My cohort Jesse and I figured it was only right, as certified Durannies, that we both tackle the physical release of All You Need is Now, the latest effort from Birmingham’s Fab Five Four Three Five Four. Of course, it didn’t surprise me that JOB and I (and contributor Carlos Halston, who was totally an ace when it came to our definitive guide to their discography pretty much have the same opinion: All You Need is Now is the band’s best effort in years. To […]
Spin Cycle
Spin Cycle: Lupe Fiasco “Lasers”
I’ve mentioned it several times before…when an album has drama surrounding it, a lot of times it’s hard to separate the drama from the music being created. That phenomenon reared it’s ugly head yet again with the release of Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco’s third album, Lasers. The album’s been on various release schedules for almost a year, and has had several teaser singles surface over that time. The word on the street is that Lupe and his label, Atlantic, were […]
Spin Cycle: James Blake “James Blake”
In recent years, hype has often led to fantastic letdown. Most notably in the digital age, where no hope still exists for a proper release, artists have had to combat the wave of early releases mixed with harsh criticism before the work gets a proper release. Arcade Fire, whose 2004 album Funeral brought with it a trove of heartache and hope that has defined our zeitgeist, bled into 2006’s Neon Bible, an album so canonized, its release almost seemed dwarfed by its grand hype. Fast […]
Spin Cycle: Marsha Ambrosius’ “Late Nights & Early Mornings”
Marsha Ambrosius’ solo debut has been a long time coming, considering she’s been in the music biz for almost a decade. As one half of the innovative R&B duo Floetry, her creamy vocals seemed a bit constrained by the occasionally clumsy raps of her partner Natalie Stewart. Although their two studio albums were successful, Marsha really earned her stripes as a songwriter, arranger and guest vocalist for artists ranging from Michael Jackson (“Butterflies”), Justin Timberlake (“Cry Me a River”) and […]
250 Words or Less: Patrick Stump’s “Truant Wave”
Fall Out Boy fans whose first taste of Patrick Stump as a solo artist is via the Truant Wave EP are in for a surprise. The emo/pop-punk anthems that were the Chicago band’s stock in trade have been replaced by anthems that owe much more to the sound of dance-pop artists like Chromeo. Filled with danceable, shiny pop jams, Truant Wave suggests the work of a more lyrically inclined Justin Timberlake than it does anything vaguely reminiscent of FOB. Not […]
Spin Cycle: Adele’s “21”
The wave of the blue-eyed British soulstress started in the mid-Sixties with Dusty Springfield (the Queen of British soul) and has had two distinct boom periods. The first was in the mid Eighties and went hand in hand with the “New Romantic” MTV period that spawned soul influenced acts like Simply Red, Spandau Ballet and Wham! Worthy successors to the throne of Dusty were found in the likes of Annie Lennox, Tracey Thorn and Alison Moyet. Twenty years after the […]
250 Words or Less: Corinne Bailey Rae’s “Love EP”
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Brit soul songstress Corinne Bailey Rae has delivered The Love EP, a stopgap collection of five covers that’s pleasant but not essential. My dislike for covers collections is well-documented, so the fact that I enjoy this as much as I do is something of an anomaly. However, three of the five songs are solid, and a fourth would be solid if not for it’s interminable length. A few weeks ago, I featured Corinne’s version […]
250 Words or Less: Talib Kweli’s “Gutter Rainbows”
The fact that Talib Kweli is one of the best rappers of his generation, hell, of all time, is indisputable. At this point, 15 years into his career, you know you’re gonna get top-flight lyricism from a Kweli album. The variable is usually the production, as I learned following his subpar 2005 indie mixtape Right About Now. As legends like KRS & Rakim have proven, dope lyrics + mediocre beats doesn’t usually equal hot records. With Kweli again going the […]
250 Words or Less: Cake’s “Showroom of Compassion”
What? You were expecting Cake to open up a new bag of tricks when their schtick has remained almost exactly the same for a decade and a half? Fat chance. Although they’ve gone nearly seven years without releasing new material, the Bay Area band keeps things the same as they ever were with their latest album, Showroom of Compassion. Lead singer John McCrea’s vocals are still as dry as the desert, the lyrics are still a bit off-kilter, and the […]
Spin Cycle: “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” by Kanye West
It’s one thing to not like Kanye West’s music. I’m a reasonable guy, and I don’t expect everyone to like everything. I can even understand if you’re not a fan of hip-hop. Well, I can’t understand it, but I can give you a pass. However, it unnerves the hell out of me when people criticize Kanye’s art based on his public persona-especially when all they know of him is maybe the four or five songs they hear on the radio […]
Spin Cycle: Quincy Jones “Soul Bossa Nostra”
The fact that “Soul Bossa Nostra” even exists is a bit confusing to me. Like, did this album need to be made? After all-it basically amounts to a huge slap on the back for Quincy Jones. Not to say he doesn’t deserve props-the man was at the top of his game for the better part of forty years and is an integral part of music history, let alone black music history. But I question the wisdom of letting a who’s […]
