I’m pretty interested to see what public court of opinion and interest is for a sophomore effort from the folk-rock duo of John Paul White and Joy Williams (aka The Civil Wars). After taking iTunes by storm and in turn debuting in Billboard’s Top 20 with their debut Barton Hollow (2011), they seemed an overnight success story…even if it’d been two years in the making. The promotional and touring cycle included Grammy nominations for both Best Folk Album and Best Country […]
Spin Cycle
Robin Thicke, Blurred Lines: Album Review
“Blurred Lines” is the song of the summer. That’s not mere conjecture; that’s almost scripture at this point. “Blurred Lines” is a big old Smash Hit, the kind we only get a couple of a year, the kind that everyone knows the words to. They know T.I.’s vowel-heavy guest rap, Pharrell’s every “whoo!”, the sly way Robin Thicke himself barely conceals a chuckle as he croons “what rhymes with hug me?”… the song’s massive, and why shouldn’t it be? With […]
Sick Puppies, Connect : Album Review
After 4 years since their last release, the long awaited third album from Sick Puppies is finally out. Connect is kind of a mix of both previous albums (as well as Polar Opposite), in which it varies from heavy to soft and demonstrates their versatility as a band. From the opening riff of “Die To Save You,” you know that Sick Puppies don’t mess around. Right from the start, Emma Anzai’s bass smacks you right in the face. The […]
City Of Fire, Trial Through Fire: Album Review
Trial Through Fire is an appropriate title for City Of Fire’s sophomore outing because what started out so pure and filled with so much hope became this lengthy ordeal that resulted in an album that quietly dropped with barely a whimper back in April of this year. The drama aside of a Pledgemusic campaign that launched in 2011 and only just came to fruition in 2013 aside, a whimper is definitely not the kind of sound you’ll be hearing from […]
Pet Shop Boys, Electric: Album Review
It’s not always easy to be objective about a new album release by one of your favorite artists. And I preface this by saying Pet Shop Boys have been one of my favorites, really only second to Prince, since their debut Please in 1986. Don’t let their lack of airplay in the States since the 90’s fool you, PSB have sold over 50 million records worldwide, are the UK’s most successful duo ever, and still consistently make noise in the […]
Jay-Z, Magna Carta Holy Grail: Album Review
If you’ve grown up with Jay-Z as a consistent presence in your life, it’s difficult to be critical of him. That might have to do with his fairly remarkable record – although he’s only released a handful of stone-cold classics (Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint unimpeachably, and I’d argue for The Black Album too), he’s released plenty of good albums, with few (if any) clunkers in the bunch. I mean, sure, Kingdom Come and American Gangster weren’t really what anyone […]
David Lynch, The Big Dream: Album Review
Best known for his dark and often perplexing films, multimedia artist David Lynch is back with his second LP of non-film music, The Big Dream. The follow up to 2011’s Crazy Clown Time, The Big Dream very much continues in the same vein as its predecessor. Lynch has recently characterized his musical style as “modernized blues,” and while the song structures tend to follow a blues-based progression, it is once again the electronic elements and overall darkness of Lynch’s music […]
Mayer Hawthorne, Where Does this Door Go?: album review
Mayer Hawthorne both expands and contracts with his latest album, “Where Does This Door Go?”
Ciara, Ciara: Album Review
You would have to be blind to not notice that Ciara has had a pretty rough run of luck over the past couple of years. After her first three albums all debuted top three on the Billboard albums chart, Basic Instinct whimpered in at number 44 back in 2010, with only a top three showing for “Ride” on the R&B chart to show for it. Since then, there’s been an air of desperation about the number of singles that have […]
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, That’s It!: album review
Somewhere recently (I believe it was a radio interview with Louis Armstrong archivist Ricky Riccardi), I heard someone make the claim that no other American city is as musical as New Orleans. Sure, there are numerous cities that have been integral to the evolution of American music: Detroit, Nashville, New York, Chicago, Memphis, San Francisco, on down the line. But in accordance with the aforementioned claim, I’m hard pressed to think of another city where music is so much a […]
The Editors, The Weight of Your Love: Album Review
On The Editors fourth full length long-player, they turn to Kings of Leon mainstay producer Jacquire King, presumably to emulate the former’s crossover success here in the U.S. It’s a notable goal and vocalist-guitarist Tom Smith seems more than a little eager to meet the task. Ditching the electronic heavy sound of 2009’s In This Light and On This Evening in favor of a more straight-ahead rock sound, the loss or original guitarist Chris Urbanowicz is immediately evident. The resulting album […]
Deep Purple, Now What?!: Album Review
Let’s start with a bit of an opinionated, music snob mini-rant: Deep Purple is one of the most important and too-oft overlooked bands in rock history. If one looks at their obvious and strong influence on hundreds of bands and the multitude of musicians who flat-out credit Deep Purple with inspiring them to do what they do, it’s shocking how frequently their music is completely absent from the collection of many rock fans. Quite often, the average […]