Jack Black and Kyle Gass are back with another collection of songs; on “Rize of the Fenix”, Tenacious D subvert their jokey expectations by delivering a pretty rockin’ record.
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Spin Cycle: Jim’s Big Ego’s Stay
Boston folk-funk act Jim’s Big Ego is back with another set of witty, tuneful, and eloquent tunes in “Stay.” Check out our review!
Spin Cycle: B.o.B’s “Strange Clouds”
Rapper, singer, and multi-instrumentalist B.o.B returns with “Strange Clouds”, the stormy follow-up to his hit-spawning “The Adventures of Bobby Ray”. Check out our review!
The Jukebox From Hell 11: “Rockstar”
Yeah, it’s easy to hate on Nickelback. But you’ve never read an ass-whipping as eloquent as the one Drew gives the Canuck schmucks’ “Rockstar.”
Diggin’ in the Crates: “Stoney and Meatloaf”
It’s accepted music lore that Meat Loaf ripped through popular music on the back of a silver black phantom bike like a bat out of hell with his solo debut, appropriately titled Bat Out Of Hell. It was a work of massive, lusty hubris, composed by master songwriter and closet freak Jim Steinman, and it married 1960s adolescent yearning to a Spector-esque wall of sound – complete with horns, resplendent grand pianos, wall-to-wall vocals, and charmingly pretentious spoken-word excerpts – [...]
The Idiot Box: 18 First-Timers Who Should Totally Host “SNL”
With the recent announcement that Eli Manning has been tapped to host weekly live comedy show “Saturday Night Live” on May 5th, coupled with the knowledge that Justin Bieber is confirmed to host before the current season’s over, NBC appears to have dropped the ball in the tail end of a season that has boasted some reasonably strong hosts. Episodes from Jason Segel, Charlie Day, and returning host Jonah Hill were uniformly strong, offsetting questionable outings from guest hosts Anna [...]
Spin Cycle: Train’s “California 37″
“California 37″ is the latest album by Train, and Popblerd’s managed to sneak into the future to uncover the damage Train will cause.
Spin Cycle: M. Ward’s “A Wasteland Companion”
Indie folkie and one half of She & Him M. Ward is back with “A Wasteland Companion”, his first solo record since 2009′s “Hold Time”. It’s a winner.
Spin Cycle: Florence + the Machine’s “MTV Unplugged”
Florence + the Machine are, in theory at least, pretty ideal candidates for an installment of MTV Unplugged. Listening to the official CD releases of these shows, artists like Neil Young hew fairly close to their on-record sound (rendering the discs rather inessential), while artists like Alice in Chains and Jay-Z were forced to operate slightly left of their centers, lending an appealing air of excitement to the corresponding discs. Florence Welch is a naturally gifted singer – always a [...]
Spin Cycle: Counting Crows’ “Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation)”
The Counting Crows pay homage to Gram Parsons, Dawes, and Dylan on “Underwater Sunshine”, a covers album and their first record since 2008.
Spin Cycle: Of Monsters and Men’s “My Head is an Animal”
As I hinted when reviewing Of Monsters and Men’s Into the Woods EP a couple of months ago, the pop and indie universes seem to be on a collision course. This isn’t an entirely new phenomenon – remember all of the hullabaloo surrounding Modest Mouse embracing Top 40 with “Float On” back in ’03? – but we’ve reached a point, culturally, where the dividing line is almost nonexistent. Arcade Fire and Bon Iver have Grammys now, and Gotye and Florence + The Machine are [...]
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