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  • A lot of heavy metal bands from when I was growing up have re-recorded their hits during the past decade. My understanding is that most of them do it because their former record labels no longer produce copies of their albums, so new fans can’t obtain their songs unless they shell out some serious money…

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  • It seems like just yesterday Travis were riding high on the success of their 1999 album The Man Who, which yielded the massive hit single “Why Does It Always Rain On Me” and sold 2.7 million copies in the U.K. alone, earning them a BRIT Best Album Award. They did relatively well here in the…

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  • According to Wiki, “A paracosm is a detailed imaginary world, or fantasy world, involving humans and/or animals, or perhaps even fantasy or alien creations. Commonly having its own geography, history, and language, it is an experience that is often developed during childhood and continues over a long period of time: months or even years.” The…

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  • I was curious to hear this 5 piece Los Angeles metal band after learning that they have two female lead vocalists. I figured their sound would have to be pretty unique, that the women would be singing in different styles. After all, what would be the point in having two singers if they were both…

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  • Marnie is the immensely-talented lead singer, and one of the songwriters and keyboardists, of the popular electronic pop outfit Ladytron. This album — her solo debut — was produced by Ladytron’s Daniel Hunt, along with the Icelandic musician Barði Jóhannsson, and so it sounds an awful lot like a Ladytron record. And that, of course,…

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  • If you count her live E.P., Live Take, Way in the World is Scottish singer-songwriter/guitarist Nina Nesbitt’s fifth E.P. Like many before her, Nina began her career informally by recording songs in her bedroom and posting videos on Youtube, where she quickly garnered millions of plays. Early on, she met Ed Sheeran and he asked…

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