Paris Motel - In The Salpetriere
Tracklisting :
1. Entrez Dans La Salpetriere
2. Three Steps
3. My Demeter
4. After Wanda
5. Coignet’s Trial
6. City Of Ladies
7. Baby Diamond
8. Stockholm The Art Of Forgetting
9. Catherine By The Sea
10. Sortez De La Salpetriere
Despite the Gallic moniker Paris Motel is as English as tuppence and is actually a vehicle for London based Amy May - sometime viola player in various orchestras and quartets as well as with artists as diverse as Circulus and Suggs and arranger and orchestrator for the likes of Jeff Beck and Sean Rowley’s Guilty Pleasures live shows.
Her debut album, on which she plays virtually all the instruments, is a haunting collection of tales interwoven with magical and mysterious ladies, from pirates and poets to French erotic novelists and medieval witches. The Salpetriere, once an asylum for the mad and the destitute women of Paris, is here used as a handy metaphor to house and collect these weird and wonderful characters.
It may be a strange concept but it’s one that has recently been lapped up by appreciative audiences at Glastonbury, Latitude and SXSW, and musically sits somewhere between the pastoral folk of the Fairports and Robert Kirby’s orchestration for Nick Drake.
Source : Loose Music
Tony Allen - Jealousy/Progress
Drummer Tony Allen was the rhythmic force behind Fela Kuti's influential Afro-beat ensemble of the 1970s. Though Allen's own recordings expanded and elaborated on the formula they co-created, his early LPs remained out of print for years. Now the long-lost treasures are back as double-CD releases, and they still move and groove with the same force as three decades ago. Imagine a Nigerian version of James Brown's band with Art Blakey's finesse and Max Roach's jazzy complexity and you'll understand the groove signature of the extended tracks. With Allen's drumming driving the gut-level bass lines, down-home horns, spacy keyboards, and spicy vocals, cuts like the nearly 12-minute "Jealousy" and "Afro Disco Beat" will drive today's kids into Afro-diasporic dervishes that only a groove master like Tony Allen can conjure.Eugene Holley, Jr.
Source : Amazon
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Pink Floyd - Oh, By the Way
Disc 1 : The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Disc 2 : A Saucerful Of Secrets
Disc 3 : More - Soundtrack
Disc 4 : Umma Gumma - Part I
Disc 5 : Umma Gumma - Part II
Disc 6 : Atom Heart Mother
Disc 7 : Meddle
Disc 8 : Obscured By Clouds
Disc 9 : The Dark Side Of The Moon
Disc 10 : Wish You Were Here
Disc 11 : Animals
Disc 12 : The Wall - Part I
Disc 13 : The Wall - Part II
Disc 14 : The Final Cut
Disc 15 : A Momentary Lapse Of Reason
Disc 16 : The Division Bell
Let's start with the basic facts: Oh, By the Way is a limited-edition 14-album, 16xCD box set containing the entirety of Pink Floyd's studio album discography, immaculately repackaged as miniature LPs with gatefold covers and the original inner sleeves, stickers and posters where applicable. Also included are a special new poster designed by longtime Floyd-affiliated cover art designer Storm Thorgerson commemorating the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd's first LP The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and a couple of "Pink Floyd coasters" which are included as collectors' items and therefore will never see the underside of a drinking glass, ever. Depending on where you buy it, the whole thing retails for something in the neighborhood of $250-$260-- just over $15 a disc, which is a pretty fair price if you've ever wanted to own every Pink Floyd album ever in novelty faux-vinyl form.
It's also one of the most superfluous pieces of collectors'-market eBay-bait I've ever heard of. There is no rarities disc, no concert material (aside from the live half of Ummagumma), no previously unreleased work, no interviews, no DVDs, no 5.1 audio, no historical liner notes and-- most significantly-- no remasters save the one you can already get on the recently-released standalone 40th Anniversary Edition of Piper. Assuming you're like a lot of people and already own the latest, cleanest retail-release pressings of every Pink Floyd record you'd ever want, Oh, By the Way will serve no purpose outside of a fan-pleasing visual novelty; it practically exists to be looked at instead of listened to.
To be fair, at least two-thirds of this box set is worth listening to-- for the umpteenth time, as the case probably is. That 4.0 is a mark against Oh, By the Way's pointless surface-gloss curio status and its unadventurous by-the-books version of canonization rather than an actual judgment of the music tucked inside. If you really need one of those, pretend that 4's an 8; Pink Floyd's first few phases-- the intial decade or so of their career-- still sound rewarding even as the band itself gets further entrenched in the cultural stasis of classic rock's hermetically-sealed nostalgia.
As the sole full-length snapshot of the band's Syd Barrett era, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn neatly sums up what made their first incarnation great-- the balance of whimsy and discomfort, displayed in the band's ability to feel at home inhabiting both chart-friendly psych-pop ("Arnold Layne"; "See Emily Play") and experimental space-rock sprawl ("Astronomy Domine"; "Interstellar Overdrive"). The remainder of the records from the 1960s and their first album of the 70s-- A Saucerful of Secrets, Music from the Film 'More', Ummagumma, and Atom Heart Mother-- reveal a band in continuous and restless transition, looking for their footing and a new identity after Barrett's departure. These records are Pink Floyd at their most aimless-- for every indelible moment like the slow creep towards screaming violence in Ummagumma's live version of "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" or their bid for Beach Boys teenage-symphony pop in Atom Heart Mother's "Summer '68", there's the tedious multi-part suites that toy with experimentalism for its own sake, some good-start-no-finish soundtrack tidbits and that one Ummagumma track where Roger Waters made a bunch of silly animal and/or ranting Scotsman noises and slapped a big unwieldy 16-word title on it.
And then there's the blockbuster stuff. With the exception of 1972's soundtrack-fodder footnote Obscured By Clouds, everything here from 1971's Meddle through 1979's The Wall has become so ingrained in the rock consciousness, so frequently dissected and joked about and lumped in with the Eagles and Yes in the textbook entry for Reasons Punk Had to Happen, that it's easy to forget why Pink Floyd got so huge in the 70s. (I'll pause to let you construct your own pot joke.) That they released some of the most slickly-produced and stylistically versatile music of its time-- simultaneously playing to the strengths of psychedelia, prog, and even r&b (ever play "Echoes" and Isaac Hayes' "Walk on By" back-to-back?)-- probably didn't hurt their commercial prospects, but a significant portion of their work, The Dark Side of the Moon in particular, was wrapped up in Waters' obsessive search for some kind of human empathy, and in the midst of a culture filled with rampant post-hippie ego-tripping and waning optimism that search rang true with a number of adolescents and college students-- and not just the ones of the 70s. Things do get shakier the further we get into the 80s and 90s: The Final Cut is draining if occasionally patience-rewarding, but the David Gilmour-fronted records A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell are cruise-control adult-contempo dross that sand off every edge the band had.
Oh, By the Way doesn't do much to make a specific case for Pink Floyd as an artistic entity-- it just drops everything in your lap and asks you to sort through it. But the odds of anybody not having any of this and wanting it all seem kind of slim, something the 10,000-copy run of this set probably anticipated. And with its sights aimed squarely on the diehard fans, putting the semi-complete works of Pink Floyd on the market without any real attempts to add the additional historical context or sonic refining that these fans would likely enjoy is as shameless as the insincere schmoozing of the "Have a Cigar" record-biz schmucks the box's title quotes.
Source : pitchforkmedia
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Disc 2 : A Saucerful Of Secrets
Disc 3 : More - Soundtrack
Disc 4 : Umma Gumma - Part I
Disc 5 : Umma Gumma - Part II
Disc 6 : Atom Heart Mother
Disc 7 : Meddle
Disc 8 : Obscured By Clouds
Disc 9 : The Dark Side Of The Moon
Disc 10 : Wish You Were Here
Disc 11 : Animals
Disc 12 : The Wall - Part I
Disc 13 : The Wall - Part II
Disc 14 : The Final Cut
Disc 15 : A Momentary Lapse Of Reason
Disc 16 : The Division Bell
Let's start with the basic facts: Oh, By the Way is a limited-edition 14-album, 16xCD box set containing the entirety of Pink Floyd's studio album discography, immaculately repackaged as miniature LPs with gatefold covers and the original inner sleeves, stickers and posters where applicable. Also included are a special new poster designed by longtime Floyd-affiliated cover art designer Storm Thorgerson commemorating the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd's first LP The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and a couple of "Pink Floyd coasters" which are included as collectors' items and therefore will never see the underside of a drinking glass, ever. Depending on where you buy it, the whole thing retails for something in the neighborhood of $250-$260-- just over $15 a disc, which is a pretty fair price if you've ever wanted to own every Pink Floyd album ever in novelty faux-vinyl form.
