Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of The Chronicle's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query. You can also try a Basic search
61 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
Hilary Duff's third album, Dignity, begins to reveal that at least some substance might remain in the human who was once Lizzie McGuire. Duff has moved away from the tween-pop of her past, leaving behind peers like Natasha Bedingfield, Ashlee Simpson and the even-more-soulless Kelly Clarkson, embedding herself fully in the electro-pop genre. And the result is not as horrific as one might expect.
Reviewing super-producer Timbaland's second studio release, Timbaland Presents Shock Value, is no easy task. Sure, most of the songs are perfectly produced and executed, from the club-ready "Give It to Me" and the haunting "Kill Yourself," to the brilliantly weird "Bounce."
Many words can be used to describe Rjd2's third studio album, The Third Hand, but the one that comes to mind the most often is disappointing. The album finds Rjd2, an accomplished hip-hop producer, completely abandoning his hip-hop foundations. Sampled beats and hot guest rhymes are traded for synths and Rjd2's own singing voice.
All-girl nu-metal group Kittie's latest album, Funeral for Yesterday, is a pathetic mess. Lead singer Morgan Lander (think a goth version of Courtney Love who was called fat one too many times as a kid) sounds like she lifted her lyrics directly from a depressed eighth grader's book of poetry. Spitting such pseudo-philosophical lyrics as "When you don't know yourself/ It's time to get out of here," and the insightful "Summer dies/ Winter takes its place," Lander screeches and wails atonally over thrashing detuned guitars and pounding double kick drums.
Durham-based group the Nein's sophomore album, Luxury, both excites and disappoints. Taking their post-punk influences to the logical next step, Luxury's sound is more cohesive than their 2005 debut album Wrath of Circuits. But despite the cohesion, Luxury lacks the hard-hitting desperation apparent in Wrath of Circuits-much of the urgent distorted bass and snare drum ubiquitous in Wrath is replaced by a quieter nebula of noise on the new disc. Despite this, there are many points in Luxury where the Nein shines-namely, in the melody-driven "Decollage" and "Burn Construction," and the group's most obvious maturation in the radio-friendly "Get Up."
NEW YORK - Trapper hats, winter coats and Chanel purses were plentiful in the streets near Bryant Park last week, as Fashion Week attendees sipped Starbucks and rushed around the city to watch their favorite designers predict what will trickle down to the mainstream population years from now.
There's always something unsettling when an artist releases two albums in the same year. Inevitably, the second lies in the shadow of the first, and brings up many speculative questions: is this album just B-sides? Why not release a double album? What makes this one different?
There are hundreds of hip-hop albums released every year. Some are terrible, some are good. Some are even great. But then there's Jay-Z, and his most recent release, Kingdom Come.
Damien Rice's second album, 9, evokes many memories. Occasionally, it makes one cry. More often, however, it makes one love life. Here are some other things that you will think of during or after listening to 9-other than life and tears:
Just as we look back with awe and fascination at ancient pyramids, those of the future will be enthralled when they experience Playing With Fire, Kevin Federline's diamond-quality debut album. A gifted lyricist, Federline delivers, with clarity and passion, lines such as "Hand your ass to you in a basket wrapped in plastic" and "I'm loony, all these model chicks wanna do me." The man is, without a doubt, the crown jewel of our modern age.
If you can only see one band at Troika, make it the Mountain Goats. Arguably the most popular band to play at the festival, the Mountain Goats-a moniker of singer-songwriter John Darnielle-have been selling records nationally since 1995, and they've amassed a huge cult following over the years. Regarded as one of the founders of the lo-fi genre, Darnielle is signed to legendary indie label 4AD (home of artists such as M. Ward and Blonde Redhead) and was hailed last year by the New Yorker as one of the best lyricists of our time. And a couple of years ago, Darnielle moved from California to Durham. In an interview with recess last year, he cited "the nearness to the ocean, the weather and the widespread availability of boiled peanuts" as his reasons for moving. The Mountain Goats are a huge first step toward pushing Durham's music scene into any sort of significance, and they will no doubt put on one incredible show.
Senior Josh Posen is an amazingly calm man.
Let's not beat around the bush-Diddy doesn't deserve to be successful. In fact, he doesn't even deserve the 200 words devoted to him on this page concerned his upcoming album, Press Play. Although these statements might be harsh, let's not forget exactly who Diddy is. To mention a few, Diddy is a mediocre rapper, a worse actor, the founder of a terrible record label and an artist who has changed his name more times than Prince. He is also someone who takes videos of himself brushing his teeth and peeing, assuming that we are seriously interested in his hygiene and urinary excretions. In short, Diddy is the poster child for how an untalented Joe can become a multi-platinum-selling "musician." His secret? Unoriginality. Back in the day, The Onion wrote a cheeky article poking fun at Diddy's inability to create his own music. The sad part about this is that it's true. From Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" to Tears For Fears' "Head Over Heels," Diddy raps-poorly-over another band's entire song. And so here we are given Press Play, another pathetic attempt at a rap album guaranteed to go platinum. Diddy is just another Jay-Z wannabe who, through some fluke in universal logic, became disgustingly popular. So do the world a favor and do not buy this album. Seriously-if you like Diddy, you have bad taste in music. Period.
I crashed New York Fashion Week.
Justin Timberlake
Editor's note: On these pages, we often discuss the power of art to promote peace, love and tolerance. We forget sometimes that art can have every bit as much power to promote divisive themes as it does to bring people together. So what happens when the line blurs between art and politics-especially when those politics are contentious? We've decided to explore this question in a three-part series about controversial musicians emerging on the national scene. This article is the final article in the series.
Editor's note: On these pages, we often discuss the power of art to promote peace, love and tolerance. We forget sometimes that art can have every bit as much power to promote divisive themes as it does to bring people together. So what happens when the line blurs between art and politics-especially when those politics are contentious? We've decided to explore this question in a three-part series about controversial musicians emerging on the national scene. This article is the second in the series.
Editor's note: On these pages, we often discuss the power of art to promote peace, love and tolerance. We forget sometimes that art can have every bit as much power to promote divisive themes as it does to bring people together. So what happens when the line blurs between art and politics-especially when those politics are contentious? We've decided to explore this question in a three-part series about controversial musicians emerging on the national scene. This article, about a teen singing duo that promotes White Nationalism, is the first in the series.
Music editor Matt Dearborn talks with one of rap's old-time greats who's finally making it big
Don't expect anything new from Enya in her new album, Amarantine. But for the queen of pop-laced new wave music, the lack of change is not necessarily a bad thing. And Amarantine combines just that type of music-a combination of songs with no coherent melody, breathy vocals, random strings and beautiful songs along the same vein as "Only Time," the song that made her famous.
