Posts tagged "music reviews"
Bruno Mars, Unorthodox Jukebox: Worth Every Quarter You Put In It

Bruno Mars, Unorthodox Jukebox: Worth Every Quarter You Put In It

After catching grenades and being lazy, does Bruno Mars also manage to successfully avoid the sophomore jinx on “Unorthodox Jukebox?”

Spin Cycle: El-P's Cancer 4 Cure

Spin Cycle: El-P’s Cancer 4 Cure

El-P’s at a point in his career where very few people could fault him for half-assing, if only because there’s nothing really left for him to prove. Hell, you could probably single out any of his accomplishments over the past fifteen or so years (Fantastic Damage, Weathermen, Def Jux, Company Flow, The Cold Vein, etc. etc.) and use that to justify any lackadaisical bullshit released since then. Artists have stopped giving a fuck for accomplishing much less. The Stone Roses: […]

Spin Cycle: Boyz II Men's "Twenty"

Spin Cycle: Boyz II Men’s “Twenty”

With “Twenty”, Boyz II Men prove that they are FAR from the end of their road. Check out our review.

Spin Cycle: Lou Reed and Metallica's "Lulu"

Spin Cycle: Lou Reed and Metallica’s “Lulu”

A meeting of iconic minds: “Lulu” brings Metallica and Lou Reed together. How exactly does this work? Check out our review!

Spin Cycle: Everlast's "Songs of the Ungrateful Living"

Spin Cycle: Everlast’s “Songs of the Ungrateful Living”

In a recent interview with Billboard.com, Everlast was quoted as saying “I would rather if people love or hate my music. The only thing I don’t want is indifference. If you are not stirring shit up, then what the hell are you doing?”  At that point, I’d listened to his new album, Songs of the Ungrateful Living, a couple times and to be honest, I was kind of indifferent. The interviewer also asked him if he felt the new album […]

Spin Cycle: Patrick Stump's "Soul Punk"

Spin Cycle: Patrick Stump’s “Soul Punk”

Has it already been half a decade since Fall Out Boy was a thing? Despite initial reservations about digging something that was clearly not targeted to my age demo, I found myself liking these guys quite a bit during their glory period, and that had a lot to do with lead singer Patrick Stump. Although bassist Pete Wentz was the public face (and other body parts) of the band, and wrote much of the band’s material, something told me there […]

Spin Cycle: Coldplay’s “Mylo Xyloto”

The biggest rock band in the world right now is probably Coldplay. Their new album, “Mylo Xyloto”, is out now, and our own Mike A. has the scoop.

Spin Cycle: fDeluxe’s “Gaslight”

After the dissolution of The Time when Morris Day left, Prince built a new band in 1985 consisting of former Time members Jellybean Johnson, Jerome Benton and Paul Peterson, plus saxophonist extraordinaire Eric Leeds and vocalist (and twin sister of the Revolution’s Wendy) Susannah Melvoin. Peterson was rechristened St. Paul and established as the front man of the group, named The Family, sharing lead vocals with Melvoin. 26 years after its release, their self titled debut remains one of the […]

Spin Cycle: Johnny Gill’s “Still Winning”

If you were born around the time Johnny Gill last released a solo album, you might be thisclose to starting driver’s ed classes. It’s been fifteen years since the soul singer released Let’s Get the Mood Right, which is a ridiculously long time to go between albums. Not to say JG has been sitting around letting the grass grow under him. He’s toured the country and released an album as 1/5 of New Edition, released another two albums with his […]

Spin Cycle: Skeletonwitch’s “Forever Abomination”

Back in 2007, I was first introduced to Skeletonwitch via their Prosthetic Records’ debut (and second album overall) “Beyond The Permafrost”. I liked the record upon first listen and found myself going back to it a respectable amount of times, but certainly not at a level that would qualify as addictive. That’s not a dig on that album at all, I simply only have so many hours in the day and an oversized and ever growing music collection that prevents me from […]

Spin Cycle: Stephanie Mills’ “Feel The Fire: The 20th Century Collection”

Generally, I leave the reissue-oriented stuff to my brother Mike Duquette and his site The Second Disc , but occasionally, there is a compilation or reissue that catches my eye enough to want to write something about it. I’ve got to say, Hip-O Select has been killing it with the reissues of late. Pulling from the archives of Universal Music, the company that distributes (or has distributed) MCA, Geffen, Def Jam, A&M and Motown (among other influential labels), they certainly have plenty of source material […]

Spin Cycle: Lady Antebellum’s “Own The Night”

Somewhere along the line, Lady Antebellum changed from just another country group (albeit one with a regrettable choice of name) into the hottest group in music, period. A hit single and a couple of Grammys has a way of doing that for you. At the beginning of 2010, the single and album Need You Now elevated the co-ed trio (consisting of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood) to cross-genre superstardom (it even had a dance remix). With their third […]