Hey, who wants to read a formulaic paragraph about how actors who turn to music typically churn out vanity projects that nobody ends up liking, citing Bruce Willis and Keanu Reeves as particularly egregious examples? …Good, because I’m not interested in writing it. In other news, House M.D. made a blues record. As it turns out, Hugh Laurie – star of television’s hugely-popular House, among other things – is both an accomplished musician and a tremendous fan of the blues. His […]
Spin Cycle
Spin Cycle: “Nothing But The Beat” by David Guetta
Fuck those Now compilations, David Guetta is where it’s at when it comes to popular artists banding together on one album. Let’s see the line-up on Nothing But The Beat, his 5th: Snoop Dogg, Akon, Jessie J, Flo Rida, Nicki Minaj, Will.I.Am, Lil Wayne, Usher….and that’s just off the top of my head. Speaking of the man, I am a sucker for Flo Rida. I don’t know what it is but I love everything he does. Pleas don’t ask me […]
Spin Cycle: Brett Detar’s “Bird in the Tangle”
The amazing thing about people (and musicians are, despite the rumors, also people) is that we are rarely static entities. Time and age have a funny way of sculpting our tastes and experiences, to the point that we may not even recognize ourselves in a decade or so. Brett Detar’s debut solo album Bird in the Tangle is a sonic testament to this truth. After turns as a guitarist in metalcore pioneers Zao and as lead vocalist for the indie/alternative […]
Spin Cycle: Puddle of Mudd’s “Re:(disc)overed” // Powerman 5000’s “Copies, Clones & Replicants”
Almost universally maligned as a once-relevant band’s career-twilight last-ditch stab at relevancy, the all-covers album more often than not allows a bereft-of-inspiration artist to court a last gasp of sweet, sweet mainstream success by promising songs the listener already knows and loves, and not those pesky tepid originals that said artist has been peddling for the past twenty years or so to increasingly-diminishing returns. And all under the guise of “paying tribute to our idols, man”. Seems like, to court […]
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: 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 […]
Spin Cycle: Lil’ Wayne’s “Tha Carter IV”
Rapper Lil’ Wayne once said, via an album title, I Am Not A Human Being. Listening to his new album, Tha Carter IV, it’s not difficult to see where Wayne was coming from – it’s not difficult to envision the rapper being dropped from a UFO into someone’s Hollywood backyard on a quiet, chilly night. The objective? To ruin hip-hop by turning it into an exaggerated version of its worst stereotypes, to behave in a deliberately bizarre fashion to court […]
Spin Cycle: That Handsome Devil’s “The Heart Goes To Heaven, The Head Goes To Hell”
I imagine that relatively few people decide to go to a rock concert twenty minutes before it starts. But, see, my wife and I were spending the week in Boston, and we had a Friday night with nothing on the docket. There was talk of a movie; there was talk of dinner, but ultimately, we wanted to do something unique, something singular. Take in a play, or some jazz, or climb a mountain (which, to be fair, is kind of […]
Spin Cycle: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks’ “Mirror Traffic”
The Indie Rock ‘Splosion of the 1990s brought us plenty of great music, and Pavement was at the forefront. After the band’s acrimonious split in 1999, frontman Stephen Malkmus wasted little time staking out his solo identity: his first solo album was released in 2001 and three more followed in quick succession before the band improbably reunited last year to cash in on the reunion fever that swept the alt-rock world. But the Pavement reunion was limited to touring. Malkmus […]
Spin Cycle: “Newermind”
Nirvana’s breakthrough album turns 20 this year (we can’t believe it either). Although the official commemoration won’t occur until the anticipated reissues this fall , culturally we’re already reflecting on the album’s music and impact. Much like it’s celebration of Prince’s Purple Rain two years ago, Spin magazine’s latest edition has a feature on Nevermind that includes stories behind the album and reflections from a veritable who’s who of rock on what Nevermind means to them. Also included is a free download of Newermind, […]