It's also one of the most superfluous pieces of collectors'-market eBay-bait I've ever heard of. There is no rarities disc, no concert material (aside from the live half of Ummagumma), no previously unreleased work, no interviews, no DVDs, no 5.1 audio, no historical liner notes and-- most significantly-- no remasters save the one you can already get on the recently-released standalone 40th Anniversary Edition of Piper. Assuming you're like a lot of people and already own the latest, cleanest retail-release pressings of every Pink Floyd record you'd ever want, Oh, By the Way will serve no purpose outside of a fan-pleasing visual novelty; it practically exists to be looked at instead of listened to.
To be fair, at least two-thirds of this box set is worth listening to-- for the umpteenth time, as the case probably is. That 4.0 is a mark against Oh, By the Way's pointless surface-gloss curio status and its unadventurous by-the-books version of canonization rather than an actual judgment of the music tucked inside. If you really need one of those, pretend that 4's an 8; Pink Floyd's first few phases-- the intial decade or so of their career-- still sound rewarding even as the band itself gets further entrenched in the cultural stasis of classic rock's hermetically-sealed nostalgia.
As the sole full-length snapshot of the band's Syd Barrett era, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn neatly sums up what made their first incarnation great-- the balance of whimsy and discomfort, displayed in the band's ability to feel at home inhabiting both chart-friendly psych-pop ("Arnold Layne"; "See Emily Play") and experimental space-rock sprawl ("Astronomy Domine"; "Interstellar Overdrive"). The remainder of the records from the 1960s and their first album of the 70s-- A Saucerful of Secrets, Music from the Film 'More', Ummagumma, and Atom Heart Mother-- reveal a band in continuous and restless transition, looking for their footing and a new identity after Barrett's departure. These records are Pink Floyd at their most aimless-- for every indelible moment like the slow creep towards screaming violence in Ummagumma's live version of "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" or their bid for Beach Boys teenage-symphony pop in Atom Heart Mother's "Summer '68", there's the tedious multi-part suites that toy with experimentalism for its own sake, some good-start-no-finish soundtrack tidbits and that one Ummagumma track where Roger Waters made a bunch of silly animal and/or ranting Scotsman noises and slapped a big unwieldy 16-word title on it.
And then there's the blockbuster stuff. With the exception of 1972's soundtrack-fodder footnote Obscured By Clouds, everything here from 1971's Meddle through 1979's The Wall has become so ingrained in the rock consciousness, so frequently dissected and joked about and lumped in with the Eagles and Yes in the textbook entry for Reasons Punk Had to Happen, that it's easy to forget why Pink Floyd got so huge in the 70s. (I'll pause to let you construct your own pot joke.) That they released some of the most slickly-produced and stylistically versatile music of its time-- simultaneously playing to the strengths of psychedelia, prog, and even r&b (ever play "Echoes" and Isaac Hayes' "Walk on By" back-to-back?)-- probably didn't hurt their commercial prospects, but a significant portion of their work, The Dark Side of the Moon in particular, was wrapped up in Waters' obsessive search for some kind of human empathy, and in the midst of a culture filled with rampant post-hippie ego-tripping and waning optimism that search rang true with a number of adolescents and college students-- and not just the ones of the 70s. Things do get shakier the further we get into the 80s and 90s: The Final Cut is draining if occasionally patience-rewarding, but the David Gilmour-fronted records A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell are cruise-control adult-contempo dross that sand off every edge the band had.
Oh, By the Way doesn't do much to make a specific case for Pink Floyd as an artistic entity-- it just drops everything in your lap and asks you to sort through it. But the odds of anybody not having any of this and wanting it all seem kind of slim, something the 10,000-copy run of this set probably anticipated. And with its sights aimed squarely on the diehard fans, putting the semi-complete works of Pink Floyd on the market without any real attempts to add the additional historical context or sonic refining that these fans would likely enjoy is as shameless as the insincere schmoozing of the "Have a Cigar" record-biz schmucks the box's title quotes.
Source : pitchforkmedia
Joy - My Way, My Love
Any compact disc penned with the words “please play all tracks at maximum VOLUME” should be approached with suspicion. While Motörhead are the only band officially sanctioned to utilise such requisites, we’ll forgive My Way My Love because a) they’re Japanese b) they have a giant washing machine on their website c) although they’re not in the same synapse-liquidising league as Lemmy, they’re refined racketeers themselves. In fact, ‘Joy’ cements the threesome’s reputation as something of a Manga Deerhoof – a terrific booming hullabaloo of dislocated, concentrated weirdness that’s undoubtedly more ATP than TOTP. From ‘Acupuncture Man’, where mutant instigator Yukio Maruta appears to be grappling a bear-trap, to ‘The Devil Song’, which sounds like Mogwai playing Mission: Impossible, it’sa ballooning post-grunge scattergram. We’ll call it Joy derision.
Source : NME
Rolling Stone - Rolled Gold
Track Listing : Disc 1
1. Come On
2. I Wanna Be Your Man
3. Not Fade Away
4. Carol
5. Tell Me
6. It's All Over Now
7. Little Red Rooster
8. Heart Of Stone
9. Time Is On My Side
10. Last Time
11. Play With Fire
12. I Can't Get No Satisfaction
13. Get Off My Cloud
14. I'm Free
15. As Tears Go By
16. Lady Jane
17. Paint It Black
18. Mother's Little Helper
19. 19th Nervous Breakdown
20. Under My Thumb
21. Out Of Time
22. Yesterday's Papers
23. Let's Spend The Night Together
24. Have You Seen Your Mother Baby
Track Listing : Disc 2
1. Ruby Tuesday2. Dandelion
3. She's A Rainbow
4. We Love You
5. 2000 Light Years From Home
6. Jumpin' Jack Flash
7. Street Fightin' Man
8. Sympathy For The Devil
9. No Expectations
10. Let It Bleed
11. Midnight Rambler
12. Gimme Shelter
13. You Can't Always Get What You Want
14. Brown Sugar
15. Honky Tonk Women
16. Wild Horses
Got a dad? Not sure what to get him for Christmas yet? Never fear! Here comes an unholy triumvirate of ABKCO Music & Records, Decca and Universal to help you out with a slightly updated (come back! extra tracks, not new ones!) version of the best of The Rolling Stones, originally released in 1975.
At 40 tracks long, compared to the 28 of the original version, it does give some pause for thought. There are few bands that stay relevant into the second decade of their career, particularly when it comes to producing music worthy enough of standing on its own two feet. The Stones are almost one of them but, let's face it, not quite. Not really.
It would be wonderful if the dirty dozen newcomers were twelve of the best donations to the airwaves and ipods of the last 30 years but, of course, they aren't. Because while seeing The Stones live is something you have to do before you die, or else you haven't lived, they haven't made a good new record since before you were born.
For this reason, it's a very good job that the extra space is filled up with songs contemporary to those on the original compilation, including Tell Me (1964), Heart of Stone (1965), Play With Fire (1965), I'm Free (1965), Mother's Little Helper (1966), Dandelion (1967), 2000 Light Years From Home (1967), No Expectations (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), You Can't Always Get What You Want (1969), Wild Horses (1971) and Brown Sugar (1971).
As such, they slip in seamlessly to a collection which, you creepingly realise, reminds you just how good The Stones were before they became a stadium-hopping parody of themselves. And how versatile.
Rolled Gold Plus takes you from the raw early covers of old standards such as It's All Over Now and Little Red Rooster, through the glorious psychedelic pop of She's A Rainbow to the more robust rock of Sympathy For The Devil and Gimme Shelter. They do country too, and pop, and blues. And if you don't believe Sympathy For The Devil invented trance, you've never listed to it under the influence of the right disco biscuits.
Surrounded by sun drenched chords, there are songs here that show a gentler side to them than you'll ever see in Twickenham (lie back with a jazz fag and We Love You and we promise that world peace will be achieved before dawn) sitting side by side with rawk masterpieces that will blow you away. This is not only a retrospective but a chance to see the song-writing partnership of Jagger and Richards develop and grow, to take flight and to drag half of Brazil out to glory in its power.
There is so much and nothing to say about this album. It's The Stones. If you were in any doubt how good they were, this will remind you. If you genuinely didn't know, this will educate you. Now go and see them live before you die. They, meanwhile, will last forever.
