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Friday, November 20 2009

AC/DC: Backtracks

This AC/DC grab bag is expensive, but you know you want it.

Sufjan Stevens: Run Rabbit Run + The BQE (CD/DVD)

Two wonderfully orchestral, conceptual albums: Osso re-arranging Sufjan, the other Sufjan re-arranging the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Caution: May require ritlin.

Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound

A long-awaited survey of the life and times of a cultural icon.

Robyn Hitchcock: I Often Dream of Trains in New York [DVD]

Good performances of great songs, but there's nothing to see here, people.

Lowlights: Further/Free

Lowlights may operate on a well-worn country road, but they cut their own route there.

Jupiter One: Sunshower

Jupiter One's second album has some great songs, but it also gets mired in mediocre '70s-style pop here and there.

Sondre Lerche: Heartbeat Radio

The radio plays on and on. The heartbeat flat-lines.

Thursday, November 19 2009

Real Estate: Real Estate

Cynics be damned: however the hype machine happens to play this one out, Real Estate have overcome the critics and released one of the most refreshing, satisfying and richly rewarding albums of 2009.

Rakim: The Seventh Seal

A disappointing and ultimately average display from one of hip-hop's greatest artists. And, even worse, it's Rakim who is mostly to blame.

Ola Podrida: Belly of the Lion

All through the record, David Wingo succeeds at creating affecting, gauzy rooms of sound. Although once in a while, a song gets lost in them.

Q-Tip: Kamaal the Abstract

For all the talk of it as experimental, Kamaal the Abstract satisfies and soothes more than it challenges or questions.

Stars of Track and Field: A Time for Lions

Stars' new record is a departure -- into U2 and Coldplay territory

The Band of Heathens: One Foot in the Ether

There’s some Drive-By Truckers, Little Feat, and Flying Burrito Brothers, but what’s interesting is how the band so effortlessly take these influences and twist them to their advantages.

Catie Curtis: Hello, Stranger

Veteran folk-rock songstress brings in a team of bluegrass heavyweights for a smooth-sounding, hit-and-miss hodgepodge of covers and a handful of her own old originals.

Wednesday, November 18 2009

Annie: Don’t Stop

Don't Stop exudes polish, depth, and the sense that Annie is moving confidently forward as a pop artist of the first order.

Dunkelbunt: Raindrops and Elephants

The Austrian producer pulls out all the stops and has a truly worldwide party. Cheers!

Hank Williams: Hank Williams Revealed: The Unreleased Recordings

This, the second three-disc set in a series, features recordings from the Mother's Best radio programs.

People Under the Stairs: Carried Away

Fun-loving hip-hop is rarely as good as People Under the Stairs' seventh album, Carried Away.

Joakim: Milky Ways

France's clown prince of the disco continues to make hard left turns into the darker realms of his love for outsider rock on his finest album to date.

fun.: Aim and Ignite

Aim and Ignite lands somewhere between Queen, the Mars Volta, and the soundtrack from Hairspray, and so is pretty original to say the least. Unfortunately, it drowns under its own weight.

Various Artists: Shadow Music of Thailand

The transition into Thai has given the Anglo-American music a penetrating note, as if high-pitched percussive instruments are being quickly struck and pieces of metal are being clashed.

Tuesday, November 17 2009

50 Cent: Before I Self Destruct

One might think that the worst outcome for an artist like 50 Cent would be to alienate enough people to render himself completely alone in the music industry.

Beak>: Beak>

Progressive experiments of time and sound? Must come out of Bristol, then.

Rammstein: Liebe Ist Für Alle Da

After three very good albums Rammstein simplify things on their newest, and the payoff is huge.

Mulatu Astatke: New York, Addis, London; The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965-1975

Astatke has a great capacity for intelligent play, the James Joyce kind of innovation that isn't afraid to be slangy and entertaining at the same time that it chases a serious purpose.

Cherry Poppin’ Daddies: Skaboy JFK: the Skankin’ Hits of the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies/Susquehanna

Skaboy JFK collects the band's ska from the last 20 years, while Susquehanna is a more diverse, and accurate, representation of the band and its many influences.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland: The Doomsday EP

The folk-rock EP features two takes on the same "dirge".

