Contributor
385 items by Jody Rosen
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F.A.M.E. | ALBUM REVIEW
In 2009, on the heels of his felony conviction in the beating of his then-girlfriend Rihanna, Chris Brown released Grafitti, a plodding album that included shrilly defensive responses to his infamy. This time, Brown takes a smarter...
March 22, 2011 12:30 AM ET -
Vices & Virtues | ALBUM REVIEW
Panic! At the Disco have invented a new genre: emo retropop. Vices & Virtues is the band's first album since becoming a duo (singer Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith), and it's the closest emo has come...
March 22, 2011 12:15 AM ET -
Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang | ALBUM REVIEW
With 2009's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II, Raekwon managed to conjure a satisfying sequel to one of rap's most hallowed albums. The pressure's off now, and on Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang, Rae sounds at ease —...
March 21, 2011 2:00 PM ET -
Femme Fatale | ALBUM REVIEW
Click to listen to Britney Spears' "Till the World Ends" Britney Spears is pop music's stealth avant-gardist. For years, critics have dismissed her as a...
March 14, 2011 3:55 PM ET -
Goodbye Lullaby | ALBUM REVIEW
Avril Lavigne is a romantic. That's a hard concept to wrap your mind around. For nearly a decade, she has been pop's most unregenerate grump, sneering contempt for everything over bubblegum-punk hooks. Her latest hit, "What the...
March 8, 2011 12:30 AM ET -
Lights | ALBUM REVIEW
Can a folk warbler be a pop diva? The debut album by singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding proves that the answer is yes. Goulding, from Hereford, England, has a classic British folkie's voice — the kind of tremulous soprano...
March 8, 2011 12:15 AM ET -
Going Out in Style | ALBUM REVIEW
Click to listen to the Dropkick Murphys' "Memorial Day" "No mercy, no quarter," bellow the Dropkick Murphys in the raucous opener of their seventh album, a phrase...
March 1, 2011 12:45 AM ET -
Wounded Rhymes | ALBUM REVIEW
Ever since Abba went global, Sweden has been a pop paradise, a factory of mathematically perfect hooks. Lykke Li is a different kind of Swedish wunderkind: an ingenious oddball. Her second album is a weird-pop gem —...
March 1, 2011 12:40 AM ET -
"Loser Like Me" | SONG REVIEW
Click to listen to Glee's "Loser Like Me" For their first foray into original music, the producers of Glee didn't exactly go out on a...
February 25, 2011 11:55 AM ET -
Lykke Li, 'Wounded Rhymes' | BLOG ENTRY
Ever since Abba went global, Sweden has been a pop paradise, a factory of mathematically perfect hooks. Lykke Li is a different kind of Swedish wunderkind: an ingenious oddball. Her second album is a weird-pop gem —...
February 25, 2011 10:00 AM ET -
From Memphis to Hollywood: Bootleg Vol. 2 | ALBUM REVIEW
Click to listen to Johnny Cash's "Get Rhythm" Even as a young turk, Johnny Cash sang with the voice of experience. The first disc of...
February 22, 2011 12:30 AM ET -
Go-Go Boots | ALBUM REVIEW
Click to Listen to Drive-By Truckers' Go-Go Boots File under "R&B murder." That's how Drive-By Truckers describe the music on their ninth studio album, a...
February 14, 2011 9:00 AM ET -
Zonoscope | ALBUM REVIEW
Click to Listen to Cut Copy's Zonoscope Australian synth-pop quartet Cut Copy do the Eighties eerily well. Too well, in fact. Cue up the band's third album, and...
February 8, 2011 12:10 AM ET -
Tell Me | ALBUM REVIEW
Click to listen to Jessica Lea Mayfield's Tell Me "There's not much I wouldn't let you whisper in my ear," coos Jessica Lea Mayfield on her second album....
February 4, 2011 9:00 AM ET -
Gutter Rainbows | ALBUM REVIEW
On 2007's Eardrum, alt-rap hero Talib Kweli teamed with big-name producers (will.i.am) and fancy guest stars (Justin Timberlake), hiking his backpack all the way up to Number Two on the album charts. But Kweli's flirtation with the...
February 3, 2011 6:20 PM ET -
"Mine Smell Like Honey" | SONG REVIEW
R.E.M. have found a new way to move forward: Sound like an awesome R.E.M. tribute band. "Mine Smell Like Honey" is all Monster-style guitar rumble, with a chorus straight outta Life's Rich Pageant and Michael Stipe belting,...
February 1, 2011 12:10 PM ET -
Purp & Patron | ALBUM REVIEW
Purp & Patron offers fans of The Game something they've never quite experienced from him: fun. The 50 Cent protégé-turned-adversary has always been a sharp-witted and pugnacious MC. He's also been a bit of a downer —...
January 27, 2011 2:40 PM ET -
Kiss Each Other Clean | ALBUM REVIEW
Click to listen to Iron and Wine’s "Tree By the River" When Sam Beam stepped into the spotlight on Iron and Wine's 2002 debut, he was a novelty...
January 25, 2011 12:40 AM ET -
Deerhoof vs. Evil | ALBUM REVIEW
The song starts with lurching effects and percussion before segueing from riotous soca to lugubrious funk to what sounds like drunkard's take on Cuban son. The lyrics are in Catalan. The singer is Japanese. Yep—it's Deerhoof. "Qui...
January 25, 2011 12:20 AM ET -
Mine Is Yours | ALBUM REVIEW
"I don't own the sun, I don't own the moon," cries Cold War Kids frontman Nathan Willett. It sounds like false modesty. On their third album, the Cali quartet swing for the fences — it's as if...
January 25, 2011 12:10 AM ET
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