It must take a certain kind of magic to develop an album that is so dazzling for the ears and the heart, overcoming the listener with such warmth and beauty that one might think they have Stendhal syndrome. What a feat it is then, that a band should do that twice. K’s Choice brings us, […]
It’s the point in August where we’ve hit the sultry dog days, the air saturated with such humidity that you can’t even sit on the porch without getting drenched. It’s the kind of atmosphere perpetuated by The Revivalists’ outing City of Sound, a souvenir mason jar with the torrid and triumphal air of New Orleans […]
Open wide, kids! Here comes another dose of glossy sugar-coated despair from sonic sensations Passion Pit! Brooklyn transplants and Pitchfork darlings Passion Pit burst onto the scene just over three years ago with their special brand of intelligent yet saccharine electro-dance pop. Their signature sound is defined by layered vocals, twee little samples, avalanches of […]
Ned Evett’s Treehouse is like following a cross-country trek of reckless abandon, each song punctuating truck stops, saloons, and the interstate like a big red dot on a map that you can point to and remember the story that went with the place. Evett balances thunderous country rock, folk, talking blues, and ballads with hooks […]
From the title alone, Loving on Empty works well to encapsulate Dan Godlin’s struggle to balance his once potential athletic career and his desire to write songs, Godlin’s days as a high school football captain never really fulfilling his creative drive. The dichotomy of aggressive and sensitive yanked at Godlin’s being; which pursuit did he […]
Everclear – Invisible Stars If you love Everclear, you’re going to love this record. It’s 1995. “Sparkle and Fade” tunes are in constant rotation on 99x. “Alternative” is not yet a satellite radio station like Oldies or Classic Rock. Art Alexakis is a rough, tough, honest and clever singer/songwriter that looks like a mechanic who […]
You’re driving to the beach, ready to scream because “Call Me Maybe” just came on again for the 4th time within an hour. You need to feel and hear summer since it’s the first 80+ degree day without a thunderstorm and not a cloud is in the sky. Well, The Dirty Heads have you covered, waving you […]
Gossip sure have come a long way from their early soulful backwoods punk sound. Nowhere is this more apparent than with this latest release, A Joyful Noise, their fifth studio album (and their second on Columbia Records). With more synth than guitar, and some fancy production courtesy of an industry bigwig, this album demonstrates a brave […]
Oftentimes, 80’s influence in music becomes a ham-fisted attempt to recreate what the artist THINKS the decade sounded like. Soaked in nostalgia and synth, the music becomes more about imitation than homage. On their sophomore effort Michigan Left, Ontario-based quintet Arkells falls back on catalogs of 80’s past to intertwine with their organic rock sound […]
It seems like the only things we hear about Mali these days have to do with coup attempts (failed or successful) and the imaginary-sounding-but-actually-real place called Timbuktu. But the best thing to come out of Mali in our lifetime is the music-making husband-wife team known as Amadou & Mariam. Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia (a.k.a. […]
