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(04/01/10 8:00am)
Usher, everybody’s favorite R&B superstar circa 2004, is back with his sixth album, Raymond v Raymond. This seems like it should be a big deal: although his R. Kelly-for-kids-sans-statutory-rape act has lost a bit of its luster in the past five years, Usher still holds a fair amount of capital in the pop music realm. But at the same time, Usher also released an album in 2008 titled Here I Stand, and if you weren’t previously aware of it, you aren’t alone. An ode to married life via slow-burning ballads, Here I Stand was something of a foil to previous blockbuster Confessions and never gained the commercial success of its predecessor.
(03/25/10 8:00am)
Tiger Woods has done a lot of apologizing recently. First he had a press conference and basically said, “Sorry, everybody, I shouldn’t have had sex with all those porn stars.” Then he gave a five-minute interview about his sex addiction and the long road to recovery. He talked about inpatient treatment, outpatient treatment (wonder if this is analogous to intercourse and outercourse) and getting back to his Buddhist roots, which presumably does not involve graphic sexting. People seem to be truly affected by Tiger Woods’ infidelity and angry with him for cheating on his wife.
(03/18/10 8:00am)
I was a total sucker for jj’s debut offering, nº 2. Part of the appeal was the aesthetic—an embodiment of what LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy called “borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered ’80s”—a more faithful approximation of that decade’s music than anything Alan Palomo has ever written. More importantly, the melodies were pretty much undeniable. And while much was made of jj’s particularly smoked-out brand of dream-pop, it was those melodies that made nº 2 one of the best records of 2009.
(03/04/10 10:00am)
There’s a rather distinguished group on hand at the Nasher for Professor Mark Anthony Neal’s African and African-American Studies 132 lecture.
(02/25/10 10:00am)
It feels curious to review Joanna Newsom’s third release, Have One On Me, as an album.
(02/18/10 10:00am)
Gorilla Manor, the first full-length release from Los Angeles quintet Local Natives, sounds like the work of a much more accomplished band, well-formed and generally agreeable.
(02/11/10 10:00am)
Here’s a familiar story: Brooklyn band with experimental tendencies releases one of the first buzzworthy albums of the year to widespread critical acclaim. In the process, their sound becomes more accessible, opening them up to an entirely new audience and increased cultural relevance. In 2009, that band was Animal Collective. This year, it’s Yeasayer.
(02/04/10 10:00am)
Lil Wayne’s been trying on rock star clothes as of late, noodling on a guitar at concerts and singing in an Auto-Tune-heavy croak. It’s an ill-fitting persona, one that makes Weezy seem more delusional than innovative. Rebirth, his much delayed yet hardly anticipated rock album, reinforces the notion that he should stick to his day job.
(01/28/10 10:00am)
Jason Moran’s performances this weekend mark the latest collaboration between Duke and one of the most acclaimed pianists and composers in the jazz world. But it’s hardly the the first.
(01/21/10 10:00am)
Remember “The Underdog” from Spoon’s 2007 breakthrough LP Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga? How it seemed like an overt metaphor for their whole career, given their previous struggles with Elektra Records and their forthcoming commercial success? How the song opened up one of indie rock’s most respected acts to a whole new audience? There’s nothing like it on their seventh full-length album, Transference, a curious yet satisfying step back into their own catalog.
(12/03/09 10:00am)
Be careful with Hospice, because it could very well ruin your day. Self-released by Antlers frontman Peter Silberman in March, it is the most profoundly sad album of the year. It’s also the best, an incredibly evocative narrative of guilt, loss and most importantly redemption.
(11/19/09 10:00am)
50 Cent’s back, he’s mad as hell and he’s not gonna take it anymore. At least, that’s the premise behind Before I Self Destruct, his fourth full-length album. Fiddy described it as a prequel to his blockbuster debut Get Rich or Die Tryin’.
(11/05/09 10:00am)
The Love Language frontman Stuart McLamb is a funny guy. A day after signing to Durham-based Merge Records Oct. 1, he said in a press release, “As of yesterday, I’ve overdrawn my bank account by $200, my girlfriend dumped me, and my car won’t start. I think this Merge deal could be a real turning point.”
(10/22/09 8:00am)
Be glad for Logos, because it almost never made it. After unintentionally leaking unfinished versions of every song on his solo project Atlas Sound’s second full-length, Bradford Cox nearly scrapped the entire thing in dismay. He ultimately came back to the material, giving it the treatment it deserves and, in the process, making one of the best shoegaze albums in a year chock full of them.
(10/08/09 8:00am)
The xx aren’t trying too hard, and that might be the most refreshing part of their eponymous debut. A batch of quiet, R&B-inspired songs that deal almost exclusively in heightening, resolving or reconciling sexual tension, xx sounds like the work of a band comfortable in its own shoes. Every detail—the wash of heavily reverbed guitars, the deftly conversational bass lines, the sparse percussion—is carefully employed toward creating sublimely understated pop music.
(09/17/09 8:00am)
Though Jay would never admit it, the status he’s attained does have its downsides. Being hip-hop’s global ambassador for more than a decade has changed his perspective, but more than that, it’s changed his lifestyle. As we saw on Hov’s comeback album Kingdom Come, the witty crack-rap that made him the legend he ultimately became is in short supply. Jay isn’t that guy anymore and hasn’t been for some time. It comes as little surprise then that he isn’t making that type of music anymore.