Source : Music OMH
Jaheim - The Makings of a Man
1. Voice of R&B
2. Hush
3. Have You Ever
4. Lonely
5. Life of a Thug
6. You Just Don’t Get It
7. She Ain’t You”
8. Never
9. I’ve Changed (featuring Keyshia Cole)
10. What You Think of That
11. Make a Wish
12. Back Together Again
Jaheim’s new album “The Makings of a Man” will hit stores on December 18, 2007.I had a chance to listen to an advance version and it’s a very pleasant surprise, minus few missteps here and there like the duet with Keyshia Cole “I’ve Changed”.But on the other hand, tracks like “Voice Of R&B” (Produced by Jaheim),”Life of a Thug” (Produced by Jaheim), ”Back Together Again” (Produced by Jaheim) and “Hush” (Produced by R.Kelly) are really strong,not only for their musicality but also for the fact they help Jaheim express a different aspect of his talent.”Lonely” (Produced by Kaygee) is a reprise but Jaheim makes the song his,easily.My conclusion is:the album is a good one ,production,and vocal wise,but we already knew the man could sing.Lyrically speaking,it’s just average but I don’t think you should ask for too much neither.Unfortunately,I don’t see the record selling well.
Jaheim was not very far from making a very good LP,but the lack of depth and creativity on few songs prevented him from accomplishing that task.
Nonetheless I hope he does well,because R&B really needs a voice like his right now.
Source : RNB Music Blog
Chingy - Hate It Or Love It
Track Listing :
1. Intro
2. Hate It Or Love It
3. Check My Swag
4. Fly Like Me Ft. Amerie
5. Kick Drum
6. Gimme Dat Ft. Luudacris, Bobby Valentino
7. All Aboard (Ride It) Ft. Steph Jones
8. Trickin’ Off Skit
9. Spend Some $ Ft. Trey Songz
10.2 Kool 2 Dance
11. Lovely Ladies
12. How We Feel Ft. Anthony Hamilton
13. Roll On ‘Em Ft. Rick Ross
14. Blockstar
Ching-A-Ling’s first release on Luda’s Disturbing the Peace label doesn’t tinker with the Midwestern rapper’s formula. Gooey love songs such as “Fly Like Me” wrestle with the puffy-chest floss of “Roll On.” Slick Rick delivers a breathy bit of braggadocio on “Check My Swag,” while boss Luda shows up for the loony sex jawn “Gimme That.” Nobody is going to mistake Chingy for an A-list lyricist, but he continues to prove that he adaptable to various styles.
-many source-
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2. Hate It Or Love It
3. Check My Swag
4. Fly Like Me Ft. Amerie
5. Kick Drum
6. Gimme Dat Ft. Luudacris, Bobby Valentino
7. All Aboard (Ride It) Ft. Steph Jones
8. Trickin’ Off Skit
9. Spend Some $ Ft. Trey Songz
10.2 Kool 2 Dance
11. Lovely Ladies
12. How We Feel Ft. Anthony Hamilton
13. Roll On ‘Em Ft. Rick Ross
14. Blockstar
Ching-A-Ling’s first release on Luda’s Disturbing the Peace label doesn’t tinker with the Midwestern rapper’s formula. Gooey love songs such as “Fly Like Me” wrestle with the puffy-chest floss of “Roll On.” Slick Rick delivers a breathy bit of braggadocio on “Check My Swag,” while boss Luda shows up for the loony sex jawn “Gimme That.” Nobody is going to mistake Chingy for an A-list lyricist, but he continues to prove that he adaptable to various styles.
-many source-
Saves the Day - Under the Boards
Pop-punk hero perseveres in struggle to find himself.
As key as they are to emo's evolution, Saves the Day will always be linked to singer/guitarist/lone original member Chris Conley's identity crisis. He's led STD from their early days aping hardcore heroes Lifetime to the Beatles-tinged commercial flop of 2003's In Reverie to the present: a three-album conceptual saga about self-discovery. Installment No. 2, Under the Boards, finds him in a surprisingly dark and newwavish mode, bobbing through spare, angular arrangements that overemphasize the off-key bleat that's his albatross as much as the band's signature.
Source : Spin
As key as they are to emo's evolution, Saves the Day will always be linked to singer/guitarist/lone original member Chris Conley's identity crisis. He's led STD from their early days aping hardcore heroes Lifetime to the Beatles-tinged commercial flop of 2003's In Reverie to the present: a three-album conceptual saga about self-discovery. Installment No. 2, Under the Boards, finds him in a surprisingly dark and newwavish mode, bobbing through spare, angular arrangements that overemphasize the off-key bleat that's his albatross as much as the band's signature. Source : Spin
2007 Best Song
1. All My Friends by LCD Soundsystem
2. The Underdog by Spoon
3. 100 Days, 100 Nights by Sharon Jones & The Da…
4. Take A Chance by The Magic Numbers
5. 1234 by Feist
6. Smile (Explicit Version) by Lily Allen
7. Take Pills by Panda Bear
8. Fake Empire by The National
9. Good Life [Explicit] by Kanye West
10. A Postcard to Nina by Jens Lekman
11. Another Rainy Day by Corinne Bailey Rae
12. Many Thanks for Your Honest Opinion by The Lodger
13. Keep the Car Running by Arcade Fire
14. Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us by Robert Plant and Alis…
15. How Deep Is Your Love by The Bird And The Bee
16. Diamond Dancer by Bill Callahan
17. Say It All by Sondre Lerche
18. Dia Artio by Wolves In The Throne room
19. The Hill by Bombay Bicycle Club
20. Do It Better by Imperial Teen
21. Let It Go by Keyshia Cole
22. Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie
23. Marry Me by St. Vincent
24. The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson
25. Add Your Light To Mine Baby by Lucky Soul
26. Down the Line (Vocal) by Jose Gonzalez
27. (Fork And Knife) by Brand New
28. My Favourite Book by Stars
29. Life Without A Brain by The Rentals
30. The Devil by PJ Harvey
31. Í Gær by Sigur Ros
32. In Transit by Albert Hammond Jr.
33. Like I Do by Minipop
34. Wouldn't Get Far by The Game
35. He Can Only Hold Her by Amy Winehouse
36. High Times by Elliott Smith
37. Roll On (Album) by Dntel
38. Bonafied Lovin by Chromeo
39. My Rights Versus Yours by The New Pornographers
40. Mistaken For Strangers by The National
41. Kiss, Kiss by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
42. Believe E.S.P. by Deerhoof
43. Blue Magic [Explicit] by Jay-Z
44. Walking For Two Hours by The Twilight Sad
45. So Gone [Explicit] by Black Milk
46. These Days Nothing But Sunshine by The Clientele
47. Say Goodbye To Love by Kenna
48. Business Time (Album) by Flight Of The Conchords
49. Going To A Town by Rufus Wainwright
50. Sweetie by Josh Rouse
51. Wet And Rusting by Menomena
52. Dr Strangeluv by Blonde Redhead
53. Two by Ryan Adams
54. Just Fine by Mary J. Blige
55. Don't Let Him Waste Your Time by Jarvis Cocker
56. Mansard Roof by Vampire Weekend
57. Say It Right by Nelly Furtado
58. Rehab by Amy Winehouse
59. Paper Aeroplane by KT Tunstall
60. Won't Go Home Without You by Maroon 5
61. Nolita Fairytale by Vanessa Carlton
62. Are You Gonna Look After My Boy? by Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
63. Make It Rain by Fat Joe Featuring R. Kelly, T.I., Lil Wayne, Baby, Rick Ross And Ace Mac
64. Is There a Ghost (Album) by Band Of Horses
65. Australia (Album) by The Shins
66. Improvisation on Pachelbel: Canon (Canon & Gigue in D) by Gabriela Montero
67. Black Winged Bird by Nina Persson
68. Cheer Me Up Thank You by New Buffalo
69. Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex (Album) by CSS
70. When Did Your Heart Go Missing? by Rooney
71. Hold On (Cd) by Tim Armstrong
72. Kiss Me Again (Stuttering) by Ben's Brother
73. Pornographer's Dream by Suzanne Vega
74. Fallen Snow by Au Revoir Simone
75. Girl by Jim Sturgess
76. Slow Me Down by Emmy Rossum
77. While You Were Sleeping by Elvis Perkins
78. Heartbreaker [Explicit] by Will.I.Am
79. Tick Tick Boom by The Hives
80. Roc-A-Fella Billionaires by Freeway
81. The Heinrich Maneuver by Interpol
82. Phantom Limb (Album) by The Shins
83. The Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani
84. Bring It On Home To Me by Britt Daniel
85. The Sun Also Sets by Ryan Adams
86. Are You Alright? by Lucinda Williams
87. Voice on Tape by Jenny Owen Youngs
88. Jimmy by M.I.A.
89. No One's Gonna Love You by Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators
90. Grip Like a Vice (Album) by The Go! Team
91. Harder Better Faster Stronger by Daft Punk
92. Give It To Me [Explicit] by Timbaland
93. Southside Of Heaven by Ryan Bingham
94. Thick As Thieves by Dashboard Confessional
95. Drivin' Me Wild by Common
96. Lightworking [Explicit] by J Dilla feat. Q-Tip & Talib Kweli
97. She Says by VHS Or Beta
98. The White Flash by Modeselektor
99. Ripe by Ben Lee
100. Duffle Bag Boy by Playaz Circle
Source : Amazon
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
Tracklist :
1. Baba Says Cool For Thought
2. Free Chilly
3. Go Go Gadget Flow
4. Coolest
5. Superstar
6. Paris, Tokyo
7. Hi Definition
9. Hip Hop Saved My Life
10. Intruder Alert
11. Streets on Fire
12. Little Weapon
13. Gotta Eat
14. Dumb It Down
15. Hello/Goodbye (Uncool)
16. Die
17. Put You on Game
18. Fighters
19. Go Baby
Lupe Fiasco's second album, out today, is called "The Cool." When you make a statement like that, it begs the question: How cool is Lupe Fiasco? Let us count the ways.
