Last year was the year of the woman in music; the most thoughtful and interesting albums came most often from female auteurs pushing at societal and artistic boundaries. And Dawn Richard’s new breed, the most interesting album of the year so…
Album Review: Deerhunter – “Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?”
It should come as no surprise to anyone who’s been closely following this band to hear me observe that lead singer and songwriter Bradford Cox is a walking mass of contradictions. But it struck me hard when listening to Deerhunter’s…
Album Review: Rita Ora – “Phoenix”
Hardly born with the gift of a golden voice, Rita Ora will have to come up with inventive ways to sound appealing in the cutthroat business of pop music. On the opening cut here she finds one such way: the…
Album Review: Anderson .Paak – “Oxnard”
This is the third Anderson .Paak album to be named after a California coastal town. So it’s the completion of a loose trilogy, and because it’s the one named after his home town, you might expect Oxnard to be .Paak’s most “personal”,…
Album Review: The Prodigy – “No Tourists”
Big, stupid beats have been this group’s speciality ever since The Fat of the Land managed to erase the memory of the multilayered Music for the Jilted Generation for an entire new generation of fans. Which is not to be…
Album Review: Muse – “Simulation Theory”
Muse were always over-the-top. Which is probably why I adored them as a teenager – teenage emotions tend towards the over-the-top, as you’ll be surprised to hear me observe. Yet like Queen and Meat Loaf, their over-the-topness was streaked with…
Album Review: Loretta Lynn – “Wouldn’t It Be Great”
What made Loretta Lynn so interesting, and stand out from all the other honky tonk women to pass through the Grand Ole Opry, was the casualness with which seemingly conflicting elements in her persona replicated themselves in her music. She…
