The Pop Project – Stars of Stage and Screen (2008) purchase this album (Suburban Sprawl) Oh God, yes. I don’t know how I’ve managed to remain ignorant of this band…
Listening Booth
Death Cab for Cutie isn’t the only band who threw fans off with an unusual single this year. Go ahead and add Sigur Ros to that list. When they released…
From a place apart Morpheus, God of dreams, awakes The artist Robert Mapplethorpe died from complications of AIDS in 1989. According to his great friend, Patti Smith, Á¢€Å“His mortal suffering…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
… 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
In 2006, the Raconteurs (the pairing of Brendan Benson’s cheery pop sensibilities with Jack White’s rock and roll decadence), released their first album, Broken Boy Soldiers. It was a fun…
Too many electronic releases fall within two extreme aesthetics: icy cold or super dance party warm. It’s hard to make non-traditional, machine-made notes sound humane, simply because they’re not. With…
As everyone learned in Freud 101, the oft-controversial psychologist believed there are three egos in each of us: the Id (which focuses on our most basic desires — namely, food…