This week’s new release schedule is highlighted by the first new music in 30 years from Depeche Mode founders Martin Gore & Vince Clarke.
Spin Cycle: Meat Loaf’s “Hell in a Handbasket”
Are we at a place, culturally, where we can unanimously agree that Meat Loaf’s 1977 debut, Bat Out Of Hell, is unequivocally awesome? Sure, it’s theatrical. It’s bombastic. And, perhaps most damningly, it’s awfully cheesy; Meat oversings every ballad, Jim Steinman writes pretentious multi-song suites about his inability to get girls as a teenager, and at first listen, Meat and Steinman seem to be taking everything really, really seriously. But it’s cheese of the most glorious variety; its sincerity (tempered, […]
Chart Stalker 6/16/10: Aguilera Fail? Lil Jon FAIL!!!!
Please join me in welcoming the “Glee” cast back to the #1 spot on the Billboard album charts. The “Journey to Regionals” EP, which arrived on the same day that the hit show aired it’s season finale, claims the top rung on this week’s Billboard 200 with an impressive 152,000 units sold. It’s the third “Glee”-related album to top the charts in the past eight weeks, which has got to be some kind of record. Right behind it is the […]
New Release Report 6/8/10: Christina Aguilera-Bionic Woman
Looks like things are starting to heat up again on the new release front, with albums out from a variety of current and former superstar artists. First on the list is Christina Aguilera with her fifth English-language studio, non-holiday album. “Bionic” is the title, and if you’re an Xtina fan, you probably don’t need me to tell you about the album’s direction. After all, she’s been talking about it ever since she debuted “Keeps Gettin’ Better” on the VMAs two […]
Vampire Weekend's "Giving Up the Gun": Tennis, Anyone?
My friend and former work colleague Caroline went to Columbia U with the Vampire Weekend guys and she was singing the praises of these guys even before their first album came out. Although her tastes run way indie-er than mine (she plays the theremin, for God’s sake), I very quickly fell in love with VW. Danceable, hooky and smart-assed: all things I enjoy in music. “Giving Up the Gun” is the third single release from their latest album “Contra” (which […]