Mogwai is a giant name in the post-rock genre, and rightfully so. They’ve been putting out great music since ’97 and show no signs of stopping any time soon. Earth Division displays a quieter side to Mogwai, leaving the pounding drums and fuzz-soaked guitars (though not entirely) out, making for a much different listening experience. Though the sound isn’t necessarily what one would expect from a Mogwai album the general feeling is still there, as Earth Division still manages to […]
Posts tagged "Album Reviews"
Spin Cycle: Apathy’s “Honkey Kong”
I’m an old school/classic era hip hop junkie, straight up. Since Christmas day, 9 years old when I got my JVC boombox with Run DMC & the Fat Boys self-titled debut tapes to go with it, I was hooked for life. The next ten plus years were great to me, but somewhere along the line the game changed, and not for the better. With few exceptions, since the great era of the mid 90’s I’ve been pretty apathetic towards the […]
Spin Cycle: “Black & White America” by Lenny Kravitz
Since his debut in 1989, Lenny Kravitz has been pretty consistently pelted with scorn. Initially, it was because most people (the few who knew who he was, anyway) knew him as the hippie-dippy husband of The Cosby Show’s Lisa Bonet. Even as Lenny built up successes as his own entity (and divorced Bonet), the criticisms continued. Whether it was his deliberately retro sound, his lack of originality, or his occasionally banal lyrics, Lenny couldn’t (and still can’t) seem to catch […]
Spin Cycle: Stephin Merritt’s “Obscurities”
As a songwriter, Stephin Merritt’s legendarily busy muse is certainly not newsworthy – we are, after all, talking about a man who’s Magnetic Fields once released an album entitled 69 Love Songs, a sprawling, three-disc behemoth that offered up exactly what its title promised. Merritt’s also the man behind The 6ths, The Gothic Archies, Buffalo Rome, and Future Bible Heroes, and responsible for several operettas bearing his own name. He’s been involved in more projects than Dave Grohl; in terms […]
Spin Cycle: Beirut’s “The Rip Tide”
Zach Condon’s been a tough nut to crack since way back in the yesteryear of 2006. He earned a lot of fans back in that bygone era, sure, attracting listeners to the old-world flourishes and kitchen-sink aesthetics of early Beirut albums Gulag Orkestar and The Flying Club Cup; he also was targeted by a (much quieter, granted) contingent of detractors accusing him of stuffing his merely-okay songs with so much offbeat instrumentation that the non-discerning listener simply falls prey to all […]
Spin Cycle: Mike Doughty’s “Yes And Also Yes”
There are not many artists in 2011 as prolific as Mike Doughty . He’s just unleashed his first entirely electronic album (Dubious Luxury: check out the review later this week), there’s a book due next year, oh, and a little thing called Yes And Also Yes which you are reading about right now and hopefully buying after finishing this. Of the music that is thrown at consumers/listeners year after year, it’s very rare that you find one single album that is consistently […]
Spin Cycle: Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “I’m With You”
Dear Red Hot Chili Peppers, Greetings from a fan! Before I start, let me thank you for the richly-textured, impossibly alive soundtrack you provided for my adolescence through my young adulthood. I haven’t been with you quite since the beginning – you, as a band, have existed longer than me, as a person – but I’ve been eagerly buying your records since I can remember. I love them – cherish them, even. You’ve soundtracked parties for me, long drives through […]
Killer Sounds from a Killer Band (Hard-Fi come back hard!)
The UK’s Hard-Fi are somewhere in the realm of The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite mixed with The Police. They definitely bring the groove with some horn and synth flourishes but overall, Hard-Fi just rock. Their third album, Killer Sounds, is out this week and it is well worth the 4-year wait. Teaming up with producers Stuart Price (Madonna, Seal, The Killers), Greg Kurstin (Lily Allen), Alan Moulder (NIN) as well as production from frontman Richard Archer, Hard-Fi have managed to […]
Spin Cycle: Blue October’s “Any Man in America”
The average listener can’t, I have to imagine, want to be recommended a Blue October album on purpose. After all: no one but a connoisseur of angst (and, maybe, guyliner) is scouring the ‘net for Blue October reviews. But stranger things have happened than Blue October turning into a sorta-artistically viable band, right? Right? Regardless, Blue October’s new record, Any Man in America, is a late-career upswing in quality for this band. For once, lead singer Justin Furstenfeld sings and writes […]
Spin Cycle: Mariachi El Bronx’s “II”
I remember when The Bronx first appeared on the scene that there was a tremendous amount of buzz surrounding them. Not being one to dismiss things because there is hype around it (as sometimes the hype is well deserved), I decided to check them out. Quite simply, I didn’t get it at all and stopped paying attention. I have a lot of friends who enjoy the band and when they made their transformation from The Bronx into Mariachi El Bronx, […]