To dismiss Erasure as mere “synthpop pioneers” seems like it’d be erroneous; it’s true, the duo of Vince Clark and Andy Bell built a career from the ground up, dolling up their sound with more canned drumbeats and squelching keyboards than you could shake a Yaz at. But any pop connoisseur knows the real deal: peel away the layers, and what remained under that distinctly-80’s veneer were, simply, a series of excellent pop songs. Melodically, next to nothing can compete with […]
Posts tagged "album review"
Spin Cycle: Jack’s Mannequin’s “People and Things”
Fans hooked by the first Jack’s Mannequin record, 2005’s Everything In Transit, can collectively rejoice: after a shift from effervescent, sun-kissed piano-pop to artful, introspective songwriting on the group’s second album, The Glass Passenger, Jack’s are back with a new record and a new outlook. Of course, Jack’s Mannequin figurehead and Something Corporate ex-pat Andrew McMahon was well within his rights to craft a weighty, introspective album: The Glass Passenger chronicled his much-publicized battle with leukemia, which allows any singer-songwriter at […]
Spin Cycle: Wilco’s “The Whole Love”
It’s interesting, really, that Wilco’s latest album begins with the dissonant, twitchy, seven-and-a-half minute “The Art of Almost”. Not that it’s weird for Wilco to record long, strange songs that culminate in discordant, cacophonous jam sessions – “‘Spiders (Kidsmoke)’!,” everyone who’s ever heard the alt-country pioneers’ A Ghost Is Born record just yelped in unison – but because, once you get past the opening track’s mind-melting uniqueness, The Whole Love is really quite accessible. Lots of people have followed Wilco’s career trajectory, after […]
Spin Cycle: Van Hunt’s “What Were You Hoping For?”
Forget marching to the beat of your own drummer; Van Hunt’s got his own band, and he’s leading his feisty, wildly imaginative brand of r&b into the pop music stratosphere all by himself. To rewind, there was totally a time that the singer/songwriter had an illustrious little major-label career brewing. His first record, Van Hunt, didn’t set the world on fire, but was reasonably well-received; his second, On the Jungle Floor , is rightfully acknowledged as a classic by anyone who’s heard it. There’s […]
Spin Cycle: Girls’ “Father, Son, Holy Ghost”
If a cursory glance of Pitchfork’s “one-record-you’ve-heard-of-a-week” album review archive makes you shake your head, convinced that you just don’t get indie music anymore, you’re within your rights; if only something could come along, make you feel, transport you back to a bygone era. Something like that. Enter Girls. Their 2009 debut album Album seemed to often be a case of “I know I like this because several tastemaking critics have told me so” – far from bad, but often sort of […]
Spin Cycle: Fountains of Wayne’s “Sky Full of Holes”
Check out our review of Fountains of Wayne’s fantastic new album “Sky Full of Holes”.
Spin Cycle: Okkervil River’s “I Am Very Far”
Austin’s Okkervil River are, in the most overgeneralized and reductive fashion, under the all-encompassing “indie rock” umbrella. As much as I like to label myself a pop savant of sorts, I often try to downplay my love of, say, Iron & Wine around friends – that sort of thing smacks too often of that most dreaded of music fans, the snob who prefers pretentious music that you just can’t get down with, and as such I avoid it and we […]
Spin Cycle: “Turtleneck & Chain” by The Lonely Island
It’s pretty fair to say that Andy Samberg has been one of the best things to happen to “Saturday Night Live” in the past ten years. A show that had become completely buzz-less picked up steam when Samberg started out with his Digital Shorts. Aided by his buddies Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer and celebrity cameos from everyone from Natalie Portman to Adam Levine, Samberg has provided plenty of watercooler moments over the past five years. Compiling those skits with […]
"The ArchAndroid": Too Weird for It's Own Good?
I love music that disproves the currently prevailing theory that all black folks know how to do musically is either rhyme about thuggin’ or sing slow booty jams. Not that there’s anything wrong with either of those things per se-but I prefer my music to have a little more substance while still being palatable. Which is why when it comes to rhymin’: Jigga? Yes. Gucci Mane or Rick Ross? No. Maxwell? Yes. Trey Songz…he’s getting there, but not quite yet. […]
"Pulse" Finds Toni Braxton Still on Creative Life Support
You have to give props to Toni Braxton. Closing in on twenty years in the music business, she’s definitely a survivor. She’s gone through bankruptcy, health problems, mismanagement, divorce and more than her share of label drama. Even if it weren’t for her reputation as a singer of torchy, breakup songs, you’d feel for the woman. After starting her career off with a pair of smash Grammy-winning albums and a string of hit singles (most of which were helmed by […]