HEAVY BLONDE’S DEBUT TEEMS WITH SMART, ORCHESTRAL POP
On “Heat Wave,” the full-length debut from the adventurous indie folk/pop/rock outfit Heavy Blonde, the band is not content to simply let its songs and performances do the talking. With deft productio...
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CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD CHANNELS ’70s GRATEFUL DEAD ON ‘BETTY’S BLENDS VOLUME TWO’
Any Deadhead worth his 1977 Cornell bootleg will know the name Betty Cantor-Jackson, the Grateful Dead’s longtime recording engineer who made the pristine concert tapes known as Betty Boards; if you g...
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BELLE & SEBASTIAN TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT ON ‘PEACETIME’
Fans have spent many years, many desperate conversations defending Belle & Sebastian. And, really, there’s a lot to defend. Sure, the music is utterly testosterone-free, but who doesn’t love a swe...
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LEWIS & CLARKE ILLUMINATES THE BEAUTY OF DECAY ON ‘TRIUMVIRATE’
Some music is not immediately digestible. It is not the type of music that is consumed, enjoyed, then forgotten. It takes more work to make this type of music, and it takes more work to listen. Lew...
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WEEZER GOES BACK — AND FORWARD — ON ‘EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT IN THE END’
Weezer. Just saying the name in conversation with music junkies garners a passionate response; nowadays people either love ’em or hate ’em, but the in-between is long gone. How did we get here? Twenty...
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THURSTON MOORE CONTINUES TO EXPERIMENT — BUT WHERE ARE THE SONGS?
By Emily Votaw There is something optimistic about Thurston Moore’s latest release, “The Best Day.” This doesn’t mean that Moore has anything too mind-blowingly new or interesting to offer fans on ...
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YUSUF/CAT STEVENS RETURNS WITH ‘TELL ‘EM I’M GONE’
By Emily Votaw Yusuf Islam, (aka everyone’s favorite bearded early-’70s heartthrob Cat Stevens) hasn’t had the most stellar musical output since reappearing in the public eye with 2006’s “An Other ...
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HELIUM LEADER CRAFTS ‘RADIO-FRIENDLY’ RECORD WITH EX HEX
By Nick McGaw A common complaint leveled at left-field bands is that they never just settle down and write a great album. Experimentation is fine for courting critical acclaim and probably for stay...
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PRINCE’S 3RDEYEGIRL HITS AND MISSES ON DEBUT
By Emily Votaw Playing as Prince’s backing band is no small task. Over the past couple of years, 3rdeyegirl has served as Prince’s three-lady backing ensemble with an apparently encyclopedic knowle...
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PRINCE’S ZANY and CAPTIVATING RETURN WITH ‘ART OFFICIAL AGE’
Emily Votaw “Art Official Age” is the 33rd album that Prince (Rogers Nelson, of course) has released over the course of his almost four-decade-long recording career – but who’s counting? The record...
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