Grace Ives – Girlfriend: Although I’ve gained more appreciation for pop in middle age and have become a genuine fan of a handful of pop artists, most pop albums leave me unenthused. Girlfriend is an exception. This pushes hard against pop’s boundaries while staying anchored in songs that are structurally perfect. Producers Ariel Rechtshaid and John DeBold help Ives move… Read more »
Em Beihold – Tales of a Failed Shapeshifter: Every once in a while, I imagine doing record reviews in the spirit of Jessica Hagy’s Indexed Venn diagrams, but I’ve tried and it’s way harder than it looks. Not for Shapeshifter, though. This is where Lily Allen and Regina Spektor intersect with a good bit of Queen and a little slice… Read more »
U2 – Days of Ash EPIt is never good sign when an artist of any kind does something similar to a past success and it falls short. “American Obituary” wants to be to Renee Good what “Pride” was to MLK. But it just isn’t the same. This isn’t a reflection on Good versus MLK, but of Bono no longer trusting… Read more »
Laurel Halo – Midnight Zone: I turned this off twice in the first three songs. Not because it’s bad (it’s not; it’s extraordinary) but because it messed with my head. Shortly into the opening track, “Sunlight Zone,” the music harmonized with my tinnitus and I felt as if my ears were being pummeled from both the inside and outside. It… Read more »
Claire Rosinkranz – My Lover“City” starts off like a run-of-the-mill piano-based pop song. Then about 30 seconds in, the song just fills out over a bouncy bass line and from there the song is just a really fun ride. The album continues to surprise in this way and it changes its energy more by moving between subdued and bright, smooth… Read more »
Gnarls Barkley – Atlanta: More like Gnarls Borekley. And this from a guy who even liked The Odd Couple. Shabaka – Of the Earth: Shabaka made this record by himself, and it lacks the confusing emotional intensity of human interaction. Imagine Rumours without any of the fighting and fucking and backstabbing and namecalling. That’s kinda what Of the Earth sounds… Read more »
Apparat – A Hum of Maybe: I listened to A Hum of Maybe a couple times this week, and my initial feeling is that it’s good but not great. A few songs (“Glimmerine,” “An Echo Skips a Name,” and the title track) immediately jump out, but some others sounded embarrassingly bad on first listen. These high and low points make… Read more »
Dexter and the Moonrocks = “Flavorless”There is something I’m not crazy about in this song. I think it’s that it reminds me of Bush. Yet, there is something that I kind of like. I think it’s that the Bush song it reminds me of is “Glycerine.”Listen: Maybe Handsome Jack – Barnburners!When I first heard Handsome Jack, they played 70’s hard… Read more »
U2 – Days of Ash: Most of the protest songs I’ve heard have been about a distant past and often a distant land. Whether it was Fela or The Clash or Woody Guthrie, I was separated by years if not oceans. Even my first experiences with U2 were songs that brought distant conflicts and historic people to a fiery life…. Read more »
Lucinda Williams – World’s Gone Wrong: I’ve never felt drawn to Lucinda Williams and World’s Gone Wrong doesn’t change that, but I heard a lot of good in the record while I was being reminded of why her music doesn’t grab me. The biggest thing about this record is the timeliness—and timelessness—of the lyrics. Virtually all these songs could be… Read more »