Erykah Badu, New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)
Badu is back and still balancing the retro/progressive contradiction better than anyone.
Operator Please, Yes Yes Vindictive
Operator Please have created some unashamedly sunny music.
Joy Division
Mimo że Control nie jest filmem muzycznym, to muzyka w największym stopniu oddziałuje na nasze zmysły. ...
Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
Artist: Okkervil River Review: On this album-length sequel to last year's The Stage Names, these Austin indie rockers continue to dissect the looking-glass emptiness of life spent on the stage, as well as in the cheap seats. "Fuck long hours, sick with singing," frontman Will Sheff sings over slow-building, mariachi-style blues on "Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979," a boozy, post-fame portrait of the late gay glam rocker Jobraith. Like its predecessor, The Stand Ins also... Rating: 3 Stars
Roy Orbison - The Soul of Rock & Roll
Artist: Roy Orbison Review: Roy Orbison was a superhero of song. Unassuming in appearance, he became someone extraordinary when his weeping tenor took flight, rising from deep, dark places on anguished ballads like "Only the Lonely" and "Crying." Orbison rebuilt the stark balladry of Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" as a jukebox opera house, expanded rock's arrangement limitations, and opened a door to Phil Spector and Freddie Mercury alike. This 107-track box captures Orbison's Fifties rockabilly beginnings on its first... Rating: 5 Stars
Ashford & Simpson, The Warner Bros. Years: Hits, Remixes & Rarities
For rare groove aficionados it doesn?t get any better than this...
The Smiths - The Sound of the Smiths
Artist: The Smiths Review: Overseen by Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr, this compilation emphasizes the compositional might behind the miserablism of England's most idiosyncratic and influential Eighties band. Sound traces the quartet's four-year evolution from savage tenderness to refined despair: Morrissey articulates both bleak romanticism and omni-deprecating humor, while Marr accompanies him with chiming, multilayered riffs. The Smiths often relegated their most emotionally detailed and musically divergent tracks... Rating: 5 Stars
T.I. - Paper Trail
Artist: T.I. Review: "Facing all kinda time/But smile like I'm fine," T.I. crows on "No Matter What." The Atlanta rapper recorded his sixth album while under house arrest for weapons possessions charges, and he faces a year-long prison sentence beginning in 2009. But as the plodding "existential" concept album T.I. vs. T.I.P. (2007) showed, he is a far better braggart than brooder — smiling like he's fine is good for business. On Paper Trail, T.I. mostly dispenses with the Tupac-wannabe gangsta-confessor... Rating: 3 Stars
DeVotchKa - A Mad And Faithful Telling
Artist: DeVotchKa Review: DeVotchKa are best known for a) their hot sousaphonist who wraps her ax in Christmas lights, b) their quirky contributions to Little Miss Sunshine and c) their kinship with other world-music-minded acts (see Beirut, Yeasayer, the Ruby Suns). But what leader Nick Urata does on his big indie debut is pretty straightforward: make dance music and ballads with drama and kitsch. DeVotchKa's idea of dance rock is rooted in Mexican and Balkan folk as opposed to funk, as the instrumentation compli... Rating: 3 Stars
Billy Joel - The Stranger (30th anniversary deluxe edition)
Artist: Billy Joel Review: In 1977, Joel's fourth and best album replaced Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water as Columbia Records' all-time top-seller, establishing Joel as a titan of adult contemporary America's answer to Elton John. The Stranger also launched Joel's longterm collaboration with producer Phil Ramone, who distilled the Piano Man's music to its essence, a hook-packed blend of AM-radio pop-rock and Broadway schmaltz. The hit single was the gooey "Just the Way You Are," but there's impressive... Rating: 4 Stars
Miley Cyrus - Breakout
Artist: Miley Cyrus Review: History teaches us not to dismiss kiddie pop. Stevie Wonder was once Little Stevie Wonder, just as Lil Wayne was once little Lil Wayne, child gangsta rapper. And let's not forget ex-Mouseketeers Britney and Justin. Purists disdain teenybopper music as cynical pap, foisted on the young by Svengalis who lurk in the shadows, counting money. But bubblegum can be a great farm system, honing skills that pay dividends in later life. Lately, Disney's kiddie pop has been plenty profitable, with High... Rating: 3.5 Stars
The Sleeping Years, We're Becoming Islands One By One
Dale Grundle has written an album that is well paced and diverse enough to never quite cross the precarious line between gentle subtlety and dullness.
U2 - October
Artist: U2 Review: From the beginning, U2 aspired to profound ecstasy. But it took Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. a while to get there. Two of U2's first three albums are undeniable classics: 1980's precociously magnificent Boy for its proudly spiritual optimism in the thick of post-punk nihilism and for the Edge's reveille-treble guitar; 1983's War for its arena-rock muscle tone (honed over three years of touring) and the matured blend of soldier's ardor and pop wile in the singles "Sunday... Rating: 4 Stars
Joan Baez - Day After Tomorrow
Artist: Joan Baez Review: "I believe in prophecy," Baez sings on her new album. For five decades, her ringing soprano has been a prophetic sound, summoning the earnestness and anger — and, a bit too often, the self-righteousness — of the folk revival that made her its poster child. For her 24th studio release, Baez has teamed up with Steve Earle, who produced the album and contributed three songs. It's a fruitful partnership: Earle's hard-won earthiness acts as a counterweight to Baez's ethereal tendencies,... Rating: 3 Stars
Jolie Holland - The Living and The Dead
Artist: Jolie Holland Review: Yes, Jolie Holland knows Jack Kerouac's Mexico City Blues. Over the mariachi horns of "Mexico City," the Texas singer introduces Jack, who drinks too much because "there was nowhere else to go." That apocalyptic feeling pervades this sepia-toned album, boosted by M. Ward's scraggly hooks. Holland has a soft spot for sad sacks — the "ghost-faced junkie" of "Corrido por Buddy," the lover who made her "little heart a graveyard" on "Palmyra" — but her honeyed harmonies keep the mood from... Rating: 3.5 Stars
Dymiter Marcin
Gdyby zrobić ranking postaci, które w ciągu ostatnich dwóch dekad nadawały ton polskiej scenie niezależnej (od mód i wymogów radiowych playlist), Marcin Dymiter (ur. 1971), magister polonistyki powinien znaleźć się w czołówce....
Chemical Brothers
Pewnego razu, w 1989 roku w Manchesterze, dwójka zafascynowanych hip-hopem i muzyką house studentów wydziału historii postanowiła zająć się DJ-owaniem....
Ponto De Equilibrio , Abre La Janela
Abre a Janela is a good inroad to reggae from the less conservative end of the 'world' music scene.
The Zutons, You Can Do Anything
The Zutons are, you'll be relieved to know, on fine form.
Simone Nina
Historia Niny Simone to przede wszystkim historia Afroamerykanki, kobiety, artystki, pianistki i wokalistki, której publiczność nadała tytuł "dr". ...
Kimya Dawson - Alphabutt
Artist: Kimya Dawson Review: Solo and as half of Moldy Peaches, Dawson has applied child-like wisdom and humor to adult issues like crack, romantic love, and the Iraq war. So it makes peculiar sense that she'd follow the freak success of the Juno soundtrack, which featured her on seven tracks, with a set of genuine kids songs. (She also recently became a mom.) But by the time she's halfway through the scatological title track — "C is for cat butt, D is for doo-doo" — it's clear this ain't Nickelodeon. Some songs... Rating: 3 Stars