.

album reviews

Gold Panda

6
Half of Where You Live Ghostly International/Notown

Recorded while he dog-sat for his aunt and uncle, this London producer's debut compacted the big sounds of techno, hip-hop and ambient into music so transfixing it could make a walk around the block seem like an adventure. The pace of his second LP is quicker, but the style is happily the same. Short samples of hand drums and string instruments ricochet around in the mix like pinballs; one-word vocal phrases like "Brazil" repeat till they sound like mantras. As a break from the busier tr... | More »

June 7, 2013

The Lonely Island

7
The Wack Album Republic

Last time out, the Lonely Island made a classic joke-rap album while somehow persuading Michael Bolton to belt, "This whole town's a pussy just waiting to get fucked!" Their third LP isn't as sublimely silly, or as consistent, but it rocks the same mix of guest stars (T-Pain, Robyn), sophisticated concepts ("Semicolon") and totally unsophisticated sex jokes ("I F****D My Aunt"). The secret weapon is musical skill: TLI are versatile MCs, and A-list producers turn jokes into pro-grade... | More »

June 4, 2013

Eleanor Friedberger

7
Personal Record Merge

Listening to the classic-rock jigsaw puzzles Eleanor Friedberger and her brother Matthew create in the Fiery Furnaces can be difficult work. As a solo artist, she's more approachable. Her second LP is full of crisp, jangly indie pop that can suggest Harry Nilsson or a bookish early Stones, and it's packed with stories of young people too mopey and absent-minded to realize the person across the bar is hitting on them. As its title suggests, Personal Record is intimate but slyly self-... | More »

Quadron

7
Avalanche Vested in Culture/Epic

Producer-musician Robin Hannibal is having a killer year, in large part due to his great taste in singers. The follow-up to Rhye (his collaboration with gender-bending vocalist Mike Milosh) is the second album of new material from the project with his Danish homegirl Coco Maja Hastrup Karshøj, a.k.a. Coco O. An understated soul-pop diva whose sweetness belies her stone funkiness, she's already charmed hip-hop's new guard, including Jay-Z (who featured Coco on the Gatsby sound... | More »

Various Artists

5
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County Hear/Concord

Elvis Costello playing Satan – summoning his inner music-hall ham – is just one notable star turn in this soundtrack to Stephen King and John Mellencamp's musical. Based on a true story, the tale of Southern brothers and their grim family legacy is sung by Neko Case, Sheryl Crow, Taj Mahal, Kris Kristofferson, Rosanne Cash, real-life feuding siblings Dave and Phil Alvin, and more. T Bone Burnett shapes the time-traveling roots music, which illuminates the story, along with Ki... | More »

June 3, 2013
May 28, 2013

The-Dream

7
IV Play RadioKilla/Def Jam

"I can give a fuck about the IV Play/I want it now," The-Dream sings on his fifth album. The Atlanta singer-songwriter's romantic poetry makes Prince look like Art Garfunkel. But if his booty-poppin' subject matter isn't original, the kaleidoscope R&B butter-storms he cooks up give his sexcapades a hallucinatory drama. Check the white-noise synth slaps on "Pussy," the sparse, swirling trills on "Turnt" (featuring Her Beyness) or his nearly seven-minute fun-house mash-up of ... | More »

Wings

7
Wings Over America [Deluxe Edition] Hear/Concord

Wings Over America was Paul McCartney’s bold arena-rock (as opposed to pop) move of the 1970s – a triple-disc live set, complete with vocal showcases for the backup guys. It was also the first time he remade Beatles oldies – “Blackbird” and “Bluebird” fit together well. There’s something daft and touching about how McCartney strives for band democracy: Whenever Denny Laine sings lead, you can almost hear the fans stampede for their bathroom weed... | More »

Laura Marling

7
Once I Was An Eagle Ribbon

"It ain't me, babe," sings Laura Marling in "Master Hunter," echoing Dylan for her own back-the-fuck-off-my-love song. Since her days singing folk pop with the Mumford & Sons clan, she's followed her own muse to more-interesting places. Her fourth LP begins with seven songs linked by drones, lyric shards and a suicide-haunted relationship. The set goes on to explore loneliness in brighter shades, with percussion, strings and organ-coloring acoustic guitar. But her voice is the h... | More »

Music Reviews

  • star rating
    Watching Movies With the Sound Off
  • star rating
    Omens
  • star rating
    Walking on Air
more Reviews »
Daily Newsletter

Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
marketing partners.

X

We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

Song Stories

“Karma Chameleon”

Culture Club | 1983

Boy George has said this song was about standing by what you believe in. However, at the time, he was involved in a secret affair with Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. "Now people can understand the songs better," he said. "They were written about my relationship with Jon, and they were also written about being a gay man in a homophobic world." The lines "If I listen to your lies, would you say/I'm a man without conviction/I'm a man who doesn't know how to sell a contradiction," described his life at the time, he said. "I was selling this big lie."

More Song Stories entries »