Album Reviews – Page 9 – Spinning Platters

Album Review: Shelby Lynne – Tears, Lies, And Alibis

Shelby Lynne, one of the most defiantly self-sufficient female recording artists of her generation, has returned with yet another collection of sparse, intimate country/folk/blues/soul. Tears, Lies, and Alibis is written by Lynne, produced by Lynne, and — for the first time — released on Lynne’s own label, Everso Records. The woman has been dicked over by labels too many times by in her 20+ years as a recording artist, so she finally just invested in a label of one’s own. Get it, girl!

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Album Review: Kate Nash – My Best Friend Is You

Kate Nash’s second release, My Best Friend Is You manages to circumvent the usual route taken by hyped artists’ sophomore releases. It’s not about the perils of fame and it’s not experimental for difference sake nor does it sound like Made of Bricks: The Sequel. Kate Nash managed to release a second album that contains the same quirky lyrics about love, friendship and self from her debut but with an overall more mature sound that comes about in a really wonderful way. Continue reading “Album Review: Kate Nash — My Best Friend Is You”

Single Review: Blur – Fool’s Day

Birthday-1 — I totally feel like this kid today

I am, and there’s no better word for it, a Blur superfan. They’ve been my favorite band since I was 17. That was 1995. You can do the math. But all old jokes aside, I was very sad that I couldn’t make the trek to London to stand in line for hours and get one of the 1,000 copies of the new Blur 7″ “Fool’s Day” released for Record Store Day in the UK. As an old-school collector who spent all my lunch money on imported Blur singles, this was a painful decision. At least no one could go because of some sort of apocalyptic devil-ash, and I take solace in that. And in the fact that the internet exits… but I’ll get to the song now. Continue reading “Single Review: Blur — Fool’s Day”

New Release Round Up, 4/13/10 – 35 Instant Album Reviews

The Scientist — This is the album I made Pouria listen to for skipping last week's column

Sorry to everyone who expected to see this last week. Due to some unexpected laziness I only listened to new releases and didn’t review them. There was general outrage and I won’t do it again. Continue reading “New Release Round Up, 4/13/10 — 35 Instant Album Reviews”

Defending Zooey: A Review of She & Him Volume Two

Truth time. This review is two weeks late and way beyond the relevant date for any She & Him fan. So I’m not going to write it for a fan, I’m going to write it for all you people who say Zooey Deschanel can’t sing or that She & Him is boring dreck. Because I think you’re wrong and if you are actually willing to have an open mind about it, you might change your mind.

When I first started listening to Volume Two and pondering the angle for my review I did my usual pre-writing ritual: hours of procrastinating on the internet. I ended up in one of my favourite places: ONTD (Oh No They Didn’t on livejournal.com for those not in the know). I was surprised by the amount of hate being spewed in She & Him’s direction, and started to wonder why. So I’ll take the negative comments posted to this entry, and do my best to prove them wrong. Continue reading “Defending Zooey: A Review of She & Him Volume Two”

Album Review: Goldfrapp – Headfirst

If Olivia Newton-John was one possible destination in Goldfrapp’s continuing journey that began on the steps of the majestic Felt Mountain, then it seems like she’s inching closer and closer to that point. I might be panicking. I might be overreacting. Still in love with that first album, her subsequent records up to date, although dancier and poppier, still satisfied me in some way. But her newest release, Headfirst, has me thinking a hot tub time machine might have been involved in the recording process somehow. Continue reading “Album Review: Goldfrapp — Headfirst”

Album Review: Jakob Dylan – Women + Country

In 2007, a strange and unexpected musical collaboration was released. It was the brain child of legendary producer T-Bone Burnett who decided that a full album collaboration between Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and modern day bluegrass icon Alison Krauss would be a brilliant idea. The album, Raising Sand, came out, and it was a moody collection of covers and originals that was both a critical and commercial success. It was a rare album that nearly everyone enjoyed, and was also the first album released on a independent label to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.

Fast forward three years, and a rather suspicious record gets released. Jakob Dylan, son of Bob and vocalist of 90’s buzz bin two-hit wonder act The Wallflowers, releases a record called Women + Country, featuring production by T-Bone Burnett and vocals by Alt.Country Super Heroine Neko Case. It all feels, I don’t know, impure? I was curious about this record, but also a bit skeptical. So, when I got an offer to review the record for this site, I decided to take it upon myself.

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Album Review: Brian Posehn – Fart & Wiener Jokes

You know the 5 stages of accepting death right? Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance… in the case of accepting your nerd-dom, you go through the same steps, but the best nerds go all the way back around to anger again, and there they will stay. Brian Posehn is an angry nerd, and fortunately a funny one, so he won’t completely alienate himself from his loving fans such as myself. His most recent comedy album, Fart & Wiener Jokes, has a little bit of old and a little bit of new, but enough raunchy material to keep the kiddies in the other room. Continue reading “Album Review: Brian Posehn — Fart & Wiener Jokes”

New Release Round Up 3/30/10 – 39 Instant Album Reviews

Star Wars — Paul and Storm have a new album, and are the only ones in this column who've been interviewed by us.

Instant album reviews is my favorite weekly column on the web, I use it as a way to filter out the LaLa.com list of stuff to decide what to listen to. With Pouria off in foreign lands, they needed a suitable fill in but since they couldn’t find one, you get me. I’ve been honing my pithy comments and I’m ready to go. Continue reading “New Release Round Up 3/30/10 — 39 Instant Album Reviews”

Mega New Release Round Up 3/16/10 and 3/23/10 – 52 Instant Album Reviews

Muxmool — Don't stare too hard or you'll go crazy

So I’ve been working a lot of long hours. It has sapped my will to be funny or amusing. Basically sapping my will…although I guess it could also be a direct result of listening to Bieber. Zing! Continue reading “Mega New Release Round Up 3/16/10 and 3/23/10 — 52 Instant Album Reviews”