ALBUM REVIEW: MY MORNING JACKET — “CIRCUITAL”
By Ryan Leas My Morning Jacket has always had a penchant for stunning first tracks, the sort of first songs that simultaneously function as gutsy opening salvos and markers that set the stage for wha...
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ALBUM REVIEW: EDDIE VEDDER — “UKELELE SONGS”
By Ryan Leas 2011 marks Pearl Jam’s 20th anniversary, an occasion the band is commemorating with a series of events and releases, ranging from a documentary to a band-curated festival in Wisconsin. O...
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ALBUM REVIEW: THE HEAD AND THE HEART — “THE HEAD AND THE HEART”
By Michael Lello Some artists bury their emotions and their intent under gauzy walls of sound or inscrutable lyrics; if you get the underlying message, great, and if you don’t, well, that’s just fi...
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ALBUM REVIEW: WARREN HAYNES — “MAN IN MOTION”
By Michael Lello Warren Haynes has been a fine soul singer for several decades, but you can forgive the world for not paying much notice. You’ll have that when you’re known as one of the premier guit...
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ALBUM REVIEW: THE ANTLERS — “BURST APART”
By Michael Lello Compared to “Hospice,” their beautiful 2009 downer, the experience of listening to The Antlers’ new album “Burst Apart” is quite different. While both albums demand repeat listens, t...
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ALBUM REVIEW: JOAN AS POLICEWOMAN — “THE DEEP FIELD”
By Ryan Leas With “The Deep Field,” Joan Wasser returns with her third album under the Joan as Police Womanmoniker in only four years. It’s refreshing to see an artist be so prolific in a ...
ReadmoreALBUM REVIEW: FLEET FOXES — “HELPLESSNESS BLUES”
By Michael Lello You wouldn’t be wrong to classify Fleet Foxes as part of the current neo-folk movement, but the band’s second full-length album “Helplessness Blues” takes another step toward removin...
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ALBUM REVIEW: GORILLAZ — “THE FALL”
By Ryan Leas Last March, Gorillaz released their third album, “Plastic Beach.” By the end of the year, notorious workaholic and Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn had recorded “The Fall” on his iPad ...
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ALBUM REVIEW: ELBOW — “BUILD A ROCKET BOYS!”
By Ryan Leas To the surprise of many, Elbow won the Mercury Music Prize in 2008 for their album “The Seldom Seen Kid.” It wasn’t that they didn’t deserve it -- they very much did, as it is an excelle...
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ALBUM REVIEW: FOO FIGHTERS — “WASTING LIGHT”
By Ryan Leas Leading up to the release of the Foo Fighters’ seventh album, “Wasting Light,” Dave Grohl often commented on how it was by far their heaviest disc to date. The claim is mainly accurate, ...
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