Tag: reviews
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Mindy Smith is an American singer/songwriter who was born and raised in Long Island, New York but eventually ended up in Nashville pursuing a music career. Her music has been called folk, country, Americana, bluegrass and even pop. She’s often compared to Norah Jones and Alison Krauss. Snowed In is her second Christmas release, following…
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White Lies has decided to follow up their recent album Big TV, which we’ve already reviewed here on Love is Pop, with a new EP called Small TV, which they’re currently selling 1000 copies of on CD and once they’re gone it will be gone forever. Well, except for on the internet, where it’s sure…
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In 2008, when twin brothers Max and Spencer Ernst were just 16 years old, they became the youngest songwriters signed by Cherry Lane Music Publishing (now BMG). Cherry Lane’s roster includes such heavyweights as Black Eyed Peas and John Legend. In 2009, singer/songwriter Chelsea Lee was signed to Atlantic Records. In 2011, she released her…
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27 year old British singer/songwriter Polly Scattergood’s artistic sensibilities run much deeper than those of your typical pop artist. Musically and lyrically, her songs are above-average, even on the quote unquote art pop scale. Her talent truly is that remarkable. But, she is not for everyone. (Her first album was criticized by The Guardian for…
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In 2001 British music star Robbie Williams, formerly of the boy band Take That, did the unthinkable when he released a swing album for his fourth album, following three hugely successful pop albums. It was called Swing When You’re Winning, the title being a pun on the title of his previous album, Sing When You’re…
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Since the Twilight franchise concluded, there haven’t been a whole lot of must have movie soundtracks. Fortunately, The Hunger Games franchise is ripe to take over the coveted most wanted soundtracks spot in our music addicted hearts. The soundtrack to the newest installment, Catching Fire, features brand new tracks by many of today’s hottest artists.…
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Singer/songwriter January Blu was raised under the Southern California sun in a loving home where music was everywhere, particularly on the piano where her father would serenade her mother, but January also cites the “sound of waves crashing” and “wind gusting,” among her childhood exposure to music. Growing up, January was bullied at school and…
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First-rate Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein is back and at the top of his game on the pulverizing new album DOYLE: Abominator. Joining him are dynamic vocalist Alex Story (Cancerslug), masterly bassist “Left-Hand” Graham and the consummate, latter day Misfits drummer Dr. Chud. Like Newsted or Slash, Doyle is a band, but at the…
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Sometimes I randomly find things on iTunes that pleasantly surprise me. I was certainly thrilled when I found a new single by Priscilla Ahn, one of my favorite artists, a few days ago. And it did not disappoint me. “Leave It Open” finds Priscilla venturing into the realm of electro-pop a bit more so than…
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Well, well, well — it’s finally happened! Kelly Clarkson has finally made a long-awaited Christmas album! And it just might be the best Christmas album since Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas. In other words, it’s nothing short of iconic and it’s quite possibly the best Christmas album released by any artist during the past 19 years.…
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I loved Avril Lavigne’s first two albums, 2002’s Let Go and 2004’s Under My Skin. Still love ’em. But, if I’m being brutally honest, I thought her next two albums, 2007’s The Best Damn Thing and 2011’s Goodbye Lullaby, were just plain terrible. Fucking awful, even. I gave them both a fair shot and listened…
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Tina Arena’s career is an interesting one. She is of Italian descent and hails from Australia, where she was a child star prior to becoming a major singing sensation as an adult, but since 2008 she’s been based out of Paris. Just over a decade ago, Tina released a couple of French singles for the…
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Pop singer/songwriter Gavin Turek has just unleashed a rather original — and fantastic — mixtape. It’s called I Love You Giorgio (Re)mixtape and it finds her cleverly adding vocals to some of electronic pioneer Giorgio Moroder’s greatest instrumentals, including “Utopia Me Giorgio,” “Lost Angeles,” “Chase” and others. She wrote her own original lyrics and melodies…
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This review was originally published on Otaku. I’m running it here because it was recently released here in the States. VAMPS — known as VAMPS (JPN) here in the States for Trademark reasons — is a Japanese hard rock/metal group formed in 2008 by vocalist/rhythm guitarist HYDE of L’Arc~en~Ciel fame and lead guitarist Kazuhito “K.A.Z”…
