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484 items by Will Hermes Will Hermes’ Profile on

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  Small Craft on a Milk Sea | ALBUM REVIEW

  Since 1978's Music for Airports, Brian Eno has been releasing instrumental records that imagine electronic music as an opium den, leaving rock to his production clients (U2, Coldplay). Small Craft is something different: a rhythmically aggressive Brian...

  November 1, 2010 12:00 AM ET
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  Blow Your Head Vol. 1: Diplo Presents Dubstep | ALBUM REVIEW

  The fat, squishy bass blasts on Britney's 2007 "Freakshow" were many listeners' first exposure to the sounds of dubstep, the U.K. style favoring syncopated beats and huge low-end. Now, M.I.A. producer Diplo has put together a dubstep...

  November 1, 2010 12:00 AM ET
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  Acoustic Sessions | ALBUM REVIEW

  It's one thing to hear others echo John Lennon, but quite another to hear his son Sean do it. Recorded in the couple's home studio, this set of duets by Lennon and his model girlfriend, Charlotte Kemp...

  October 26, 2010 12:00 AM ET
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  "Lost in the World" | SONG REVIEW

  The latest leak from Camp Kanye is less a song than an inspired chunk of Nineties-style DJ mixology. It begins with Bon Iver — the Wisconsin-bred folkie who collaborated on nine songs for West's upcoming album...

  October 25, 2010 4:17 PM ET
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  "Wake Up" | SONG REVIEW

  Legend and the Roots recorded Arcade Fire's anthem for their LP Wake Up!, but it didn't make the cut. This live version suggests why: Legend's vocals miss Win Butler's cracked frailty, and the groove refuses to swing....

  October 20, 2010 4:43 PM ET
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  Come Around Sundown | ALBUM REVIEW

  In the run-up to Kings of Leon's fifth album, frontman Caleb Followill fretted publicly over his band's swelling popularity. Sorry, dude: That horse left the barn a while ago. The Kings' last album, 2008's Only...

  October 18, 2010 6:00 PM ET
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  "2 Forms of Anger" | SONG REVIEW

  This taste of Eno's new album nearly conflates his entire oeuvre: There's ambient drift, murky, data-storm rhythms and art-punk rave-up. Anger from the guru of chill? Bring it on. Photos: The Hottest Live Photos of...

  October 18, 2010 4:33 PM ET
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  Swanlights | ALBUM REVIEW

  The challenge for Antony Hegarty is just how best to use that quivering, purring, sobbing, ecstatic, altogether original voice. Though he's a great disco diva (see Hercules and Love Affair's 2008 "Blind"), his Johnsons work tends toward...

  October 12, 2010 12:55 PM ET
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  The Grand Theatre Vol. 1 | ALBUM REVIEW

  "Take ya to the Tate Museum," sneers Rhett Miller on his band's eighth LP, begging a question: Why would Dallas twang rockers name-check a British tourist attraction — over a Clash-style guitar stomp, no less? It's because...

  October 12, 2010 12:51 PM ET
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  The Age of Adz | ALBUM REVIEW

  Sufjan Stevens is a restless man. Weeks after dropping the All Delighted People EP, Stevens returns with The Age of Adz, which conjures a peyote ritual with Aphex Twin and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It's a semiconcept...

  October 12, 2010 12:32 PM ET
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  Review: Springsteen’s Remarkable ‘Darkness’ Movie | ARTICLE

  There’s a throwaway bit in the 1977 studio footage at the heart of The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town where co-producer Jon Landau points to Bruce Springsteen’s fat song notebook and...

  October 7, 2010 5:45 PM ET
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  "Def Surrounds Us" | SONG REVIEW

  After secretly planting vinyl copies in record shops across Europe, the master of surreal, sample-drenched electronica drops a digital version of this single, his first in four years. It's a time-warping combo of hand claps, video-game bleeps,...

  October 6, 2010 3:25 PM ET
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  1,000 Years | ALBUM REVIEW

  Like Patti Smith, Corin Tucker took time off from being a punk-rock heroine to become a mom. The lyrics to her solo debut reflect that, touching on kids, distant partners and hunger for a former self. "Who...

  October 5, 2010 12:00 AM ET
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  As I Call You Down | ALBUM REVIEW

  The story goes that Ben Harper, Joseph Arthur and Dhani "Son of George" Harrison conjured nine songs in three days for this supersession. It sounds like it. But there's charm in their debut's raggedness: See the three-part...

  October 5, 2010 12:00 AM ET
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  King Night | ALBUM REVIEW

  With a backstory that includes gas-station hooking and heroin addiction, Michigan electro-extremists Salem are spooky straightaway. Then their quicksand sound sucks you down: The trio's debut is a cesspool of New Wave synths, goth-shoegaze moans, slow-mo raps...

  September 27, 2010 7:06 PM ET
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  Passion, Pain & Pleasure | ALBUM REVIEW

  Twenty-five-year-old Trey Songz made ladies squeal last spring with a sultry MTV Unplugged cover of Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody." The R&B smoothie's fourth record has no such surprises, notwithstanding a brassy, helium-voiced cameo from Nicki Minaj...

  September 27, 2010 6:49 PM ET
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  "FM Tan Sexy" | SONG REVIEW

  Courtesy of Pablo Díaz-Reixa, a Barcelona resident and rhythm-drunk sample chef, this dance track suggests Animal Collective with a taste for Spanglish R&B. Pop a bottle of Cava for your papi and enjoy. Photos: The...

  September 22, 2010 1:06 PM ET
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  The Sound of Sunshine | ALBUM REVIEW

  "They can take away my job but not my friends," sings Michael Franti on his new disc, which suggests a musical activist's job — especially in hard times — is about celebration as much as agitation. Coming...

  September 21, 2010 10:50 AM ET
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  Maximum Balloon | ALBUM REVIEW

  Even dystopian rock dudes need to shake it sometimes. For his solo debut, Dave Sitek adds schwing to his smeared synths and swarming guitars, while an A list of New York voices rock midtempo goth-soul beats. TV...

  September 20, 2010 10:45 AM ET
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  "If It Wasn't for Bad" | SONG REVIEW

  Russell is an Oklahoma-bred singer who wowed John 40 years ago and later fell off the map. The lead track from their duets album is a wise-cracking lament, with John echoing Russell's distinct nasal twang. The song...

  September 19, 2010 12:58 PM ET