On his 2006 debut, "Food & Liquor," the Chicago MC (né Wasalu Muhammad Jaco) was cool by association since he was Kanye West's protégé. He also earned cool critical acclaim and the embrace of the hipster crowd with his inventive rhymes on tracks like the pensive skater jam "Kick, Push." Some observers also thought it was cool that he was a Muslim who didn't shy away from his religious identity, even though it wasn't the focus of his music.
Fiasco builds on that promise exponentially with the triumphant "Cool," which gets extra style points for bringing back the idea of the headphones hip-hop album. Dense lyrics reward repeated listens. Textured tracks - with help from disparate producers like Soundtrakk and Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump - go in dramatically opposed directions but still sound good side by side. Fiasco seems to have chosen his guests based on their creative merits instead of mutually beneficial brand marketing. Plus he employs Snoop Dogg with nary a mention of weed or a whiff of misogyny; that's cool.
But perhaps what's most refreshing about "The Cool" is Fiasco's strict adherence to raising the level of conversation about hip-hop itself. He's as interested in the negative themes in contemporary hardcore hip-hop as he is in the socioeconomic underpinnings that helped create them and turn them into saleable commodities of urban realism.
Fiasco uses his cerebral but accessible lyrics to examine all angles of the games being played out on neighborhood street corners, in corporate boardrooms, and at strategy sessions on front lines in all kinds of wars around the globe. (Technically, it's a concept record about "the life," but it's not necessary to grok the characters to enjoy the record.)
The pinnacle of these examinations is "Dumb It Down," which finds Fiasco ramping up the dreamy metaphoric imagery on the verses as various voices - friends, executives, fellow rappers - plead with him on the clever choruses to try rapping about his bling, his rims, or his desire to douse chicks with designer champagne. Each is concerned that rap fans might realize smart can be cool and that they actually have options. (The best bit involves a thug MC excoriating Fiasco's "boring" flow and then asking to be on his next single.)
There are only two things that aren't so cool about Fiasco's sophomore release. At more than 75 minutes, the album runs on a little long, and the excision of the more repetitive, midtempo tracks wouldn't have done any harm. If most year-end top-10 lists hadn't already been compiled, this would be a cool addition.
Sarah Rodman
Source : Boston Globe
Favorite Albums of 2007
Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
Lily Allen - Alright, Still
Amerie - Because I Love It
Antibalas - Security
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Art Brut - It’s a Bit Complicated
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
Battles - Mirrored
Blonde Redhead - 23
Boris with Michio Kurihara - Rainbow
David Buchbinder - Odessa/Havana
Caribou - Andorra
Celebration - The Modern Tribe
The Clientele - God Save the Clientele
Keyshia Cole - Just Like You
Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
DJ Spooky - Creation Rebel
Donnie - The Daily News
Freeway - Free at Last
Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta!
Good Shoes - Think Before You Speak
Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Richard Hawley - Lady’s Bridge
His Name Is Alive - Sweet Earth Flower: A Tribute to Marion Brown
Ian Hunter - Shrunken Heads
Iron & Wine - Shepherd’s Dog
Jay-Z - American Gangster
Joan as Police Woman - Real Life
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
Justice - Cross
Miranda Lambert - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
Liars - Liars
Little Brother - Get Back
Nick Lowe - At My Age
M.I.A. - Kala
Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy
Róisín Murphy - Overpowered
Brad Paisley - 5th Gear
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Rahsaan Patterson - Wines & Spirits
Pelican - City of Echoes
Peter Bjorn and John - Writer’s Block
Pink Martini - Hey Eugene!
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Rihanna - Good Girl Gone Bad
Simian Mobile Disco - Attack Decay Sustain Release
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus!
UGK - Underground Kingz
Von Südenfed - Tromatic Reflexxions
MST - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Ween - La Cucaracha
The White Stripes - Icky Thump
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Wu-Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams
Source : All Music
Read More..
Lily Allen - Alright, Still
Amerie - Because I Love It
Antibalas - Security
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Art Brut - It’s a Bit Complicated
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
Battles - Mirrored
Blonde Redhead - 23
Boris with Michio Kurihara - Rainbow
David Buchbinder - Odessa/Havana
Caribou - Andorra
Celebration - The Modern Tribe
The Clientele - God Save the Clientele
Keyshia Cole - Just Like You
Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
DJ Spooky - Creation Rebel
Donnie - The Daily News
Freeway - Free at Last
Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta!
Good Shoes - Think Before You Speak
Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Richard Hawley - Lady’s Bridge
His Name Is Alive - Sweet Earth Flower: A Tribute to Marion Brown
Ian Hunter - Shrunken Heads
Iron & Wine - Shepherd’s Dog
Jay-Z - American Gangster
Joan as Police Woman - Real Life
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
Justice - Cross
Miranda Lambert - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
Liars - Liars
Little Brother - Get Back
Nick Lowe - At My Age
M.I.A. - Kala
Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy
Róisín Murphy - Overpowered
Brad Paisley - 5th Gear
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Rahsaan Patterson - Wines & Spirits
Pelican - City of Echoes
Peter Bjorn and John - Writer’s Block
Pink Martini - Hey Eugene!
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Rihanna - Good Girl Gone Bad
Simian Mobile Disco - Attack Decay Sustain Release
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus!
UGK - Underground Kingz
Von Südenfed - Tromatic Reflexxions
MST - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Ween - La Cucaracha
The White Stripes - Icky Thump
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Wu-Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams
Source : All Music
Mary J. Blige - Growing Pains
1. Work That
2. Grown Woman
3. Just Fine
4. Feel Like a Woman
5. Stay Down
6. Hurt Again
7. Shake Down
8. Till the Morning
9. Roses
10. Fade Away
11. What Love Is
12. Work in Progress (Growing Pains)
13. Talk to Me
14. If You Love Me?
15. Smoke
16. Come to Me (Peace)
Eight albums into her career and comfortably settled into married life -- and, for the most part, herself -- Mary J. Blige continues to prove her versatility and strength, building off 2005's The Breakthrough, but not copying from it. Her increased self-confidence, some of which comes from confessing her all-too-human flaws, makes Growing Pains a mature, polished, and utterly professional set of well-crafted songs. Blige, as always, is in great vocal form: her clear, distinctive voice carries the record with its dips and swoops and cries, but the embellishments never get in the way of melody, never replace the meaning of words with excessive vibrato or melisma.
Musically, in fact, the album takes an even greater step toward pop (foreshadowed, no doubt, by the cover of U2's "One" on her previous release), with songs like "Fade Away," which borrows heavily from '80s pop, and "Talk to Me," which is informed by classic soul and uses an Emotions sample underneath the guitars and keyboards, helping to set the overall tone. Blige certainly hasn't lost her title of Queen of Hip-Hop Soul -- the opening, iTunes-sanctioned track, "Work That," is all swagger and affirmation with a great urban beat, the Neptunes-produced "Till the Morning" is funky and warm, and "Stay Down" takes a look back at mid-'90s R&B with rambling lyrical lines, including a fantastic reference to The Jeffersons, but she's opened herself up to more styles here, and successfully. She has been able to do what few others before her have: cater to her crossover audience without losing the essence of what she really is and where she came from, and so all of Growing Pains, from its upbeat beginning to its reflective, personal ending (though the last track, "Come to Me (Peace)" is the only real miss on the entire album), doesn't seem forced or calculated. These are strong songs, songs that keep hooks in mind, and while Blige's lyrics can occasionally border on cheesy -- like on "What Love Is," for example -- the very sincere passion she expresses, both in her voice and her words, is enough to erase, or at least fade, the platitudes, leaving only the emotion, the doubt and the love and the insecurity and the confidence and the talent, making for a very complete and satisfying listen.
Source : All Music
Daft Punk - Alive 2007
Alive 2007 is Daft Punk's second live following the a Alive 1997 which of course was released ten years ago.
