Jody Rosen | Rolling Stone

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380 items by Jody Rosen

The Man With the Iron Fists: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ALBUM REVIEW

The martial-arts epic The Man With the Iron Fists is the RZA's directorial debut – although, figuratively speaking, the beat wizard has been making kung-fu movies for as long as the Wu-Tang Clan existed. The...
October 23, 2012 12:00 AM ET
good kid, m.A.A.d city | ALBUM REVIEW

The title "Next Big Rapper" has been a curse as often as a blessing. But on the major-label debut by Dr. Dre protégé Kendrick Lamar, the Compton, California, MC wears it lightly, like a favorite...
October 22, 2012 12:20 PM ET
Band to Watch: Kendrick Lamar | VIDEO

Hometown: Compton, California Backstory: Lamar, a member of the Black Hippy crew (with fellow L.A. luminaries Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul), caught the attention of Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre with his 2011 debut; Dre helped produce good...
October 22, 2012 7:40 AM ET
Livin' for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran | ALBUM REVIEW

Hank Cochran, who died at age 74 in 2010, wrote country ballads so perfectly shaped and cadenced you hardly believe they were written at all. Jamey Johnson's tribute record enlists an amazing intergenerational all-star team (Willie...
October 16, 2012 12:10 AM ET
Live From Harlem | ALBUM REVIEW

Tim Vocals, an R&B singer from Harlem, has emerged as an internet sensation with a novel shtick: crooning gritty, profane tales of thug life and drug-peddling in a lilting, feather-light soul man’s tenor. His debut mixtape collects...
October 12, 2012 4:00 PM ET
"Locked Out of Heaven" | SONG REVIEW

Bruno Mars is one of pop's courtliest young stars – a gentleman through and through, from his chivalric oaths ("I'd catch a grenade for ya") to the rakish Sinatra-style tilt of his fedora. But Mars' new single...
October 10, 2012 10:30 AM ET
"Skyfall" | SONG REVIEW

Adele has been compared to everyone from Aretha Franklin to Etta James, but her real spiritual forbear may be Shirley Bassey, the brassy, leather-lunged, slightly schlocky Welsh songstress best known for belting out three James...
October 9, 2012 10:10 AM ET
Bad: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition | ALBUM REVIEW

Twenty-five years on, Bad sounds less like Thriller's underachieving follow-up than a masterpiece of pure pop. The deep cuts rule, from the clamorous electro-soul of "Speed Demon" to the harrowing "Leave Me Alone," whose thump can't...
October 5, 2012 10:20 AM ET
Transcendental Youth | ALBUM REVIEW

An album full of characters struggling against dead-end jobs, drug addiction and depression doesn't exactly sound inviting, but in the hands of John Darnielle, it's magic. Darnielle is a former psychiatric nurse; his catchy, gracefully appointed chamber-pop...
October 5, 2012 10:10 AM ET
Theatre is Evil | ALBUM REVIEW

Ex-Dresden Dolls star Amanda Palmer made news this year when she raised $1.2 million on Kickstarter, but her third solo album dispels all thoughts of revenue streams. You could call it retro: the synths, tensile guitar...
October 4, 2012 10:55 AM ET
"Merry Go Round" | SONG REVIEW

Kacey Musgraves looks like a perfect country music ingenue – until you notice her nose-ring and the punky peroxide streak in her chestnut hair. The 24-year-old Texan's debut single is similar. It comes on gently – a...
October 2, 2012 1:40 PM ET
Glad All Over | ALBUM REVIEW

"Eyes on the prize/Reboot the mission," goes the first Wallflowers single in seven years. Reboot – not reinvent. Jakob Dylan's group has picked up where it left off: with sharp roots-rock songs full of sturdy hooks, deadpan...
October 2, 2012 12:20 AM ET
Sugaring Season | ALBUM REVIEW

"Call me the fire/Call me the air," sings Beth Orton on her fifth LP. There is something elemental about Orton's folk soul; at its best, it sounds like the world's prettiest campfire music, all hickory smoke swirling...
October 2, 2012 12:10 AM ET
"Triple Threat" | SONG REVIEW

The duo responsible for this century's most wacked-out and visionary party music is back with two songs from Elliott's upcoming first album in seven years – but the mood is not quite celebratory. Timbaland's beats (his...
September 25, 2012 4:45 PM ET
"9th Inning" | SONG REVIEW

The duo responsible for this century's most wacked-out and visionary party music is back with two songs from Elliott's upcoming first album in seven years – but the mood is not quite celebratory. Timbaland's beats (his...
September 25, 2012 4:35 PM ET
"Your Body" | SONG REVIEW

You can measure a singer's place in the pop-star pecking order by the quality of the Max Martin/Shellback song she releases. For Xtina, the news ain't good. "Your Body" is a sluggish and nearly hookless hookup...
September 25, 2012 4:20 PM ET
Push and Shove | ALBUM REVIEW

No Doubt aren't just 11 years older than they were when they released their last LP. They're determined to be wiser. Push and Shove leans toward synthpop-flavored ballads with grown-up themes: relationship struggles, the rewards of...
September 25, 2012 12:15 AM ET
Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 | ALBUM REVIEW

"Hope my stories . . . keep your sons out the slums and your daughters out of orgies," raps Lupe Fiasco on his fourth album. Like a lot of firebrands, Lupe's got a messianic streak. But it's...
September 25, 2012 12:10 AM ET
Album Title Goes Here | ALBUM REVIEW

You can't see the mouse helmet on the latest album from EDM superstar Joel Zimmerman. But you can hear it. Deadmau5 brings a love of spectacle – and the humor of a natural ham – to his...
September 25, 2012 12:05 AM ET
Charmer | ALBUM REVIEW

Beatlesque harmonies, Costello-esque bile, really bad romance: Yep, it's an Aimee Mann album. Mann's lyrics strain for cleverness, sagging under the weight of mixed metaphors. ("When you're weak, it's a Holy Grail/You're two-for-one, it's a...
September 21, 2012 11:50 PM ET