The 69 Eyes: Back in Blood

Finnish vampire rockers' new effort is an album that should find fans beyond the Helsinki undead community.

Monday, November 16 2009

Them Crooked Vultures: Them Crooked Vultures

Raw, unadulterated rock and roll from rock A-listers Dave Grohl, Josh Homme , and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones.

The Wingdale Community Singers: Spirit Duplicator

An album that will grow on you like moss, and stick to you like white on rice.

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine: The Audacity of Hype

Was it too much to expect an updated version of the revolutionary rhetoric?

Sparklehorse + Fennesz: In the Fishtank 15

Sparklehorse's collaboration with Fennesz makes for a particularly dreamy and ambient installment of the In the Fishtank series.

Nicolay: City Lights Vol. 2: Shibuya

Nicolay takes it to another level on this, his latest City Lights volume. A misstep here or there, sure, but it's a damn good offering from one of music's best producers.

Phonograph: OKNO

Indie Brooklynites stretch to make their own Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The songs can't quite compete, but the record proves that the Wilco Effect continues to produce a vibrant American scene.

Eugene McGuinness: Eugene McGuinness

The Brit troubadour has evidently developed a penchant for the past, which stifles the forward-thinking bent of his debut.

more Features

Thursday, November 19 2009

Reuben Butchart [New York]

The former pianist for Antony & the Johnsons "awakens" with his most elaborate solo work yet.... and it features a plastic bag! Here's the story behind Reuben Butchart's boundless creativity.

Wednesday, November 18 2009

The Gospel According to Butch: Part 2—The Performer

The ever-prolific producer/songwriter Butch Walker notes how live shows lack a genuine mystique these days, his secret for surviving a tour, and why he'll probably never see Third Eye Blind in concert again ...

Friday, November 13 2009

Re-Meet the Beatles: PopMatters Salutes the Still Fab Four

A comprehensive look at the history and impact of the Beatles over 7 days. This section resumes with new essays next week.
25 Classic Beatles Songs
The Records, Day Five: 1970 and Beyond
The "Worst" of The Beatles: A Contradiction in Terms?

Wednesday, November 11 2009

The Gospel According to Butch: Part 1—The Producer

Butch Walker talks with PopMatters about the music industry, the problems that young bands frequently succumb to in the studio, and why it's more important to write songs than design T-shirts.

more Columns

Wednesday, November 18 2009

Dimensional Walls Getting Thinner: The Collective Minds of Krallice

What started out a back-to-basics project has turned into one of the coolest, most forward-thinking American metal bands of this decade.

Tuesday, November 17 2009

Hip-Hop & the Contrast Principle

Hip-hop, as a culture and a musical genre, moves at lightning speed. Keeping up requires an awareness of our expectations and a willingness to revisit our assumptions.

Friday, November 6 2009

Metal, Back from Purgatory

The Rockist attends his most eagerly anticipated metal show in over a decade only to find... the Banana Splits?

more Events

Friday, November 20 2009

Bob Dylan: 31 October 2009 - Chicago

On Halloween night when Bob Dylan and his band took the stage at the Aragon in Chicago, the audience members, some of whom were clad in costume, erupted in wild applause.

Thursday, November 19 2009

Twelfth Night: 19 December 2009 - London

Ultimately, even Shakespeare’s comedies are judged by just one standard: whether or not they are funny. And this Twelfth Night is hilarious.

Wednesday, November 18 2009

Noah and the Whale: 29 October 2009 - Chicago

Noah and the Whale slowly leave the stage. Tired as they must be, their humble expressions hint that they are exceedingly grateful that we’ve come to see them tonight.

more DVD Reviews

Thursday, November 12 2009

The Secret Policeman Rocks!

It pains me to suggest that watching The Secret Policeman Rocks! is akin to swallowing a tablespoon of humanist medicine...

Tuesday, November 3 2009

All Tomorrow’s Parties

This more often than not pays proper attention to the artistic prowess on display, which saves it from playing too laboriously like someone else's vacation slideshow.

Sunday, October 25 2009

The Chieftains - Live at Montreux 1997

This DVD enthusiastically shows a collaborative collective at the peak of its prowess, melding many musical traditions with swift, deft fingers into its own interwoven representation of Irish culture.