Fleetwood Mac – Rumours: I’ve been listening to a lot of new (to me) music and I needed a break, I needed something easy. Rumours is my benchmark for a perfect rock album, and it was a great way to cleanse my palate. What surprised me is how many new things I heard, things I’ve never heard before. Mike D…. Read more »
Dire Straits – Making Movies: One of the fun things about listening to old records for the first time is making connections that don’t exist, like hearing how “Romeo and Juliet” could be the origin story of the couple in Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” The songs on side A are long but they constantly evolve, with instrumentalists who advance the… Read more »
DJ Plead – Please: DJ Plead created a late-night vibe that feels more like a soundtrack than a club record. A lot of writers seem to focus on his Lebanese heritage, but his Middle Eastern roots are a subtle whisper behind his foundation in Western electronic dance music. While each song portrays a complete thought, I wish he’d expanded more… Read more »
Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters: This sacred cow doesn’t deserve a full slaughter but it certainly does warrant some harsh criticism. Hancock took two genres that were at a creative peak—the sonic experimentation of late ‘60s jazz and the funk milestones from the early ‘70s—and created a lukewarm fusion whose sum is far, far less than its parts. Worse, this… Read more »
Mexican Institute of Sound and Meridian Brothers – “Cumbia fantasia”This is like an electronic version of the second wave ska band The Selecter. It has a definite ska rhythm, but is more angular, bridging the last 45 years wonderfully.Listen: Yes Effie – “Red Horse”I really struggled to get anything out of pullup to busan 4 morE hypEr summEr …, but… 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 »
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 »
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 »
Beck – Everybody’s Gotta Learn SometimeStarting with Midnight Vultures, I started losing interest in Beck and the last of his albums that I bought and spent any time with was 2008’s Modern Guilt. So, although most of these songs have been released previously, they are (or at least Beck’s versions are) new to me. Some of them work pretty well… Read more »
Ari Lennox – VacancyHer voice is good, but the music seems synthetic. I mean, I know it is synthetic, but it shouldn’t feel so mechanical. It’s clear she wants to show off her soul chops, but that effort is undercut by soulless backing.Listen: NoBuy: No Megadeth – MegadethOf speedmetal’s Big Four, only Megadeth continued to release records that I ever… Read more »