Northern StateDying in Stereo(Startime)The rumours were big: they were going to turn NY uptown hip-hop on its ass, getting props in music mags and Vanity Fair. The concept: three women with a minimal beats, early- Beastie Boys approach to hip-hop. But the rhymes could use work and the minimal production is just boring production, not […]
Reviews
Posted inArts + Music
No Doubt
No Doubt The Singles 1993-2003 (Interscope)When you throw aside the filler that often bogs down their discs, No Doubt is one of the best pop bands around. From the breakthrough single “Just a Girl” to their previously un-issued cover of Talk Talk’s “It’s My Life,” The Singles is a fine collection. The disc shows their […]
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Amp Fiddler
Amp FiddlerWaltz of a Ghetto Fly(PIAS/Beggars)If Sly Stone were to emerge from his fog with some of the songs here, people would gasp in delight. Al Green may want to investigate singing a few others. Miles Davis atmospherics get goosed by a bassline that Prince might dream up. Aside from anointing such elements as his […]
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Hawksley Workman
Published September 25, 2003. Hawksley Workman Lover/Fighter (Universal) This is an album for anyone who has had their heart broken. It’s about the flip-flopping of emotions, fighting to remain composed and unaffected while trying to cope with the pain, or attempting to win back that someone with late-night phone calls while invested in a whiskey […]
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The Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of AlabamaGo Tell it on the Mountain(EMI)Wanna feel the spirit this Christmas? Go for the Blind Boys, who groove with the heaviest gospel sounds. They’ve been around since the 1940s, but have become world music stars of late thanks to Peter Gabriel’s Real World label. A flurry of guest stars join them […]
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Brothers in Stereo
Published December 04, 2003. Brothers in Stereo S/T (independent) Newfoundlanders Andrew and Chris LeDrew display solid chops and amiable songs to make a good first impression. The Brothers flash influences with ease: a borrowed Wilco riff here, Squeeze-esque harmonies there. Twelve-string guitar on the Tom Petty-like “January” is a particular treat. Like a painter working […]
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Basement Jaxx
Published November 13, 2003. Basement Jaxx Kish Kash (XL) How many elements can be crammed into a dance track before clutter impedes its booty-rattling capabilities? If Basement Jaxx is doing the cramming, many. Sonic density and guest stars (Dizzee Rascal, Siouxsie Sioux) define the third album. Lisa Kekuala of the Bellrays steps up on “Good […]
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Elvis Costello
Published October 23, 2003. Elvis Costello North (Universal) When I Was Cruel saw Elvis not only return to his angry young self, it was his strongest release since King of America. North ventures back to the material that graced his records with Burt Bacharach and Anne Sofie Von Otter. It’s a beautiful record filled with […]
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Limpbizkit
Published October 09, 2003. Limpbizkit Results May Vary (Interscope/Flip) Finally, a band that lives up to its name: Limpbizkit’s new album is as hard as Viagra withdrawal. After Wes Borland left Limp in search of credibility and Fred Durst “dated” Britney and couldn’t let it go (see “Eat You Alive”), Durst attempted a Dave Matthews-like […]
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Pete Francis
Published September 11, 2003. Pete Francis Untold (Hollywood) The sun has begun to pack its bags in preparation for the annual abandonment of us. So we’re going to need an album that will leave us feeling warm and sexy during those cool autumn nights. Pete Francis’s debut is that album. Francis’s roots-rock is warm and […]
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Danny Michel
Published August 14, 2003. Danny Michel Tales from the Invisible Man (Maple) “Nobody move, this is perfect,” Danny Michel warns in the opener of Tales from the Invisible Man. He’s talking about a girl, but his deft pop-folk record comes close too. Some songs, with their layered vocals, sound overproduced but only because Michel’s ballads […]
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Neko Case
Neko CaseFox Confessor Brings the Flood(Mint)Just how Neko Case does it is anyone’s guess. She works with one of the most exciting bands to come along in awhile, The New Pornographers, and she keeps putting out these solid records of her own. The latest — the provocatively, if not obscurely, titled Fox Confessor Brings the […]
