Category: Music
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Trent Tomlinson – Country Is My Rock
Artist: Trent Tomlinson Title: Country Is My Rock Label: Lyric Street Rating: 6.5/10 FILE UNDER: Country Rock. CORPORATE LINE: Singer/songwriter Trent Tomlinson is one of those rare performers whose music is as straight-ahead and unpretentious as he is. “My songs,” he says simply, “are real-life situations with kick-ass guitar.” “It’s ‘open a beer, sit in…
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Switchfoot – Interview [2006]
The San Diego alt-rock band Switchfoot’s new record, Nothing is Sound, once again finds Foreman questioning everything, as he did on the band’s two and a half-million selling breakout album The Beautiful Letdown. Switchfoot’s non-stop touring schedule—they performed 400 shows over the last two years—gave Foreman plenty of time to gnaw. In fact, Nothing is…
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Matisyahu – Youth
Artist: Matisyahu Title: Youth Label: Epic Rating: 5.5/10 FILE UNDER: Shtick or the Real? CORPORATE LINE: Since the release of his 2004 debut, Shake off the dust…ARISE and the phenomenal success of last year’s Live At Stubb’s, Matisyahu has continued to bring his uncanny, electrifying fusion of orthodox Judaism and classic reggae music to you…
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KT Tunstall – Eye To The Telescope
Artist: KT Tunstall Title: Eye To The Telescope Label: Relentless Rating: 8/10 FILE UNDER: Aimee Mann on Prozac. CORPORATE LINE: Tunstall is a sparkling new songwriter with Chinese blood, a Scottish heart, great legwarmers & a cool name. KT celebrates classic singer-songwriting in the tradition of Rikki Lee Jones, Carol King & Fleetwood Mac with…
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Nine Black Alps – Everything Is
Artist: Nine Black Alps Title: Everything Is Label: Interscope Rating: 7/10 FILE UNDER: Nine Black Alps = Nirvana-lite. CORPORATE LINE: Nine Black Alps Release their Debut Album. The Product of their La Recording Sessions with Beck and Elliot Smith Producer Rob Schnapf, ‘everything Is’ Includes their Debut Single ‘shot Down’ which Smashed Into the Charts…
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50 Cent – Interview [2006]
TIt’s that same street-born confidence that led hip-hop dream team Eminem and Dr. Dre to sign the former Jamaica, Queens crack dealer and music industry-shunned MC to their Shady/Aftermath imprint. The same sneering swagger that propelled 50 from underground mix-tape king to the top of Billboard album charts with his 2003 major-label debut Get Rich…
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Artic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am Thats What I Am Not
Artist: Artic Monkeys Title: Whatever People Say I Am Thats What I Am Not Label: Domino Rating: 7/10 CORPORATE LINE: Musically, there are bits of The Stone Roses, “What’s The Story Morning Glory”, and “Nevermind”. As catchy as those reference points are, it’s the songwriting that has won the band a fiercely dedicated following; a…
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Bing Crosby – The Definitive Collection
Artist: Bing Crosby Title: The Definitive Collection Label: Decca Rating: 7/10 FILE UNDER: Another Bing Crosby Greatest Hits. CORPORATE LINE: More useful as a primer than as a comprehensive overview of Bing Crosby’s 50-year career, Geffen’s THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION still packs in 22 superb cuts from the crooner’s massive discography. Beginning with the early 1930s…
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Lifehouse – Interview [2006]
Asked what kind of music can be found on Lifehouse’s third album (simply titled Lifehouse), Jason Wade pauses and says, “the kind of music I like to write. That’s one of the great things about having done a couple of records. I don’t second-guess myself anymore. When I’m writing, I’m not trying to please everyone.…
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Louis Armstrong – The Definitive Collection
Artist: Louis Armstrong Title: The Definitive Collection Label: Hip-O Rating: 8/10 FILE UNDER: The Legend THE REVIEW: Honestly there are no bad songs out of the twenty-three included. Each is a classic. Louis Armstrong had more classics—so many more that there was no way all of them could have fit on one CD. The record…