What was that goddamn noise? Something had been in my ear for a few weeks. I had my suspicions, so I paid a visit to my favorite review aggregator. Just…
Listening Booth
277 Articles
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
For a band like Radiohead, making a “best of” is almost like a slap in the face. Limiting their consistently impressive catalog to a handful of songs completely out of…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Dennis Wilson – Pacific Ocean Blue (1977/2008) purchase this album (Amazon) The normally overly kind All Music Guide refers to him as “the most obviously untalented Wilson brother at the…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Pete Hopkins – Odd Size Baggage (2006) purchase this album According to a quote posted on Pete Hopkins’ official site, former MTV veejay Adam Curry thinks “you know there is…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
The O’Jays – The Essential O’Jays (2008) purchase this album (Amazon) What, you thought you already bought The Essential O’Jays back in 2005, when Sony released another compilation called The…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Astrograss – Let Me Stay Up All Night (2008) purchase this album (Amazon) For years — in fact, until fairly recently — children’s music was where songwriting talent went to…
Mojo Flucke
1 Min Read
To me, a wannabe keyboard playa and a journalist who earns a monthly mortgage payment writing about topics other than music (yeah, Popdose ain’t the gravy train a lot of…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Val Emmich – Little Daggers (2008) purchase this album (Amazon) I wasn’t expecting much from this album, to put it mildly. Fashionably grungy album artwork depicting a baby-faced serial killer…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Rachael Sage – Chandelier (2008) purchase this album (BUYSWAG) Think you can’t make a successful run at an independent career in music unless your name is Ani DiFranco? Think again…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Glen Phillips – Secrets of the New Explorers (2008) purchase this album (CD Baby) A concept album about space travel? From former Toad the Wet Sprocket member Glen Phillips? Quelle…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
The French Kicks have presented the same problem to music journalists for a third time in a row. How do you write about music that’s unremarkable but pleasant in a…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
Listening to The In Crowd, the sophomore effort from Chicagoan rap duo Kidz in the Hall, is a lot like putting your R&B and rap collection on shuffle. Showing more…
Ken Shane
2 Min Read
One of the things that I like most about my job is that it allows me the opportunity to listen to, and write about, a variety of styles of music….
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
I’m going to give Augustana the benefit of the doubt. I’m not sure exactly why — itÁ¢€â„¢s not that I know much about them. All I really know is that…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
When it was announced that Scarlett Johansson was going to release an album, there was actually reason to be hopeful. Her sultry, smooth cover of “Summertime,” the first recording of…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
Trent Reznor strikes again. So, Ghosts I-IV didn’t satisfy your hunger, it wasn’t like a “real” Nine Inch Nails album, it was instrumental, it didn’t count? Well, that’s fine. ‘Cause…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
It would be a lie to say that listening to M83’s Saturdays=Youth is vaguely reminiscent of being transported back to the ’80s. Listening to M83’s Saturdays=Youth is incredibly reminiscent of…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
… and the soul train rolls on. This week’s entrant in the soul revival sweepstakes is Boston’s own Eli “Paperboy” Reed, who along with his band The True Loves, has…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
It’s been a good year for Bon Iver, aka Justin Vernon. Last year, Vernon independently released his album, For Emma, Forever Ago. After a round of accolades from online and…
Ken Shane
2 Min Read
This raises a question that I have pondered recently. When asked to review a classic album, what is the job of the reviewer? Surely anyone who is taking the time…
Robert Cass
3 Min Read
If Tenacious D is a ninth grader who just discovered the rockin’ awesomeness of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, then Flight of the Conchords is his college-age brother, broadening his…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
Last week I reported on the recent spate of old school soul releases by, for the most part, younger artists. It’s a trend that I’m as grateful for as I…
Taylor Long
2 Min Read
If putting money in the hands of artists isn’t charitable enough to compel people to buy music, Green Owl Records is hoping that helping the planet will be. Founded in…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
The last time I saw them perform, which was at least two years ago, if not longer, the Gossip put on one of the most exhilarating live shows around. Listening…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
A couple of weeks ago I watched a new documentary about the creation of the Doors’ first album. Almost immediately after that, I dove into the new Nick Cave &…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
Don’t look now, but there appears to be something of a soul revival going on these days, and I’m not talking about that so-called “neosoul,” with its programmed beats, overly…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
Having moved away from Seattle to the cement pastures of New York City, I feel woefully out of touch with the consistently good music scene of my hometown. To make…
Ken Shane
1 Min Read
It’s a new year, and with it comes another British pop-soul diva to tempt us. You may recall that a very young Joss Stone turned up from out of nowhere…
Robert Cass
5 Min Read
It’s a Shame About Ray, the Lemonheads’ fifth album, was released on June 2, 1992. With sunny melodies and honeyed vocals from frontman Evan Dando and sit-in bassist Juliana Hatfield,…