1. Robot Rock/Oh Yeah2. Touch It/Technologic
3. Television Rules The Nation/Crescendolls
4. Too Long/Steam Machine
5. Around The World/Harder Better Faster Stronger
6. Burnin'/Too Long
7. Face To Face/Short Circuit
8. One More Time/Aerodynamic
9. Aerodynamic Beats/Forget About The World
10. Prime Time Of Your Life/Brainwasher/Rollin' And Scratchin'/Alive
11. Da Funk/Dadftendirekt
12. Superheroes/Human After All/Rock 'n' Roll
There are many who were quite disappointed by Daft Punk’s 2005 release Human After All. I was not one of them. While, certainly, it was not as good as either 1997’s Homework or 2001’s Discovery, I hardly think it’s fair to hold those comparisons against the group. Their first two albums were instant classics. Human After All wasn’t quite as instantly likeable, but it was better than most gave it credit for. I strongly suspect it’ll be one of those albums that gets “rediscovered” in a few years’ time.
But regardless of my opinion, the damage was done, and a group which had up to then held an unblemished record was sullied by the taint of a subpar release. All three of their studio albums have attempted something different. Discovery was probably the single best example of French disco house from the late ‘90s, the same scene that gave us Cassius and the Paris Is Burning compilations, and still lingers in our memory as the direct inspiration for latter-day nuevo disco outfits like Justice and the Ed Banger crew. Discovery zigged when most people were probably expecting the duo to zag, eschewing hardcore house beats for a lighter retro-pop sound that both inspired and surpassed almost all of the many subsequent attempts at cashing in on the ‘70s and ‘80s sounds which followed in its wake.
Human After All seemed like something of an ironic commentary on the high esteem with which the group had been held up to that moment: it was an attempt to loosen up, create something a bit more spontaneous (it was recorded in the span of about six weeks, an eyeblink for these notorious perfectionists). It seemed sort of an attempt at creating a garage album—and I mean garage in terms of both rock and house music. It had the slightly shambolic, off-the-cuff nature of garage rock, as well as the stripped-down speed and nervous energy of New York-style garage house. It was something different, at least.
But the tepid response to Human After All did little to dim their appeal. When they returned to live performance for the first time in almost a decade, rapturous crowds greeted the duo—Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter—across the globe. (I’ve got a friend who managed to catch their performance at Coachella in 2006—he confirms that it was simply remarkable.) Expectations had been high: despite the general dearth of quality live acts in electronic music, Daft Punk had always been acclaimed as one of the genre’s best, alongside festival stalwarts like Underworld and the Chemical Brothers. The fact that they had refused to tour for almost a decade only added to their mystique. A single anomalous live release, Live 1997, was released a few months following Discovery, in lieu of any touring in support of that album. It was pretty damn awesome, and represented almost the exact opposite of Discovery in both form and function: loose, hard and fast, it was entirely improvised and irresistibly propulsive. Discovery was an example of tight, concise pop songwriting in an electronic, sample-based context. Alive 1997 took Homework’s tracks as the starting point for massive, borderline psychedelic acid-drenched departures. (If you don’t already own a copy, good luck finding Alive 1997, however—Daft Punk deleted the release from their catalog after only two months.)
Rare is the band that can craft a live album good enough to stand shoulder to shoulder alongside its studio releases. Rarer still is the band whose live albums can cross the divide between being merely good and damn near essential. Recorded in Paris on 14 June of this year, Live 2007 represents the group at the absolute peak of their powers. All three albums are represented evenly. The result is a stylistically contiguous melange of what could have been, in other hands, a pretty disparate set of tracks. The best example of this comes at the end of the set, when the duo successfully mix elements of “Rock and Roll”, “Superheroes” and “Human After All” (from their first, second and third albums, respectively) into one six-minute jam that seems neither confused nor precipitous. Rather, the density of the sound contributes to the music’s feverish, climactic intensity.
Repetition is not necessarily a sin in the world of dance music. Daft Punk are careful to use repetition to their advantage, creating exotic mixtures of distorted sound that play against the hypnotic background of an unrelenting house beat. Instead of merely “playing” their hits in a more recognizable fashion, the duo introduce elements from their songs into a more general, elastic mixture that enables elements from multiple songs to coexist in a single flow, and single elements to be elaborated and distorted to engrossing effect. For example, the duo begin one section with a sample of the beat from Busta Rhymes’ “Touch It”, itself built off of a sample from Daft Punk’s “Technologic”. They mix the basic beat with the guitar bit from “Robot Rock” for a while, before dropping down into just the bare thudding bassline from “Touch It”, from which the group builds back up into the full version of “Technologic”. They use the sampled voice from “Technologic” as a bridge, slowing it down and speeding it up to build tension, before finally dropping the vocal refrain from “Around the World” into the mix just long enough for the audience to go crazy, and then segueing into the sinister “Television Rules the Nation” (which then morphs into a mashup of “Crescendolls” and “Too Long"). The show is filled with inspired juxtapositions like that.
And yet, despite the mixed-up nature of the show, the duo’s best individual tracks are still allowed to shine on their own. The majestic “Alive” emerges out of an intense mix of “Brainwasher” and “Rollin’ and Scratchin’”, sneaking up on the listener before they’re aware of what’s happening. “One More Time” is presented very much intact, and, just as on Discovery, segues into “Aerodynamic”—only, the vocal elements from “One More Time” don’t go away, merging with the latter song in order to create something stranger than either. I was also impressed with their transformation of “Harder Better Faster Stronger” into a straight-up acid track, achieved with the aid of “Burnin’”—that’s an effective enough mix that they could release it as a single.
I could go on, but I won’t. Just about every moment of the record is filled with something fun. It’s quite an amazing achievement—somehow managing to synthesize the best bits from throughout their entire career into something that becomes far more than merely the sum of its parts. If you were unhappy with the lack of old-school house on Discovery, or the lack of hooks on Human After All, you should find plenty to like here in the way they’ve essentially remixed their back catalog to good effect. This is everything good about Daft Punk, boiled to its essence with all the dross discarded. I almost can’t imagine what the show itself must have been like, because the mixing and mashing is at times so complex and subtle that I can’t imagine getting everything with just one exposure. This is a compulsively listenable album, through and through, and one of the best live albums I’ve ever heard. Put this on your shelf next to Live at Leeds and 101—yeah, it’s that good.
Source : popmatters
Duran Duran - Red Carpet Massacre
Red Carpet Massacre is Duran Duran's twelve studio album and it is the follow up to 2004's Astronaut which made number three in the UK charts and give the band their biggest for over 20 years.
1. Valley
2. Red Carpet Massacre
3. Nite Runner
4. Falling Down
5. Box Full O' Honey
6. Skin Divers
7. Tempted
8. Tricked Out
9. Zoom In
10. She's Too Much
11. Dirty Great Monster
12. Last Man Standing
Aging gracefully isn't easy for recording artists in any genre — least of all, perhaps, those who've found fame with dance-pop hits. After all, what good is reflective maturity in a crowded club? On their 12th studio effort, Duran Duran's four remaining original members deal with their looming 50th birthdays by dodging that question and hooking up with a new generation of wild boys. Pop's reigning prince, Justin Timberlake, co-wrote two numbers for the disc, lending it his patented blend of just-this-side-of-sleazy soul. The band likewise nabbed the sonic architects of Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds — Timbaland and Nate ''Danja'' Hills — to help produce Red Carpet Massacre, yielding a wealth of alluring synth textures (''Tempted,'' ''Zoom In'') and skittish, syncopated hip-hop beats (''Nite-Runner,'' ''Skin Divers'').
Yet FS/LS 2 it ain't. Despite Duran's interest in the bleeps and bloops favored by today's youth, these graying MTV idols often end up referencing their own past: The preening New Romantic melodies of ''Box Full o' Honey'' and lead single ''Falling Down'' are vintage Duran. Of course, nothing here can match the decadent thrills of the band's classic Thatcher-era singles. But who'd expect it to? Duran Duran have updated their sound just enough to feel relevant, without embarrassing themselves in the process — no mean feat for a band in the throes of a midlife crisis.
By Simon Vozick-Levinson
Source : Entertainment Weekly
Read More..
1. Valley2. Red Carpet Massacre
3. Nite Runner
4. Falling Down
5. Box Full O' Honey
6. Skin Divers
7. Tempted
8. Tricked Out
9. Zoom In
10. She's Too Much
11. Dirty Great Monster
12. Last Man Standing
Aging gracefully isn't easy for recording artists in any genre — least of all, perhaps, those who've found fame with dance-pop hits. After all, what good is reflective maturity in a crowded club? On their 12th studio effort, Duran Duran's four remaining original members deal with their looming 50th birthdays by dodging that question and hooking up with a new generation of wild boys. Pop's reigning prince, Justin Timberlake, co-wrote two numbers for the disc, lending it his patented blend of just-this-side-of-sleazy soul. The band likewise nabbed the sonic architects of Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds — Timbaland and Nate ''Danja'' Hills — to help produce Red Carpet Massacre, yielding a wealth of alluring synth textures (''Tempted,'' ''Zoom In'') and skittish, syncopated hip-hop beats (''Nite-Runner,'' ''Skin Divers'').
