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499 items by Will Hermes Will Hermes’ Profile on
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Familial | ALBUM REVIEW
Jonny Greenwood writes orchestral scores; Thom Yorke programs glitch beats. Drummer Phil Selway, evidently, spends his time off from Radiohead as a closet art-folkie. His debut reveals a delicate high-tenor voice (akin to Yorke's but less tortured),...
August 31, 2010 12:00 AM ET -
The Orchard | ALBUM REVIEW
"A mother so cold and gray/And though she gives you one, she takes one away," sings Wes Miles in "Massachusetts," clearly referring to the ocean that claimed bandmate John Ryan Pike prior to...
August 24, 2010 12:00 AM ET -
Fidelity! | ALBUM REVIEW
"I found my perfect lover, but he's only half my age," sings Chrissie Hynde on Fidelity!, a collaboration with JP Jones, a Welshman who is indeed half her age but not her lover. From an old rock...
August 23, 2010 12:00 AM ET -
Pauper's Field | ALBUM REVIEW
Raised by a country songwriter dad amid old-school guitarists in Shreveport, Louisiana, 20-year-old Dylan LeBlanc can't help but let his roots show on his debut, with brooding songs built around pedal steel and fingerpicked acoustics. He's got...
August 23, 2010 12:00 AM ET -
"Imagine" | SONG REVIEW
"Imagine there's no heaven/It was easy when I tried," sings Antony in his startling warble, reshaping John Lennon's melody amid spare guitars. Then he sends that falsetto "you" into the sky like a white dove. An unlikely,...
August 19, 2010 12:00 PM ET -
God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise | ALBUM REVIEW
For a folkie, Ray LaMontagne has always had a deep groove sense. But it's a hot surprise to hear him open his fourth LP with a Meters-style funk grind ("Repo Man"). His band freshens up his sound...
August 16, 2010 12:00 AM ET -
No Better Than This | ALBUM REVIEW
John Mellencamp's 25th album, No Better Than This, continues the thread of American archaeology that he began on Trouble No More, a self-produced 2003 set of traditional songs and covers. But where Trouble was a first brush...
August 16, 2010 12:00 AM ET -
"Mine" | SONG REVIEW
Yes, we know: It's tough watching the kids grow up. And here's Taylor Swift, once the voice of heartbroken fifteen year olds everywhere now singing about living in sin with a college dude, imagining "a drawer of...
August 11, 2010 12:00 PM ET -
Arcade Fire Go Big at Madison Square Garden | ARTICLE
A few years back, U2 used Arcade Fire's recording of "Wake Up" to pump up arena crowds before they hit the stage. Last night, indie rock's number-one overachievers had the chutzpah to headline one of the world's...
August 5, 2010 9:25 AM ET -
"Wake Up Everybody" | SONG REVIEW
"Wake Up Everybody" turns back the clock in all the right ways: The lead single from Legend's album with the Roots is a sparkling cover of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' 1975 hit. Over string-drenched retro-funk,...
August 3, 2010 12:30 PM ET -
Between the Sounds | ALBUM REVIEW
With the deaths of Big Star's Alex Chilton and Andy Hummel, it's been a bad year for fans of Seventies power pop. Some small good news: this taut 10-song debut. Leader Josh Lattanzi has played with Fountains...
August 2, 2010 3:08 PM ET -
Pigeons | ALBUM REVIEW
Here We Go Magic began as a dreamy bedroom chamber-folk experiment, but on their second release, leader Luke Temple emerges with a full-on band, unfurling rich harmonies and sharp-elbowed melodies over Peter Hale's antsy, inventive drumming. The...
August 2, 2010 3:04 PM ET -
An Airplane Carried Me to Bed | ALBUM REVIEW
"I was 22, alone with nothing to do," sings Adam Young on "I Live Alone." That's roughly the story of Sky Sailing, which preceded his other one-man band, the multiplatinum Owl City. The latter resembled the Postal...
August 2, 2010 2:57 PM ET -
Foundling | ALBUM REVIEW
'Head spinning, mouth open,' sings tonsured Englishman David Gray on the tipsy 'Only the Wine,' the lead track of his handsomely tousled ninth LP. It's a promising start from a guy whose tastefulness too often trumps the...
August 2, 2010 12:00 AM ET -
Crazy for You | ALBUM REVIEW
After a string of low-fi pop singles last summer, indie-rock teen prodigy Bethany Cosentino — cat lover, foodie, Breeders fan — decided on a simple recipe for her debut LP with partner Bobb Bruno: Beatles-ish drums, Ramones-ish...
July 27, 2010 9:30 PM ET -
"You Are Not Alone" | SONG REVIEW
Jeff Tweedy produces an album by a gospel-soul legend at Wilco's Chicago headquarters and writes her a couple of songs to boot. An odd pairing? Perhaps. But this first taste, a simple soul-folk tune à la Bill...
July 21, 2010 12:30 PM ET -
Body Talk Pt 1 | ALBUM REVIEW
"Don't fuckin' tell me what to do," chants reformed teen-pop prodigy Robyn. No worry, girl, things are under control. With help from Klas Åhlund — who co-wrote her 2005 cred-maker, Robyn — the singer drops a near-perfect...
July 19, 2010 12:40 PM ET -
"Jonathan Low" | SONG REVIEW
Finally, the marketing strategy behind Vampire Weekend's name becomes clear: A remarkably anthemic song for the soundtrack to Eclipse, this week's edition of the teen-baiting Twilight vampire saga. With 12-string acoustic guitar, swelling strings, and lyrics that...
June 29, 2010 11:36 AM ET -
"Macon" | SONG REVIEW
Coinciding with a fierce set at this year's Bonnaroo, Jamey Johnson offers another peek into his sprawling, two-CD The Guitar Song, due in September. "Macon" gives voice to a wired, pedal-to-the-metal trucker achin' for his woman, joining...
June 29, 2010 11:35 AM ET -
"Goodbye Girl" | SONG REVIEW
The latest in a sweet freebie MP3 series via Levi's jeans (hail the new music industry!) gets James Mercer back with his pre-Broken Bells group for a perfect Squeeze cover, guitar jangle replacing new-wave keybs while the...
June 29, 2010 11:31 AM ET
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