Tag: review

  • “We wear a smile to hide that we’ve been hurt before,” sings Jacquie Lee, a former contestant of The Voice, on her proper debut single, “Broken Ones,” and it’s a deeply affecting ballad, just brimming with raw emotion. And, wow, this is one brilliantly-produced and written track. It’s so rich with details, from the little…

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  • Imagine, if you dare, a world where the four horsemen are galloping about, bringing much pain and suffering along with them. And you’re The Flaming Lips. What would you do to elevate people’s spirits? Obviously, you’d release an album of Bee Gees covers. That is what The Burning of Rome’s Year of the Ox sounds…

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  • A gorgeous, upbeat Kylie Minogue song written by none other than Pharrell Williams! Yes, your pop music junkie dreams have come true! What more could you ask for? From its disco funk to the weird Opera-style backing vocals to Kylie’s gorgeous voice, it’s a sonically rich, pallet-pleasing treat that’s more than worthy of being on…

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  • First Aid Kit are gearing up to release their third album, Stay Gold, on June 10th via Columbia Records. “Cedar Lane” is the first single and it’s one of their most gorgeous, glorious tunes to date. “This heavy heart of mine / It never fails / To bring you right back,” they sing, the lyrics…

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  • Tweak Bird is brothers Ashton Leech and Caleb Benjamin, who first came together as a musical duo in Los Angeles in 2006. But they grew up in Jackson County, Illinois on a 20 acre family compound built using “repurposed” and scrap wood their father brought home from his work as a carpenter. Their father taught…

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  • “Tee Shirt” is Birdy’s second track to be released from The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack, following “Not About Angels,” and it’s a tender ballad that we’d easily rank as one of Birdy’s top 5 songs to date. It’s a very simple acoustic number, which isn’t exactly something new for Birdy, but it proves, once…

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  • La Roux is back!  Their new album, Trouble in Paradise, will drop on July 8th via Polydor.  You can pre-order it on iTunes right now and if you do you get the pre-order track “Let Me Down Gently,” which is, naturally, our #songoftheday.  It begins with hushed, oh-so-very-80s synth courtesy of the duo’s multi-instrumentalist/producer Ben…

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  • Houses’ vocalist and Diplo protege Dexter Tortoriello has released his debut solo album as Dawn Golden. It’s called Still Life and it comes courtesy of Downtown Records and Mad Decent. But you should forget that I’ve just written this because, really, the record is nothing like what you’d expect from anyone associated with Diplo or…

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  • “We are more than what you see here,” Marie Digby proclaims about two thirds into her inspired and inspiring new single, “Korewa,” the title being Japanese for “this is.” It’s a song with big beats that seems to be about taking charge of your own destiny and revealing yourself to the world at just the…

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  • As the story goes, Sylvan Esso weren’t intended to be a band. Singer/songwriter Amelia Meath had written a tune called “Play It Right” and recorded it with her trio Mountain Man. She then asked electronic producer Nick Sanborn — aka Made of Oak — to remix it in his style. He completed the remix but…

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  • Unholy fucking shit, does this one rule. And I do mean rule. As in, it’s easily the year’s best metal release thus far and I doubt there will be anything as earth-shattering throughout the rest of the year. A bit pre-mature to be making such a statement? Sure. But give this one a spin and…

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  • We’ve had this intoxicating tune by Mo Parker on repeat for half an hour. It’s a haunting mix of deep soul with dark R&B, but it’s also very trippy — you’d think Massive Attack produced it — with lots of subtle electronic embellishments. If The Weeknd and James Blake collaborated, it would surely sound something…

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  • Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, the much buzzed-about indie rock darlings known as Stone Cold Fox consist of members from California to Maine. And when you hear how well they play together on their debut full-length, Memory Palace, you can’t help but think it was fate herself that brought them together. The album opens with…

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  • AMAZEBALLS! OK, you’ll have to forgive the cheesy slang — it’s just that this new tune by Austra, the title track from their forthcoming Habitat EP, is so bloody good that it has us giggling, tickled pink by its brilliance. Plus, it truly is awesome in every sense of the word. Epic, too. It starts…

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