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461 items by Will Hermes
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Amygdala | ALBUM REVIEW
On this tour de force by Teutonic EDM don Stefan Kozalla, the root vibe is elegant techno minimalism, but that vibe is augmented with wildly eccentric detailing: ADHD hip-hop jump-cuts, sneaky melodies, oddball instrumentation, warped vocals and...
April 2, 2013 12:00 AM ET -
Afraid of Heights | ALBUM REVIEW
The fourth LP from Nathan Williams does for Nineties punk pop what his girlfriend Bethany "Best Coast" Cosentino has done for Sixties girl-group pop: rewires it for a new generation of Spotify-surfing headphone junkies. Starting with...
March 26, 2013 12:05 AM ET -
"Diane Young" | SONG REVIEW
This preview of Vampire Weekend's forthcoming third album, Modern Vampires of the City (due May 7th), roars and clatters like a souped-up jalopy, with a cyber-sock-hop groove, surf-guitar outbursts, hand claps and Ezra Koenig's giddily hiccuping vocals,...
March 18, 2013 1:55 PM ET -
"Eyes Like Sky" | SONG REVIEW
This elliptical ballad (an unauthorized leak, presumably of a Channel Orange outtake) quietly reaffirms the songwriter's bona fides. Over some strummed acoustic guitar and loose kick-drum grooves, Ocean sings achingly of a blind boy who "sees"...
March 14, 2013 12:15 PM ET -
Woman | ALBUM REVIEW
Rhye are Canadian singer-songwriter Michael Milosh and Danish producer-songwriter Robin Hannibal – but you'd be forgiven for thinking their debut was the new Sade LP. Milosh's androgynous voice bears a startling resemblance to that of the...
March 14, 2013 11:40 AM ET -
Old Sock | ALBUM REVIEW
There are many Eric Claptons: firebrand electric bluesman, psychedelic jam god, avuncular song historian, easy-listening singer-songwriter. Clapton's 21st LP finds him mainly playing the latter two roles with an all-star crew. The song selection, long...
March 12, 2013 12:10 AM ET -
Honky Tonk | ALBUM REVIEW
Ever since Jay Farrar's Uncle Tupelo days, you could imagine his big, bourbon-y voice fronting a country band in a Bakersfield roadhouse circa 1963. Honky Tonk comes close to realizing that sound, and it's a gorgeous thing....
March 5, 2013 12:05 AM ET -
Alabama Shakes' Unlikely Triumph | ARTICLE
Brittany Howard, the powerhouse 24-year-old frontwoman for Alabama Shakes, isn't much for red carpets. But duty called for her double-barreled Grammy debut, so she fancied up her hair and had fellow Southerner Billy Reid design her some...
February 28, 2013 8:00 AM ET -
Jamie Lidell | ALBUM REVIEW
With his band Super Collider, Lidell made supremely funky EDM; as a solo artist, he has veered into retro-minded R&B. The best bits here goose jhericurled synth-funk with modern electronics (the hooky "What a Shame"). But Lidell...
February 25, 2013 11:25 AM ET -
Kid Face | ALBUM REVIEW
This Okie favors stark arrangements on her third LP, which is smart: So much happens in her voice – tremors, skids, heart-in-throat builds – that minimal backing is plenty. Flavors vary: "For the Miner" suggests U2's "One"...
February 25, 2013 11:20 AM ET -
"All the Time" | SONG REVIEW
After the curveball Atari falsetto rush of "One Way Trigger," the Strokes drop another jam from the pending Comedown Machine, and it's 2001 all over again: a tuneful, tight, three-minute rocker tossed into an EDM-ish pop scene...
February 22, 2013 3:25 PM ET -
Son of Rogue's Gallery | ALBUM REVIEW
With ice caps melting and folkloric Mumford pop on the rise, volume two of this maritime music project – produced partly by pirate-booster Johnny Depp and fantasy-band builder Hal Willner – is even more timely than the...
February 19, 2013 12:00 AM ET -
"Doobie" | SONG REVIEW
"I spy with my little eye/Something that can get you high-high-high," M.I.A. declares over a belly-dance synth loop on this 2007 outtake. Is this a taste of the stalled LP her label is calling "too positive"? Here,...
February 12, 2013 2:30 PM ET -
"Screwdriver" | SONG REVIEW
Posted on Prince's bare-bones website, this catchy nugget was leaked through the Twitter account @3rdEyeGirl. That may be the name of the Purp's new all-female backing band, and the song may signal a forthcoming album. Or...
February 5, 2013 4:15 PM ET -
Previsão Do Tempo | ALBUM REVIEW
The resonant Tropicália movement wasn't the only site of musical subversion in Sixties and Seventies Brazil. Proof is this 1973 pop-rock-samba-jazz gem, the funkiest in a four-disc Marcos Valle series. Sampled by Kanye and others, the...
February 5, 2013 12:05 AM ET -
"Shenandoah" | SONG REVIEW
One of three dozen sea chanteys and waterlogged ditties on the Johnny Depp-produced comp Son of Rogue's Gallery, this was likely written by French-Canadian explorers – about the river or the Native American father of "Sally," no...
February 4, 2013 4:00 PM ET -
Into The Future | ALBUM REVIEW
The last Bad Brains LP, 2007's Build A Nation, was produced by superfan Adam Yauch. So while the band's founders are remarkably all present, mortality shadows this set, which summons the raging schizophrenia of their Eighties glory...
January 30, 2013 10:05 AM ET -
Get Up! | ALBUM REVIEW
Ben Harper has been hiding in plain sight for nearly 20 years, delivering handsome hybrid folk blues – sometimes politicized, sometimes heartbroken – in his signature high-tenor whisper, while playing slide guitar with flashes of Hendrixian fire....
January 29, 2013 12:15 AM ET -
Anything in Return | ALBUM REVIEW
Though lumped in with the woozy-pop "chillwave" trendlet, Chaz Bundick has always had more cooking: Latin disco, soul jazz, bubblegum hooks and Princely funk shining amid glitchy synth washes and Animal Collective freak grooves. His latest is...
January 28, 2013 3:10 PM ET -
My True Story | ALBUM REVIEW
At 72, Aaron Neville's sweet, high tenor remains in remarkably good shape, and this set of doo-wop-era classics is a perfect showcase. Produced by Don Was and Keith Richards, whose rhythm guitar adds a Chuck Berry fan's...
January 28, 2013 3:00 PM ET
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