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
Spin Cycle: Jeff Bridges’ Self-Titled Album
Whether he likes it or not, Jeff Bridges’ new self-titled album falls squarely in the long shadow of his award winning portrayal of fallen country singer “Bad” Blake in 2009’s Crazy Heart. The album’s line-up of contributors certainly doesn’t help separate it from the film: producer and Americana legend T-Bone Burnett returns after his award-winning direction on the Crazy Heart soundtrack, Ryan Bingham (of “The Weary Kind” fame) jumps in on vocals for a few tracks, and three of the […]
Spin Cycle: Kanye West And Jay-Z HAM It Up
After their collaboration with Rihanna on Jay-Z’s Run This Town from The Blueprint 3 and Jay-Z’s guesting verses on Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, it seemed fitting that they’d work on a project together. But considering the size of both men’s egos, it wouldn’t have been out of left field to think that a full length collaboration album would be impossible to complete. Jay-Z has tried a few already times with little success, considering he and R. Kelly […]
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: Jay-Z & Kanye West “Watch The Throne”
I’ll admit to having a fair share of trepidation prior to hearing Kanye West & Jay-Z’s Watch the Throne album. Let’s face it, Jay-Z’s had a pretty rotten track record when it comes to collaborations. How many of you still bump those Best of Both Worlds albums with R. Kelly? What about that Collision Course thing with Linkin Park? No? Me neither. Actually, my copies of all three of those albums (yes, I bought all three) are now in the […]
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: America’s “Back Pages”
Really, the concept of an artist, established or otherwise, churning out a covers record pretty much amounts to: “because I can, that’s why.” America is no exception – fourteen albums in, Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley clearly have acoustic-flecked, reedy-voiced, lite-rock MOR compositions to spare. Still, Back Pages pays tribute to songwriters both old and young – it’s twelve cover songs, essentially, and if the concept of twelve cover songs by America either excites or repulses you, well, there’s your review […]
Spin Cycle: Kelly Rowland’s “Here I Am”
I root for Kelly Rowland hard. She’s gorgeous as I don’t know what, blessed with a fantastic singing voice, and has an affable girl-next-door quality that’s somewhat reminiscent of Janet Jackson in her late teens and early twenties. Unfortunately, Kelly has had to play second fiddle to you-know-who for her entire career (hint: she’s married to Jay-Z and her name rhymes with “Fiance”). It’s one of those “lucky-but-unlucky” scenarios that tends to occur with refugees from singing groups/bands that have […]
Spin Cycle: Joss Stone’s “LP1”
Two albums ago, in 2007, Joss Stone titled an album Introducing Joss Stone. It was her third record. Two albums later, it’s LP1, another album title (this time her fifth) that implies reinvention. A shame, then, that neither that album or this one actually follow through on their promise of revitalization. Miss Stone famously dumped her raspy, ferociously soulful vocals on the listening public in 2003 by way of her exemplary Soul Sessions record, a debut of surprisingly from-the-vault soul songs, […]
Spin Cycle: Rahsaan Patterson’s “Bleuphoria”
With each subsequent release, the liquid-voiced Rahsaan Patterson edges closer to the outskirts of r&b. Originally lumped in with that group of singers that formed the “neo-soul” movement in the late ’90s and early ’00s, Patterson cut his teeth on accessible (albeit very accomplished) soul throwbacks; his output this millennium isn’t overly abstract or gratingly experimental – far from it – but his willingness to expand outward and expound on his unique sensibilities have granted him immeasurable artistic success. Wines […]
Superfiction is Super Good! (Cold are back!)
I don’t know why I got so excited for Cold’s Superfiction as I pretty much wrote the band off after A Different Kind of Pain. 13 Ways… and Year of the Spider were more evolutions than departures from the Cold sound but I always felt they should’ve named their 4th album A Different Kind of Cold because that’s what it was. I did like frontman Scooter Ward’s Killer and The Star release in 2009 and maybe that’s what got me excited again. […]
