Jun 09, 2017
Music
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London Grammar gained prominence in 2013 with a memorable appearance on Disclosure’s debut album Settle, followed by their debut album If You Wait.
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Jun 08, 2017
Music
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It’s natural to be seduced by contemporary apparatus of sound sculpting that intensifies the listening experience. Then you hear a band like Big Thief and recognize the potential power in balanced unison of guitar, drum and voice and that these essential means of expression are the most direct conductors of the passions of musical souls.
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Jun 08, 2017
Music
Agent Blå
Sounding like a mix of Joy Division and Cocteau Twins on speed, Swedish rockers Agent Blå tread a path between shoegaze and post-punk.
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Jun 07, 2017
Music
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When they’re having a bad day, what gets the four members of Phoenix out of bed, because for the rest of us it’s the gloriously buoyant pop-rock they’ve been practising for nearly two decades now.
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Jun 07, 2017
Music
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Unlike other recent albums of Glen Campbell’s that combined covers of ‘60s and ‘70s tunes with more modern material by songwriters like Paul Westerberg, this features Campbell covering 12 of his all-time favorite songs by writers like Jimmy Webb, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and others.
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Jun 06, 2017
Music
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When Benjamin Booker sings, he sounds like a train trying to squeeze through a blocked tunnel. His voice is a potent weapon, a gravel inflected rasp deployed with unerring accuracy.
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Jun 05, 2017
Music
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Saint Etienne prove they are still capable of pop greatness. Stylistically more diverse (see the Latin flavor of “Dive,” and the dustings of ‘60s baroque pop sprinkled about the album) and using more real instruments than on previous outings, the London trio pay homage to the suburbs from which they sprang.
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Jun 02, 2017
Music
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Blues obsession notwithstanding, Dan Auerbach has always been a pop songwriter. For every Skip James trick featured in the Black Keys songbook, there have been five more courtesy of Roy Orbison or Ray Davies (see: the cover of The Kinks’ “Act Nice and Gentle” on Rubber Factory).
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Jun 01, 2017
Music
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One wouldn’t assume that a series of zeroes and ones could be sung in a convincing, let alone catchy, refrain. It might also seem equally impossible to sing a revolutionary new rendition of a song as overexposed as “The House of the Rising Sun.” Yet alt-J do all that and more on their new LP, Relaxer.
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Jun 01, 2017
Music
Chastity Belt
When we last heard from Chastity Belt, the band asked, “Is it cool to care?” The answer was the only response a group with songs like “Pussy Weed Beer” could deliver: “I don’t care.”
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