Tag: review
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Although many of the songs were in English, Iggy Pop’s last two albums, Preliminaires and Après, were essentially French pop albums. Iggy is a national icon in France, arguably as popular as Elvis is in the States, so I’m sure one of the reasons he made those albums was to thank his devoted French fans.…
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“Everybody have fun tonight, everybody have fun tonight,” will.i.am sings during “Hello,” the first track on his fourth solo album, #willpower. If that sounds boring and uninspired, well, welcome to a whole album of boring and uninspired anthems. I’m talking about songs so horrifyingly bad that they make even the worst songs he’s done with…
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It’s hard to believe but Norwegian singer-songwriter/DJ Annie has been releasing music for over ten years now. OK, so technically her debut album Anniemal dropped in 2004, but she was DJing and releasing underground singles like “The Greatest Hit” as far back as 1999. Anyway, man, time flies. I feel like I just bought Anniemal…
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When English singer/songwriter Charli XCX — born Charlotte Aitchison — was 14 her parents loaned her the money to finance her debut album. The album, which Charli wrote entirely herself, was made and called 14, but it was never officially released, though promotional copies were sent out. Charli was quick to put the album behind…
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Patti Smith is a living legend and “Because The Night” is one of her most popular and beloved tracks. It’s such a classic that covering it would seem to be pointless because you couldn’t possibly live up to the original and to even try to would almost be an insult to Smith. Meanwhile, you’d just…
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Vampire Weekend put out this 7″ featuring their current single “Diane Young” and the B-side “Step” as a special, limited edition Record Store Day release. If there’s one thing you have to give “Diane Young” credit for, it’s easily one of the band’s most sonically adventurous and experimental tracks yet, which is saying a lot…
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Phoenix — the cool cats of Versailles — had probably given up on the idea of ever becoming popular in the States by the time they released their fourth album, 2009’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. But, to everyone’s surprise, the album became an enormous success here. Its blend of irresistible pop hooks and sophisticated art rock…
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I started off writing a very negative review of this new Lana Del Rey single from The Great Gatsby soundtrack. I wrote about the lyrics being sub par and Lana practically slurring half of them with her peculiar pronunciation. But then a funny thing happened. After listening to the song nearly 10 times, I found…
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Well, there are plenty of things you can say about The Flaming Lips but, love ’em or hate ’em, you have to admit that they’re prolific. Seems like every six months they’ve got an album for you (or whoever buys their records). One minute they’re covering Dark Side of the Moon, the next minute they’re…
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Empire of the Sun’s 2008 debut Walking On A Dream was an electro-pop masterpiece that ranked very high on most critics’ year end best lists and was almost universally loved. I read several music magazines — not to mention websites — and I don’t recall reading a single negative review. Now the Australian duo of…
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The Joy Formidable’s proper full-length debut album was called The Big Roar and roar it did. They were all about the roar, singer/guitarist Rhiannon “Ritzy” Bryan mad like a rabid wolf, howling in the night. On the cover of their new album, Wolf’s Law, the wolf is dead and has flowers growing out of it.…
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The Knife is a duo comprised of brother and sister Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer Andersson, the later of which has released some glorious electro-pop during recent years under the name Fever Ray. Shaking the Habitual is their first proper album of new material since 2006’s Silent Shout. It’s difficult to put my thoughts about…
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When Sneaker Pimps dismissed their intoxicating singer Kelli Ali after just one album — the brilliant trip-hop masterpiece that is Becoming X — I was devastated. There were two bands I was obsessed with at the time, Garbage and Sneaker Pimps. And the idea of Sneaker Pimps sans Kelli was as absurd as the idea…
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It’s old news by now: during December of 2010 two of Paramore’s founding members, brothers Josh and Zac Farro, quit the Nashville, Tennessee-bred band, shocking fans who had no idea that they were even having trouble. Initially, it was said to be an amicable split, but Josh eventually blogged his version of the story (http://joshnfarro.blogspot.com/2010/12/josh-and-zacs-exit-statement.html),…
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Night & Day is Spanish singer/songwriter Virginia Labuat’s first album entirely in English, but you’d never know that from listening to it. Her pronunciation is better than that of many artists whose only language is English and her command of the language in her lyrics is always spot on, sans awkward phrasing. Suffice to say…
