Tag: review

  • Elisa has been one of my favorite artists for over a decade now. In Italy, she’s a superstar, a veritable household name. In a perfect world she’d be just as popular here in the States, which she really should be when you consider that 95% of her music is in English. To that end, she’s…

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  • Dawn Richard delivers another twisted R&B song destined to toy with your head with her latest single, “Not Above That.” It’s so far out there that I’m not even sure I should be calling it R&B. Maybe there should be an R&B sub-genre called gloom for songs like this? I suppose you could call it…

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  • Once upon a time — the mid ’90’s to be precise — I interviewed Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue for my hair metal zine, ANT, The Only Cool Magazine That Bites. I asked him what he was listening to lately and he said “Garbage and God Lives Underwater.” I went to Tower Records on the…

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  • “I’m a monster / It’s in my bloodline,” sings Morgan Kibby, a.k.a White Sea, on her “Bloodline,” which is one of her most addictive songs to date and also one of her deepest, the lyrics haunting and melancholic. Those words could also be used to describe the song’s video, which Kibby directed herself. It’s beautiful…

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  • We last heard from New Zealand’s Pip Brown when she released her 2012 album Anxiety, which was a solid pop record that featured a lot more guitars and considerably less synth and electronic sounds than her self-titled 2008 debut.  Unfortunately, many fans — and critics — complained about the change of direction.  On her new…

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  • A lot of recent albums by the heavy metal bands I grew up with have disappointed me.  The latest Def Leppard album, for example.  I’ve listened to that one at least 15 times and it does nothing for me.  I just can’t get into it.  I think it’s their first terrible album, really.  Getting to…

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  • This is not my favorite song in the world, but Betty’s rendition is fantastic!

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  • Puro Instinct’s 2011 debut Headbangers in Ecstasy was a dream pop record that washed over you like 65 degree sea water on a 95 degree day; refreshing, to say the least. In fact, I’ve heard countless dream pop records since and Headbangers is still my favorite. It just takes me away to some other, less…

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  • reviews by Michael McCarthy all photos courtesy of Mike Diskin Boston Calling kicked things off on Friday, May 28th, 2016 with three fantastic sets by under-rated singer/songwriter Lisa Hannigan (and Aaron Dessner), the very popular indie artist Sujfan Stevens and the global superstar Sia. Of course, the artists are only part of the festival experience.…

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  • I love it when I randomly come across a wonderful song. I just stumbled upon Danelle’s “Numb” when it came on after something else I was listening to on Soundcloud. It’s a perfect electro-pop ballad if ever there was one. Oddly enough, it even has some trap-rap style percussion, although there’s no actual rapping during…

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  • “Ibifornia” is the title track from Cassius’ first album in ten years, which will be released on June 24th; Ibifornia is an imaginary utopia that they have created on the album with lush, tropical melodies. A place “where the sun rises high and the horses run free,” as the song’s narrator says.

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  • Today’s #songoftheday is a new K-Pop diamond. Dig the ’90’s club-style beats, catchy bridge and absolutely contagious chorus. Perhaps it’s not quite as catchy as OutKast’s “Hey Ya,” but it sure comes close.

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  • Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany has finally gone solo. She’s still in GG, as well as the GG subunit Taetiseo, but now she has her first mini-album under her belt as well. Of course, this isn’t the first solo song we’ve heard from her, as she’s done ballads for soundtracks like Princes Ja Myung Go and Blood…

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