Yet FS/LS 2 it ain't. Despite Duran's interest in the bleeps and bloops favored by today's youth, these graying MTV idols often end up referencing their own past: The preening New Romantic melodies of ''Box Full o' Honey'' and lead single ''Falling Down'' are vintage Duran. Of course, nothing here can match the decadent thrills of the band's classic Thatcher-era singles. But who'd expect it to? Duran Duran have updated their sound just enough to feel relevant, without embarrassing themselves in the process — no mean feat for a band in the throes of a midlife crisis.
By Simon Vozick-Levinson
Source : Entertainment Weekly
Rufus Wainwright - Live at Carnegie Hall Reviews [2 CD]
Live at Carnegie Hall is Rufus Wainwright's second long player of 2007 and it features Rufus' performance of Judy Garland songs
1. Overture: The Trolley Song/Over The Rainbow/The Man That Got Away
2. When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You)
3. Medley: Almost Like Being In Love/This Can't Be Love
4. Do It Again
5. You Go To My Head
6. Alone Together
7. Who Cares? (As Long As You Care For Me)
8. Puttin' On The Ritz
9. How Long Has This Been Going On
10. Just You, Just Me
11. The Man That Got Away
12. San Francisco
1. That's Entertainment2. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
3. Come Rain Or Come Shine
4. You're Nearer
5. A Foggy Day
6. If Love Were All
7. Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart
8. Stormy Weather
9. Medley: You Made Me Love You/For Me And My Gal/The Trolley Song
10. Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody
11. Over The Rainbow
12. Swanee
13. After You've Gone
14. Chicago
Many gay men of the Stonewall generation worshipped the ground Judy Garland walked on, fully aware of the fact that it was littered with empty prescription bottles. Garland—perhaps the very first human being to transmogrify into pure camp before an adoring and judgmental public, though clearly not the last—became an icon through her indomitableness, her boozy courage in decline, and her occasional grace under duress. The queens who took note of this quality, and who nourished it through ritual and oral tradition, are the people we have to thank for the canonization of Garland's superb 1964 document Judy at Carnegie Hall. Who else could have kept it on the pop charts for 95 weeks even while its star self-destructed?
It's also fair to credit these fore-fairies with inspiring the winkingly reverent, every-note-in-place, song-for-song celebration of Garland's original that Rufus Wainwright—himself no stranger to the tempests and temptations of celebrity—presented to sold-out madhouses of gay glitterati at Carnegie Hall this summer. Without their single-hearted devotion to the legend of Judy to prove himself against, Wainwright's take on this song-cycle wouldn't seem nearly so audacious. That Wainwright has the temerity to cover such a bona fide classic—and the chops to pull it off without breaking a limb or his brain—speaks both to his ambition and to his prodigious abilities. The album recording of the concert also reveals a slyly playful critical facility—a seeming intention to make even his choice of projects into a pomo game that illuminates both artist and subject. It's all there in the title: Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall. Take that, anxiety of influence! Camp in a landslide!
Except…not, since a close listen to Wainwright's concert reveals an artistic endeavor of surprising seriousness. Sure, fans might cackle about the delicious irony of famed (and to be fair, recovered) Fire Island disaster and crack-pipe-alley diarist Rufus doing his best impression of music's most fabulous pill-popper. But the reverence and respect he displays here is no joke, even if said reverence sometimes verges on camp, such as in the banter that follows "Almost Like Being in Love," where he admits, "I'm going to speak now, because on the album Judy speaks here. When I was a kid, I wanted to be Dorothy." While Wainwright provocatively toes the line between celebration and mockery, he never crosses it.
The impulse to follow the cues of Garland's command performance carries over to other aspects of the album, particularly the orchestral arrangements, which mostly faithfully replicate the original. Though this approach might sound uninspired, modern production values and a crack squad of musicians help to subtly improve on Garland's established framework—the wistful guitar solo on Wainwright's version of standout "How Long Has This Been Going On" is a prime example—while acclaiming its excellence by virtue of keeping it mostly in place.
One of the byproducts—or perhaps the whole point—of this formally purist approach is to isolate Wainwright's vocal performances, and thereby heighten his stakes. The songs in Garland's set are, nearly without exception, classics of the American songbook of celebration and loss, a set of kaleidoscopically refracting emotions and paces that represents a deeply technical challenge for a pop singer. Further, they're the songs under whose shadow Wainwright has labored throughout his career as a songwriter. By turns baroque, jazzy, morose, and enraptured, they're a perfect opportunity for Wainwright to showcase his capacity as a singer in terms of tone and melodic emphasis. And showcase he does, deploying his dulcet foghorn of a voice with subtlety, grace, and elasticity. The facility Wainwright displays through the whipcrack runs of "Puttin' on the Ritz" makes you wonder why he so seldom picks up the pace in his solo work. His reading of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," that national anthem of gayness, hackneyed and haggard yet still overwhelming, does everyone involved justice, which is really saying an awful lot.
In places, the challenges of the program test the limits of Wainwright's range (his problem with the brassy high notes in an otherwise energetic take on "That's Entertainment" is a notable issue), but it would be unfair to hold this against him. After all, Garland's voice cracks at the beginning of her (obviously, otherwise transcendent) version of "Rainbow." Ain't nobody perfect. That's what Judy, poor disastrously talented Judy, is supposed to teach us in the first place.
Source : Slant Magazine
Wu Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams
The 8 Diagrams is Wu-Tang Clans first album for over 6 years for the legendary New York rappers and it is the follow up 2001's Iron Flag
1. Campfire
2. Take It Back
3. Get Them Out Ya Way Pa
4. Face The Problems
5. The Heart Gently Weeps
6. Wolves
7. Gun Will Go
8. Sunlight
9. Stick Me For My Riches
10. Windmill
11. Starter
12. Weak Spot
13. Life Changes
14. Tar Pit feat George Clinton
15. 16th Chamber
Getting the entire Wu-Tang Clan together seems as tough a challenge as acing the SATs or making Thom Yorke laugh. So it's remarkable enough that the new Wu-Tang album — the Staten Island crew's first in six years — actually exists. What's more, 8 Diagrams is better than most would have expected: a terrific mix of classic Clan grime and enough new tricks to justify Inspectah Deck's claim that "Wu-Tang keep it fresh like Tupperware."
Those tricks include more expansive production, most apparent on the great "The Heart Gently Weeps," a violence-laden narrative built around the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Cuts like "Unpredictable" — where RZA's ominous, screeching attack evokes a Scorsese flick about crack dealers– also prove that the Wu can still dish pummeling grit-hop as well as anyone. There are a couple of snoozers, including "Weak Spot." And while ODB is missed, his taste for weird abides in "Sunlight," an atmospheric, bullshit-philosophical tone-poem starring RZA, and one of several reminders that the Clan still sound unique as hell.
In the six years the Clan were on hiatus, Ghostface Killah was busy becoming one of the greatest MCs ever. The Big Doe Rehab isn't as distinct as last year's Fishscale, but it's close. Ghost's bouncy, more direct approach on cuts like "Walk Around" shows off his ability to turn crack-slinging narratives into big, hooky pleasures. By the time he lays his inimitable, Ginsu-sharp whine into "White Linen Affair," a gloriously detailed rant that touches on baking soda, polar bears and Norah Jones, this much is clear: Right now is a good time to be a Wu-Tang fan.
Source : Rolling Stone
Read More..
1. Campfire2. Take It Back
3. Get Them Out Ya Way Pa
4. Face The Problems
5. The Heart Gently Weeps
6. Wolves
7. Gun Will Go
8. Sunlight
9. Stick Me For My Riches
10. Windmill
11. Starter
12. Weak Spot
13. Life Changes
14. Tar Pit feat George Clinton
15. 16th Chamber
Getting the entire Wu-Tang Clan together seems as tough a challenge as acing the SATs or making Thom Yorke laugh. So it's remarkable enough that the new Wu-Tang album — the Staten Island crew's first in six years — actually exists. What's more, 8 Diagrams is better than most would have expected: a terrific mix of classic Clan grime and enough new tricks to justify Inspectah Deck's claim that "Wu-Tang keep it fresh like Tupperware."
Those tricks include more expansive production, most apparent on the great "The Heart Gently Weeps," a violence-laden narrative built around the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Cuts like "Unpredictable" — where RZA's ominous, screeching attack evokes a Scorsese flick about crack dealers– also prove that the Wu can still dish pummeling grit-hop as well as anyone. There are a couple of snoozers, including "Weak Spot." And while ODB is missed, his taste for weird abides in "Sunlight," an atmospheric, bullshit-philosophical tone-poem starring RZA, and one of several reminders that the Clan still sound unique as hell.
