Why are there less than six degrees of separation between Michael McDonald and Jennifer Lopez? Find out in this week’s Blerd & Gonzo Cover Convo!
Posts tagged "Pop Music"
Spin Cycle: Snow Patrol’s “Fallen Empires”
Any time a band declares they’re going in a new direction and practically begs their fans to give it a chance, I get leery. That usually means something really amazing or truly awful is about to go down with their next album. For a band like Snow Patrol, who has excelled at fairly middle of the road, melodic indie pop/rock since their 2003 breakthrough Final Straw, I feared it would be the latter. Snow Patrol falls into that category of […]
Spin Cycle: Rihanna’s “Talk That Talk”
It’s almost impossible to imagine now, but barely five years ago, Rihanna was basically the female version of Sean Kingston. These days, Kingston isn’t much more than a Justin Bieber accessory and Rihanna…well, she’s arguably the biggest female pop star around these days. She’s racked up an impressive 11 #1 hits on the pop singles chart, sidling up against the likes of Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson in the blink of an eye. She’s one of the more unique-sounding […]
Spin Cycle: Thomas Dolby’s “A Map of the Floating City”
Thomas Dolby has a new album out. Yes, THAT Thomas Dolby. Check out our review, wont’cha?
Spin Cycle: Florence + the Machine’s “Ceremonials”
British act Florence + The Machine follow up their well-received debut “Lungs” with a new album called “Ceremonials”. Can Ms. Welch and company successfully avoid the sophomore slump?
Reading Is Fundamental: Nile Rodgers’ “Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco & Destiny”
Awww freak out! Singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer Nile Rodgers has a book out, and we’ve reviewed it!!
The Jukebox From Hell 05: “Follow Me”
It’s important, when postulating about songs that may deserve placement on the Jukebox From Hell, to generally avoid easy targets. Let’s take my personal favorite whipping boys, Nickelback, for example: everybody knows that Nickelback is a blight on the musical landscape, the product of a horrid curse that a gypsy woman placed on rock n’ roll years ago, that their lead singer is an insufferable tool, and that encountering one of their songs on the radio is something akin to […]
Spin Cycle: Demi Lovato’s “Unbroken” // SuperHeavy’s “SuperHeavy”
A few months ago, Trustafarian favorites Sublime re-formed, replacing deceased frontman Bradley Nowell with Youtube sensation Rome Ramirez. The resulting album, Yours Truly , set precisely no one on fire, and in fact stands as one of the most egregious sins white people have committed against reggae in quite some time. SuperHeavy isn’t quite a reggae group, but it does count Damien “Jr. Gong” Marley as one of its own. Other members include Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Dave Stewart, and Slumdog Millionaire composer […]
Spin Cycle: Hercules & Love Affair’s “Blue Songs”
In 2008, a like-minded friend hipped me to the self-titled debut from Hercules and Love Affair. That album’s electropop sensibilities, along with vocal contributions from Antony Hegarty made clear that this was a group to keep an eye (or ear) on. Since that debut disc, they’ve been busy remixing for other artists, including Chromeo, Poly Styrene, Cut Copy and Goldfrapp among others.Finally, Hercules and Love Affair took some time to focus on their own work, and the result is Blue […]
Spin Cycle: The Ark’s “Arkeology: The Complete Singles Collection”
There are a lot of reasons that pop music is delightful, chief among them the ephemeral pleasures of instant gratification; Swedish glam-rock act The Ark peddle this sort of feeling like crack, writing direct, hook-heavy, sugar-rush power pop that sticks in the craw and stays. Splitting up after more or less ruling their homeland for the past decade, The Ark have bestowed upon fans and neophytes alike [amazon-product text=”Arkeology: Complete Singles Collection” tracking_id=”popblerdcom-20″ type=”text”]B004WLUJ6I[/amazon-product], a career-spanning platter of The Ark’s […]
Hear Here!: Gavin DeGraw’s “Not Over You”
Mildly soulful dudes who play the piano? Check. Video directed by the star of one of my all-time favorite TV shows? Check. So why is it that I don’t like Gavin DeGraw more? I don’t even know if I have a real answer for that. It’s not like the guy’s not talented, he’s just…bland. His debut album, Chariot, got the full-on workout from Clive Davis’s J Records team, eventually going Platinum following the release of three increasingly successful singles, including […]