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 […]
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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 […]
Spin Cycle: Nicki Minaj’s “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded”
The conundrum of Nicki Minaj – not Icki Garbaj, pithy Internet detractors – is a curious one indeed. At this point, she’s as inescapable a presence on the pop landscape as any of her peers, so much so that it’s hard to believe that Kanye’s apocalyptic posse cut “Monster” – wherein she contributed an energetic, schizophrenic, scene-stealing verse – was less than two years ago. In the interim, Nicki has hit big-time as both a solo artist and an in-demand […]
Spin Cycle: Gift of Gab’s “The Next Logical Progression”
It’s a bit hard to believe that hip-hop, as a genre, is old enough for grumpy old men to number among its ranks; it’s even harder to believe that it’s been a decade since the heyday of Quannum, the collective that counted Blackalicious, Latyrx, and Pigeon John as decorated members. I remember reviewing music in 2002, the year Blackalicious’ Blazing Arrow was released; I’d become so enamored with the album that I wrote a gimmicky concept review of it in my […]
Spin Cycle: The All-American Rejects’ “Kids in the Street”
It seems a bit unfair to lump Oklahoma power-poppers All-American Rejects in with the sort of Hot Topic rock that broke around the same time as the band did; sure, they’ve never been the most challenging of bands, and their candy-coated hooks generally make them feel like the musical equivalent of pop rocks, but if catchiness were a liability, The Beatles never would have commandeered rock and roll in the first place. The closest thing AAR have to a dyed-in-the-wool […]
Spin Cycle: Soul Khan’s “Wellstone” EP
Battle rapper Soul Khan has unleashed a new album entitled “Wellstone.” Check out the review!
Spin Cycle: The Shins’ “Port of Morrow”
James Mercer and an (all new) band of Shins are back after a five-year absence. How much does a new lineup alter the landscape of The Shins’ intricate pop? Read the review and find out.