In the six years the Clan were on hiatus, Ghostface Killah was busy becoming one of the greatest MCs ever. The Big Doe Rehab isn't as distinct as last year's Fishscale, but it's close. Ghost's bouncy, more direct approach on cuts like "Walk Around" shows off his ability to turn crack-slinging narratives into big, hooky pleasures. By the time he lays his inimitable, Ginsu-sharp whine into "White Linen Affair," a gloriously detailed rant that touches on baking soda, polar bears and Norah Jones, this much is clear: Right now is a good time to be a Wu-Tang fan.
Source : Rolling Stone
Amy Winehouse : Frank
Track Listing :1. Intro
2. Stronger Than Me
3. You Sent Me Flying
4. Know You Now
5. Fuck Me Pumps
6. I Heard Love Is Blind
7. Moody's Mood For Love
8. (There Is) No Greater Love
9. In My Bed
10. Take This Box
11. October Song
12. What Is It About Men
13. Help Yourself
14. Amy Amy Amy
15. Outro
Earlier in the year, when the “No, no, no” refrain in Amy Winehouse’s defining single, “Rehab,” felt a lot more lighthearted, few people would have predicted that her next American release would be a retread. Then came a parade of news reports, tabloid and otherwise, that messed with the angle of her ascent. (Inverted it, even.) It’s no wonder her label seems keen to remind us of the genuine talent behind that beehive and mascara. “Frank” was hailed as a star-making debut when it was issued in Britain four years ago. Heard today, its glossy admixture of breezy funk, dub and jazz-inflected soul makes a somewhat less dazzling impression.
Ms. Winehouse already has her pliable and alluringly dark-hued alto, but her style isn’t fully evolved. She emulates Erykah Badu, confessing the influence in a passing line; Sarah Vaughan gets both a name check and some outright imitation. A couple of reconfigured jazz standards, including a reggae-tinged “Moody’s Mood for Love,” come across like well-intentioned misfires.
But Ms. Winehouse is grippingly effective, even at this stage of the game, when she pushes an air of toughened candor. “Frank” includes her bold admonition to a presumptuous ex-lover (“In My Bed”); an even bolder confession of infidelity, delivered with a shrug (“I Heard Love Is Blind”); and a few other depictions of troubled affairs. Her producer — Salaam Remi, a hip-hop veteran who later joined Mark Ronson in producing “Back to Black,” Ms. Winehouse’s breakthrough follow-up — clearly understands that tension suits her best.
Of course even Mr. Remi, revisiting “Frank,” might pause at these lyrics from “October Song,” the tune with the Sarah Vaughan allusion:
With dread I woke in my bed
To shooting pains up in my head
Lovebird, my beautiful bird
Spoke until one day she couldn’t be heard
She just stopped singing
She probably had no such intention, but the image is all too easy to link to her recent travails. So if the American release of “Frank” reconfirms her generous gifts as a singer, it also reveals what’s at stake as things slip out of her control. NATE CHINEN
Source : The New York Times
The Killers : Sawdust
Track Listing :1. Tranquilize
2. Shadowplay
3. All The Pretty Faces
4. Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf
5. Sweet Talk
6. Under The Gun
7. Where The White Boys Dance
8. Show You How
9. Move Away
10. Glamourous Indie Rock And Roll
11. Who Let You Go?
12. The Ballad Of Michael Valentine
13. Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town
14. Daddy's Eyes 15. Sam's Town (Abbey Road Version)
16. Romeo And Juliet
17. Change Your Mind
18. Mr Brightside (Jacques L Cont's Thin White Duke Remix)
The heart usually sinks when confronted by a 'rarities and B-sides' album, especially one released so close to Christmas. There's usually a reason why such tracks have been relegated to 'rare' and 'B-side' status - because they're not very good. Such records are usually an excuse to rip off the fans who will buy absolutely everything.
So it's with some cynicism that we approach Sawdust, a collection of unreleased tracks, alternative version of album tracks and quirky cover versions by Brandon Flowers and company. As ever with these sort of albums, it's a mixed bag, but the quality threshold does seem to be somewhat higher here.
Opening track Tranquilize showcases guest vocalist Lou Reed (complete with very wobbly vocals), and it's fair to say that the song is more representative of the famously grumpy New York legend rather than the band most famous for Mr Brightside. Morose and downbeat, it takes its time to worm its way into your heart, but it's an intriguing listen. It's miles removed from the bombast of Sam's Town and is a promising new direction for the band.
That's the only clue we get about The Killers' forthcoming third album though, as the rest of the album consists of out-takes from both Hot Fuss and Sam's Town. At times, these are predictably mediocre - the bluster of All The Pretty Faces or the dull, plodding Sweet Talk - but surprisingly there are several excellent tracks that will leave you scratching your head as to why they've not seen the light of day before.
Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf, already gaining legendary status amongst Killers fans for being the first part of the 'Murder Trilogy', at last sees the light of day here, and it's as good as you'd hoped - an infectiously rocking number that nicely fills in the gaps left by Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine and Midnight Show. Essential for any Killers fan in fact.
Under The Gun, another out-take from Hot Fuss, is another highlight with its naggingly catchy chorus of "kill me now, kill me now", and once Show You How gets away from its annoying introduction of Flowers singing into an answerphone, it's suitably stirring and epic. The swirling guitar riff of Spiderman 3 soundtrack staple Move Away also sounds terrific and the song itself is full of energy.
Things aren't quite so interesting with the 'alternative takes' of album tracks - Glamourous Indie Rock And Roll and Where The White Boys Dance don't really sound significantly different to the originals, whereas the title track from Sam's Town is one of the few songs on that album that suits the bluster and bombast. Stripped down, it doesn't quite sound the same.
Then there's those cover versions: the Kenny Rogers classic Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town is excellent - shuffling, pretty, poignant - whereas their version of Joy Division's Shadowplay is just horrifying. The latter has a carbon copy of Peter Hook's famous bassline, but Flower's vocals can't hope to compete with the dread and melancholy of Ian Curtis. It comes across as a karaoke-style cover, never the best way to tackle a Joy Division song.
There's also a rather pointless cover of Dire Straits' Romeo & Juliet (a classic, no matter what the self-appointed 'guardians of cool' may think), which brings absolutely nothing new to the song whatsoever. At least Flowers didn't attempt to copy Mark Knopfler's Geordie accent though. The album ends with a downbeat remix of Mr Brightside, which doesn't quite have the urgency and vitality of the original.
The quality of some of the tracks on Sawdust does lift it above any accusations of 'rip-off'. A nice Christmas present for that hardcore Killers fan in your life, but most casual observers will be happy to give this a miss and wait for the third album.
- John Murphy
Source : musicomh
Kylie Minogue - X
Track list : 1. 2 Hearts
2. Like A Drug
3. In My Arms
4. Speakerphone
5. Sensitized
6. Heart Beat Rock
7. One
8. No More Rain
9. All I See
10. Stars
11. Wow
12. Nu Di Ty
13. Cosmic
Following her well documented breast cancer scare, Kylie Minogue and her considerable coterie would like the world to know that She Is Back. There's been a V&A exhibition, a waxwork unveiling, the cinema-released documentary film White Diamond, ITV1's The Kylie Show, a children's book, a comeback tour and even a perfume launch to add to her fashion range. Topping it all off like designer frosted icing comes X, Kylie's tenth album. It's her first new studio recording in four years. She's been away, but somehow it doesn't seem so.
Recorded in London, Stockholm and Ibiza with the requisite extensive gaggle of rent-a-writers and producers seemingly essential to any pop album these days, X's 13 tracks do what Kylie songs always do - crank up a beat and get energetic around unchallenging lyrics about dancing, sexing and little else. Together they've made an expensive-sounding album pitched squarely at Kylie's existing audience base.
Of the producers arrayed in the sleeve's near-illegible handwriting font, Greg Kurstin gives best bang for buck. His No More Rain plays like Goldfrapp making a Bond theme in Ibiza while Wow, one of the album's biggest numbers, borrows an opening from Madonna's Holiday and goes on about dancing and sexing, etc. in amongst a breathtakingly impressive whirl of digitisation.
There are nods to the intelligent end of electropop. The One, probably the most memorable track of the album, is New Orderesque with slight tinges of Goldfrapp, yet ultimately fails to lift off. Similarly, the chorus of Stars, one of the few moments when albeit heavily treated guitars are permitted, fires up but despite promise it never quite leaves the launchpad.
Pop itself in general and the songs written for Kylie in particular have traditionally never been about lyrical profundity, so it's not a surprise that X moves not a jot away from a tried and tested template with chorus lyrics so asinine that a 10-year-old might have penned them. When combined with her robotic delivery these lyrics make the album as a whole difficult to engage with on any level beyond its beats.
