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482 items by Will Hermes Will Hermes’ Profile on
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"I'm Not the Same Without You" | SONG REVIEW
This track from the Steely Dan singer's upcoming LP is about a dude surviving a breakup via determined self-delusion, but it's no bummer. It's a wry and witty portrait that makes fine use of a Steely-style...
September 25, 2012 4:15 PM ET -
YOKOKIMTHURSTON | ALBUM REVIEW
Near the start of this wildly abstract collaboration, Yoko Ono seems tocackle "Mwah-ha-ha!" amid the groans, chants, improvised poetry, and impressionistic sex noises. Humor was often part of the pioneering sound-arts he explored with John Lennon –...
September 25, 2012 12:00 AM ET -
Goin' Down Rockin': The Last Recordings | ALBUM REVIEW
Waylon Jennings' health was failing when he recorded basic tracks for a new LP; per the country legend's request, his bandmates have finally completed the album, 10 years after his death. It's a rowdier version of his...
September 25, 2012 12:00 AM ET -
"Southern Comfort Zone" | SONG REVIEW
The title track from Paisley's forthcoming LP shows Nashville’s great ambassador affirming his roots while courting the planet. Where 2010's "This Is Country Music" seemed a little defensive, this big-tent cultural fete namechecks NASCAR, Billy Graham...
September 21, 2012 6:40 PM ET -
Babel | ALBUM REVIEW
It's hard to imagine a more preposterous road to platinum success than the one Mumford & Sons traveled. Sigh No More, the 2010 debut by Marcus Mumford and his London crew, is a set of rousing tunes...
September 20, 2012 1:40 PM ET -
Shields | ALBUM REVIEW
On their 2009 breakthrough, Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear made the sound of agitation – squirrelly melodies, antsy rhythms, lyrics full of emotional surgery – into music that was lush, genteel and centered. With Shields, they still sound...
September 18, 2012 8:15 AM ET -
"Make the World Go Away" | SONG REVIEW
The first single from Johnson's tribute LP to Hank Cochran tackles the late country songwriter's most widely covered number. It's closer to the 1965 Eddy Arnold hit than Elvis' overcooked 1971 version, as Johnson's old-school romantic...
September 11, 2012 10:55 AM ET -
Heat Lighting Rumbles in the Distance | ALBUM REVIEW
Frankly, it's a relief to hear Patterson Hood backed by banjo, fiddle and acoustic strumming; the Drive-By Truckers frontman has hollered Southern Gothic tales over an electric-guitar army with such intensity for so many years, it's a...
September 11, 2012 12:25 AM ET -
Love This Giant | ALBUM REVIEW
A May-December one-off by David Byrne and Annie "St. Vincent" Clark, this LP is like a special-mention science-fair project: two brainy kids speaking in tongues that are fascinating even when they're hard to follow. Working with a...
September 11, 2012 12:15 AM ET -
The Carpenter | ALBUM REVIEW
The most telling moment on the Avett Brothers' seventh album is "Pretty Girl From Michigan," part of a decade-long song series that began with "Pretty Girl From Matthews." On "Michigan," the bluegrass pickin' and raw country harmonies...
September 11, 2012 12:10 AM ET -
Privateering | ALBUM REVIEW
"Redbud Tree," a highlight of Mark Knopfler's eighth solo album, could've been written 100 years ago. But given our ecocrisis, this tree-hugging folk gem, embossed with a shimmering fingerpicked Strat, feels cannily modern. Knopfler's sueded voice...
September 11, 2012 12:05 AM ET -
"Long Progression" | SONG REVIEW
The chiming opening notes on this new B side suggest a Sonic Youth jam, until the band comes in all fist pump pop-rock funky and Anthony Kiedis crows, "Been around for quite a while." Yes, he...
September 10, 2012 4:15 PM ET -
Silver Age | ALBUM REVIEW
"Never too old to contain my rage," bellows 51-year-old Bob Mould on his new solo LP, proving it on 10 songs (in 38 minutes) blistered with blow-torch riffs. The lyrics on Silver Age echo Mould's recent...
September 10, 2012 3:20 PM ET -
The Seer | ALBUM REVIEW
Born in the New York post-punk squalor that mothered pals Sonic Youth, Swans make their grandest statement yet for their 30th birthday. There are muses old (vocalist Jarboe) and new (Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O, singing...
September 10, 2012 3:10 PM ET -
Mature Themes | ALBUM REVIEW
After years of weird-ass bedroom recordings, Ariel Pink has upgraded his operation, and what he loses in stoner burble, he gains in high-def Sixties flashback triggers. The music gives the whimsy weight. "Only in My Dreams"...
September 10, 2012 3:00 PM ET -
Tempest | ALBUM REVIEW
Bob Dylan's 35th album begins with a train whistle exploding in his mind. He sees an old oak tree he used to climb...
August 30, 2012 12:00 AM ET -
Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac | ALBUM REVIEW
Wes Anderson's music guru Randall Poster produced this tribute with Gelya Robb, and it's as inspired as their 2011 LP Rave On Buddy Holly. Aside from Antony's sparkling "Landslide," the less-familiar stuff is most striking. Trixie...
August 14, 2012 9:20 AM ET -
"Chained" | SONG REVIEW
This second track from the xx's forthcoming second album plays Oliver Sim's vocals off Romy Madley-Croft's, and the result is like Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell circling each other in a space station,...
August 10, 2012 4:25 PM ET -
"Hippies Is Punks" | SONG REVIEW
Wavves' Nathan Williams sounds under the influence of his girlfriend, Bethany "Best Coast" Cosentino, on this indie trinket. Cleaner and peppier than Wavves' usual scuzz pop, it's like Dinosaur Jr. after a Phil Spector binge,...
August 10, 2012 4:15 PM ET -
"The Descent" | SONG REVIEW
The Hüsker Dü/Sugar vet drops a blast of hook-chiseled guitar noise with rueful lyrics that lead to a refrain of "Can I try to make it up to you somehow?" As guiltpunk purges go, it's not...
August 10, 2012 4:05 PM ET
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