In a recent interview with Billboard.com, Everlast was quoted as saying “I would rather if people love or hate my music. The only thing I don’t want is indifference. If you are not stirring shit up, then what the hell are you doing?” At that point, I’d listened to his new album, Songs of the Ungrateful Living, a couple times and to be honest, I was kind of indifferent. The interviewer also asked him if he felt the new album […]
Album Reviews
Spin Cycle: Patrick Stump’s “Soul Punk”
Has it already been half a decade since Fall Out Boy was a thing? Despite initial reservations about digging something that was clearly not targeted to my age demo, I found myself liking these guys quite a bit during their glory period, and that had a lot to do with lead singer Patrick Stump. Although bassist Pete Wentz was the public face (and other body parts) of the band, and wrote much of the band’s material, something told me there […]
Spin Cycle: M83’s “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming”
I first encountered M83 via their previous effort, 2009’s Saturdays=Youth. That album’s lush, dreamy soundscapes drenched in echoes of the 1980s was a sublime masterpiece, and one of my top picks for 2009. I was thus understandably excited when the band announced the follow up, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. However, I admit that when the band announced that it would be a double album, I grew skeptical. It’s not that double albums are inherently bad, but they are inherently ambitious. […]
Spin Cycle: Tom Waits’ “Bad As Me”
Back in 2006, Tom Waits released a sprawling odds-and-sods collection called Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards. At a massive three discs, and packaged like a dusty hardbound American tome large enough to bludgeon with, Waits decided to cut directly to the chase: each disc was named after the type of songs contained therein, according to which of the three titular descriptors it matched. That mentality isn’t unique to that set, though; in Tom Waits’ universe, in fact, brawlers, bawlers, and […]
Spin Cycle: Puscifer’s “Conditions of My Parole”
While some may not always enjoy Maynard James Keenan’s out and out weirdness, you do have to appreciate what he brings to the music scene. He’s a larger than life yet still intensely private figure, a passionate winemaker, and the core of two different but wildly successful projects: prog-rock gods Tool and alt-rock side project A Perfect Circle. But occasionally the man just needs to indulge his weirdness in a way that neither Tool nor APC will allow. For those […]
Spin Cycle: Coldplay’s “Mylo Xyloto”
The biggest rock band in the world right now is probably Coldplay. Their new album, “Mylo Xyloto”, is out now, and our own Mike A. has the scoop.
Spin Cycle: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin’s “Tape Club”
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin are easy to like, but they’re unlikely to be anyone’s favorite band. They’re a little too unassuming for that: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin write simple, unadorned pop songs. Classifying them as indie is difficult since, beyond their unwieldy band name and reasonably lo-fi take on things, their songs are generally catchy and devoid of pretense; lumping them in with groups that tread the indie/pop dividing line like Death Cab For Cutie or […]
Spin Cycle: William Shatner’s “Seeking Major Tom”
There’s nothing inherently offensive about William Shatner’s music career. His style is innately silly, sure – generally speaking, spoken-word recitations of pop songs strung over bombastic instrumentals – but it’s difficult to begrudge him his moment in the musical spotlight, given his hammy seriousness. The former Captain Kirk attacks pop tunes as though they were Shakespeare monologues (or, in the case of his first musical outing, 1968’s The Transformed Man, because they’re Shakespeare monologues). The amount of sheer, campy, go-for-broke melodrama […]
Spin Cycle: Justice’s “Audio, Video, Disco”
Sometimes, subverted expectations can be fun. Case in point: Justice, otherwise known as “that group that had that song” (“D.A.N.C.E.”, in case you were wondering) or perhaps “the band Daft Punk fans listen to between albums”, have returned with a sophomore set. Their fun, monolithic slabs of electronica sounded reasonably fresh on their debut, Cross, but the replay potential wore thin, and the prospect of a new record – especially in a week that sees a prolific release from fellow […]
Spin Cycle: The Original 7ven’s “Condensate”
“I never had as much fun as I had with the original seven… and it ain’t over yet,” Morris Day says wistfully on the spoken intro to his old band’s comeback record, Condensate. Morris Day and The Time – here renamed The Original 7ven because, well, mentor Prince’s copyright-related peccadilloes have gotten the better of him in recent years – may not have released an album together in 21 years, but you wouldn’t know that from listening to Condensate. Not only […]