That delivery is emphasised on Speakerphone; here someone's even decided to stick her voice through a Cher-a-like vocoder program, leaving her sounding even less connected to 'her' music. It's just one of several moments on X where it's difficult to discern any trace of Kylie's own personality. These songs sound remote and impersonal as a result. Only on closer Cosmic does Kylie begin to sound like a singer interested in her lyrics - and, aside from lead single 2 Hearts, it's the only song sporting lyrics of any discernible meaning.
2 Hearts itself is hardly a floor filler, erring towards booty shaking rather than foot stomping and, as such, it's destined never to centrepiece any night on the tiles. Following that, Like A Drug is Mel & Kim's Respectable rehashed for a post-Stock Aitkein Waterman audience.
There are also several entirely superfluous tracks. Heart Beat Rock, produced by Calvin Harris, is absolute unmitigated filler. All I See Is You is a soulful ballad ruined by a repetitive metronomic beat that prevents any of the song's potential expression reaching the listener. Nu Di Ty sounds like it was written for a choreographed arena dance moment featuring the sveltest of Kylie's collection of scantily clad gays.
Such objections would be mere frippery if anything here was as addictive as Can't Get You Out Of My Head. Unfortunately there's little that even approaches that level of songwriting, leaving much of the album to fall back on the admittedly impressive production.
Kylie has long been billed as the pop princess. As she approaches her 40th year still looking half her age, her longevity and popularity are not in question. But while Madonna continues to give the impression of artistic renewal, evolution and reinvention every few years, X suggests Kylie is happy in her niche. Maybe then it doesn't matter that X is not as fat free as it could and should have been, nor that there's little obvious passion behind it. X is more filler than killer, but Kylie's legions of fans will doubtless be pleased at least to see her well enough to be recording at all.
- Michael HubbardSource : musicomh
Angels And Airwaves : I-Empire
Track List :
1. Call To Arms
2. Everything's Magic (Final Album Version)
3. Breathe
4. Love Like Rockets
5. Sirens
6. Secret Crowds
7. Star Of Bethlehem
8. True Love
9. Lifeline
10. Jumping Rooftops
11. Rite Of Spring 12. Heaven
It's no coincidence that Tom DeLonge's second Angels and Airwaves album emerges as the presidential race begins its one-year sprint to Election Day — the former singer-guitarist for Nineties doo-doo-joke punks Blink-182 is campaigning too. His quest: to follow the career path of the Beastie Boys and refashion immaturity into the Important Album. The results so far: mixed. I-Empire is full of big, faintly Eighties-sounding chiming choruses and arms-outstretched melodies, and DeLonge deploys the signposts of significance all over, from the martial drumbeats of the album opener, "Call to Arms," to the unmistakably Edge-y riff of the closer, "Heaven." It works, sometimes. "Call to Arms" tingles with anticipation and a catchy high-pitched vocal that's less appealing the next three times DeLonge repeats nearly the same four-note melody ("Everything's Magic," "Sirens," "Secret Crowds"). In Blink, cheesy yearbook-scrawl lyrics like "Did I tell you I love you?" were balanced by bratty guitar. Set off by poppy, twinkling synth rock here, they're painfully earnest. It all sounds like the soundtrack to a last-party-of-the-summer-bro! flick. Now-thirtysomething DeLonge's disarming voice still sounds like it's coming from the throat of a teenager, which may be his biggest hurdle to achieving world domination.
Source : Rolling Stone
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Tracklist:Disc One:
1. 15 Step
2. Bodysnatchers
3. Nude
4. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
5. All I Need
6. Faust Arp
7. Reckoner
8. House of Cards
9. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
10. Videotape
Disc Two:
1. MK 1
2. Down Is the New Up
3. Go Slowly
4. MK 2
5. Last Flowers
6. Up on the Ladder
7. Bangers and Mash
8. Four Minute Warning
All those who had pre-ordered it received their downloading Radiohead In Rainbows at the same time - audiences and critics. The physical product, for those who do not have computers at their pleasure hearing aid, appear almost two months later with various tracks, vinyl and artwork for a fee of £ 40. But if you want to download it now, you can choose what you pay for it. As the website of the group, Not really, it's up to you.
This new distribution method for the Oxford quintet's seventh album, and the first since 2003 to Hail To The Thief, the record has seen the release of details splashed across major news and television, even the pages of companies Press. Out of contract with EMI, Radiohead were a blow to redefine what is possible in the hard and fast brave new world of the digital age, at least for a large group.
Indeed, the history of releasing his first album was the main talking point, without promotions for journalists to discuss the music. There is an argument that says that when a band is as big as Radiohead, the comments were superfluous: their work is critical to the test. Nor do they care about the charts - In Rainbows, available only through their official website, the picture is not eligible. But this is not going to stop anyone writes - finally - on the music.
So what's it like? In Rainbows, in common with many of Radiohead's output, revealing itself is still a layer at a time. It needs to be heard on the helmet. And then, out loud through speakers. It will undoubtedly continue to reveal the nuances of days and weeks. But first impressions suggest that, despite several of the songs featured in gestation for many years, it does not sound like a collection of out-takes, nor does it sounds as retrodden ground. This is not an experience to the electro Kid A, but there are a multitude of synthesized sounds (producer Mr Nigel Godrich the mark).
Sounds cool it is less to do with the progression of the song, even if it is visible, and more to do with the Group's performance and the production of his first album. After a long spell away from the scene behind a solo album by Thom Yorke and film music for Johnny Greenwood, the soundtrack you feel like they are back together.
Of course, this being Radiohead, the enjoyment is tempered by the fact that their formidable music was never exactly a bag of laughs. Instead that the enjoyment of the event is little detail. Moments of experimentation, playful drums that sound like they were written by Yorke on a drum of the machine and then by Phil Selway learned to play drums. Bars particular instruments or drums kick in, never in the most obvious.
The arrangements are equal parts organic and mechanical. Elements familiar rhythms of jazz, rock and space programme, the same mix of garage rock and melt and seep. Step 15 Opener, optimistic as an introduction to an album as Radiohead has ever written, in fact sounds like a dance steps 15. The rate for stays up Bodysnatchers, but then the first numbers smug, Nude, reign things right to a place for reflection later shared by pivot All I Need.
Recalling most of Kid A's wide-open spaces sound Nude sex could be Radiohead song. It's a gloriously laid-back track and one of the many to evoke images of quilts and early morning cuddles. Weird Fishes / Arpeggi, despite an uptempo drum sketch, but he also believes musically warm. It was then that if Yorke revisits previous impressionist, and aquatic dark lyrical themes (see also Pyramid Song). Yorke's voice could sing the phone book and make an audience cry, but it is never quite clear what he is singing, the sound is heavy.
"Wakey wakey, rise and shine," he whispers on Faust Arp, almost lost in the context of a string section. On stand-out House Of Cards, a mix of garage rock beat, it is closely prosaic again: "I do not want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover." If Radiohead earlier were mostly unintelligible lyrics or tilted in political life, songs of this album sound personal. There is a choir quality Yorke multidisciplinary monitoring voice too which makes it sound less isolated this time. And, especially on Reckoner, a song that could biblical soundtrack, it is very beautiful.
As a consolation to those fans who always want endless reiterations of The Bends, Jigsaw Falling Into Place underscores the fact that Radiohead can still rock when they fancy. "The beat goes round and round," Yorke describes, yelping. "Come and let the rest of the world." He 'live' favorite writing above all else, even if it seems out of place on Hail To The Thief.
The final Videotape, for a redefinition of the band applications of the technology, seems to be a rather ironic ode to old machines replaced by new ones. Or maybe it departed on loved ones. A simple piano line is finally offline kilter drum and haunting voices join reflection mood. And then it's over.
Leaving aside the cabinet, a sort of collector's item, how does this album of 10 basic pieces stack up to the first analysis to a back catalogue of the second person about? Well ... It's short, but it has its part and it sounds like a progression. Alternately dancing, blissed out romantic, familiar and new, it is technically and musically fascinating. Its juxtaposition of organizations and mechanisms is one of his many contradictions well executed. Packed but sparse, exciting, complex, innovative, simple. Without even a bar never missed mind a way of filling in Rainbows is more than any fan could expect.
musicOMH
2007 Year-End Top Ten Lists : Uncut
| Uncut | |
| 1. | Sound Of Silver by LCD Soundsystem |
| 2. | Favourite Worst Nightmare by Arctic Monkeys |
| 3. | White Chalk by PJ Harvey |
| 4. | Raising Sand by Robert Plant And Alison Krauss |
| 5. | Sky Blue Sky by Wilco |
| 6. | Comicopera by Robert Wyatt |
| 7. | Boys And Girls In America by The Hold Steady |
| 8. | Icky Thump by The White Stripes |
| 9. | In Rainbows by Radiohead |
| 10. | Myths Of The Near Future by Klaxons |
Source : metacritic
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