Aye, Carly
May 16, 2010 Boys With Guitars, CD Reviews
We Are The Fallen
Tear The World Down
Universal Republic. 11 Tracks.
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Remember Carly Smithson’s wild ride on season seven of American Idol? The Irish expat, who finished sixth in a strong pack that included eventual winner David Cook, always came off as a natural-born belter– Ann Wilson with a brogue, if you will. Yet sometimes it proved difficult to shoehorn her prodigious vocal talents into the show’s narrow musical themes. (Dolly Parton week was not her best moment.) It’s a treat, then, to hear her tackle a genre for which she’s extremely well-suited, namely the sleek goth-pop-metal forged by her new band, We Are The Fallen.
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A Child’s Garden of Verse, Adults Allowed
Apr 20, 2010 Boys With Guitars, CD Reviews, Reviews
Natalie Merchant
Leave Your Sleep
Nonesuch. 26 Tracks.
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Seven long years have passed since Natalie Merchant last put out a solo record. Hold those cries of “slacker” though, if you please. In concept, execution and, well, sheer volume, her new release, Leave Your Sleep, leaves little doubt as to what the former 10,000 Maniacs frontwoman has been up to all that time. Read the rest of this entry »
Perky Dance Duo Goes Dark. Aw, Who Needs a Hug?
Mar 18, 2010 Boys With Guitars, CD Reviews
Groove Armada
Black Light
Om Records. 11 Tracks.
Rating: 3½ stars (out of 5)
Why can’t musical artists just stick to what they do best?
It’s a reactionary, fogey-ish question—I picture one of the old coots in the Muppet Show balcony griping to the other. And sure, theoretically you want your favorite acts to take risks and stretch themselves. Without musical leaps of faith we wouldn’t have The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s, The Clash’s London Calling or Radiohead’s Kid A. But sometimes– like, say, when you’re suffering through Chris Cornell’s ill-fated collaboration with Timbaland or Lil Wayne’s awful rock Rebirth– you can’t help but ask yourself, what’s wrong with the way you usually sound?
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Boys With Inventive Music Videos
Mar 2, 2010 Boys With Guitars
OK Go’s vid for “This Too Shall Pass” is mind candy.
Tags: OK Go
Nice shorts, Jake Gyllenhaal!
Feb 21, 2010 Boys With Guitars
The new video for Vampire Weekend’s single “Giving Up The Gun” features some sweet celebrity cameos. (Good work, Joe Jonas!)
New video: Matt Hires - Honey, Let Me Sing You a Song
Feb 17, 2010 Boys With Guitars
Filmed in New Jersey, this video makes absolutely no sense at all with the meaning of the song. And yet, I can’t stop watching it.
Far Out Friday Freak-Out
Feb 12, 2010 Boys With Guitars
Mind-blowing cover of Cream’s “Tales of Brave Ulysses” by the late-’60s soul band Rotary Connection. I got this from an excellent compilation called Psychedelic Jazz & Funky Grooves. (Chess, 2005) Enjoy, and get your freak on, baby!
Navigating a Sea of Sadness
Feb 4, 2010 Boys With Guitars
Corinne Bailey Rae
The Sea
Virgin/EMI. 11 Tracks.
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
I’m ashamed to admit that I kind of dreaded hearing this album.
When Corinne Bailey Rae’s debut dropped in 2006, it landed like sunshine on a murky musical landscape. Here was a pop-soul chanteuse who eschewed the pungent vulgarity of fellow Brit Amy Winehouse, not to mention the manufactured beats of the Top 40 hitmakers, to focus on upbeat themes and warm, organic arrangements. And with the smash single “Put Your Records On”—just go ahead, let your hair down!– she created an enduring balm for the blues.
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Rebelling against the second-album slide
Jan 19, 2010 Boys With Guitars, CD Reviews
Vampire Weekend
Contra
XL Recordings. 10 Tracks.
Rating: 4½ stars (out of 5)
Of all the bands in indie-pop’s recent freshman class, Vampire Weekend seemed destined to be voted most likely to suffer a sophomore slump. As energetic, amusing and catchy as the 2008 debut by this Big Apple foursome was, it was also perilously gimmicky. Read the rest of this entry »
