Click Track: Quick spins


Posted at 02:29 PM ET, 03/06/2012

Quick spins: Andrew Bird, Shooter Jennings, Zieti
By Click Track

By Click Track  |  02:29 PM ET, 03/06/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins

Posted at 11:41 AM ET, 01/31/2012

Album reviews: Lana Del Rey, Prinzhorn Dance School, Ana Tijoux, SOJA
By Click Track
This week’s most notable new releases.

By Click Track  |  11:41 AM ET, 01/31/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Album reviews, Quick spins | Tags:  Lana Del Rey, Prinzhorn Dance School, Ana Tijoux, SOJA

Posted at 10:26 AM ET, 01/24/2012

Album reviews: Tim McGraw, Craig Finn, Ringo Starr, Bhi Bhiman
By Click Track
Notable new albums this week.

By Click Track  |  10:26 AM ET, 01/24/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Tim McGraw, Craig Finn, Ringo Starr, Bhi Bhiman

Posted at 10:48 AM ET, 01/17/2012

Quick spins: Soulja Boy, Steve Aoki, Howler
By Click Track
Noteworthy albums out this week.

By Click Track  |  10:48 AM ET, 01/17/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Soulja Boy, Steve Aoki, Howler

Posted at 12:28 PM ET, 12/27/2011

Lost tracks: Jhene Aiko, Scott Holstein, Britta Persson, Los Rakas, Dope Body
By Chris Richards
Good music we overlooked this year.

By Chris Richards  |  12:28 PM ET, 12/27/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Jhene Aiko, Scott Holstein, Birtta Persson, Los Rakas, Dope Body

Posted at 12:10 PM ET, 12/27/2011

Lost tracks: Killer Mike, Julianna Barwick, Shintaro Sakamoto
By Sarah Godfrey, David Malitz and Timothy Bracy
Good music we overlooked this year.

By Sarah Godfrey, David Malitz and Timothy Bracy  |  12:10 PM ET, 12/27/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Killer Mike, Julianna Barwick, Shintaro Sakamoto

Posted at 11:21 AM ET, 12/20/2011

Quick spins: Young Jeezy, Common, Sia Tolno
By Click Track
This week’s most notable new albums.

By Click Track  |  11:21 AM ET, 12/20/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Young Jeezy, Common, Sia Tolno

Posted at 10:29 AM ET, 12/13/2011

Quick spins: Jonsi, Anthony Hamilton, yU
By Click Track
New albums out this week.

By Click Track  |  10:29 AM ET, 12/13/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Jonsi, Anthony Hamilton, yU

Posted at 11:14 AM ET, 11/29/2011

Quick spins: Romeo Santos, Hot Chelle Rae, Freddie Gibbs
By Click Track
This week’s noteworthy new albums.

By Click Track  |  11:14 AM ET, 11/29/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Romeo Santos, Hot Chelle Rae, Freddie Gibbs

Posted at 10:16 AM ET, 11/22/2011

Quick spins: Mary J. Blige, Escort, Daughtry
By Sarah Godfrey, David Malitz and Allison Stewart
R&B queen Blige tries to recapture her glory years, New York disco faves Escort release a long-awaited full-length and Daughtry keeps plugging away.

By Sarah Godfrey, David Malitz and Allison Stewart  |  10:16 AM ET, 11/22/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Mary J. Blige, Escort, Daughtry

Posted at 11:08 AM ET, 11/15/2011

Quick spins: Childish Gambino, Korallreven, David Nail
By Allison Stewart, Patrick Foster and Bill Friskics-Warren
This week’s most noteworthy new releases.

By Allison Stewart, Patrick Foster and Bill Friskics-Warren  |  11:08 AM ET, 11/15/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Childish Gambino, Korallreven, David Nail

Posted at 10:06 AM ET, 11/08/2011

Quick spins: Meshell Ndegeocello, Noel Gallagher, Oneohtrix Point Never
By Sarah Godfrey, Elizabeth Nelson and David Malitz
New albums to listen to this week.

By Sarah Godfrey, Elizabeth Nelson and David Malitz  |  10:06 AM ET, 11/08/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Meshell Ndegdeocello, Noel Gallagher, Oneohtrix Point Never

Posted at 10:29 AM ET, 10/25/2011

Quick spins: Tom Waits, Kiran Ahluwalia, Justice
By Elizabeth Nelson, Bill Friskics-Warren and David Malitz
This week’s noteworthy new albums.

By Elizabeth Nelson, Bill Friskics-Warren and David Malitz  |  10:29 AM ET, 10/25/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Tom Waits, Kiran Ahluwalia, Justice

Posted at 10:09 AM ET, 10/18/2011

Quick spins: Shelby Lynne, Pree, Xeno & Oaklander
By Bill Friskics-Warren, Elizabeth Nelson and David Malitz
This week’s most interesting new releases.

By Bill Friskics-Warren, Elizabeth Nelson and David Malitz  |  10:09 AM ET, 10/18/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Shelby Lynne, Pree, Xeno & Oaklander

Posted at 10:15 AM ET, 10/11/2011

Quick spins: Bjork, Ryan Adams, I-Wayne
By Allison Stewart, Timothy Bracy and Sarah Godfrey
Reviews of some of this week’s most important releases.

By Allison Stewart, Timothy Bracy and Sarah Godfrey  |  10:15 AM ET, 10/11/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Bjork, Ryan Adams, I-Wayne

Posted at 10:13 AM ET, 10/04/2011

Quick spins: Feist, Merle Haggard, DRC Music
By Patrick Foster, Allison Stewart and David Malitz
Feist returns after four years, country legend Haggard offers a new album and an exciting compilation of music from Democratic Republic of Congo.

By Patrick Foster, Allison Stewart and David Malitz  |  10:13 AM ET, 10/04/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Feist, Merle Haggard, DRC Music

Posted at 09:50 AM ET, 09/27/2011

Quick spins: J. Cole, LeAnn Rimes, Mastodon
By Allison Stewart, Bill Friskics-Warren and David Malitz

By Allison Stewart, Bill Friskics-Warren and David Malitz  |  09:50 AM ET, 09/27/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  J. Cole, LeAnn Rimes, Mastodon

Posted at 09:52 AM ET, 09/20/2011

Quick spins: SuperHeavy, Megafaun, Tabi Bonney
By Allison Stewart, Timoth Bracy and David Malitz

By Allison Stewart, Timoth Bracy and David Malitz  |  09:52 AM ET, 09/20/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  SuperHeavy, Megafaun, Tabi Bonney

Posted at 05:51 PM ET, 09/15/2011

Five recent albums you should know about
By David Malitz
Excellent recent under-the-radar releases from Total Control, Spaceghostpurrp, The Men and more.

By David Malitz  |  05:51 PM ET, 09/15/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Really quick spins | Tags:  Total Control, Spaceghostpurrp, The Men, Oddisee, Fair Ohs

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 09/13/2011

Quick spins: Girls, Trombone Shorty, Das Racist
By Patrick Foster, Elizabeth Nelson and Allison Stewart

By Patrick Foster, Elizabeth Nelson and Allison Stewart  |  10:00 AM ET, 09/13/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Girls, Trombone Shorty, Girls

Posted at 11:07 AM ET, 09/06/2011

Quick spins: George Strait, Asa, St. Vincent
By Allison Stewart, Bill Friskics-Warren and David Malitz

By Allison Stewart, Bill Friskics-Warren and David Malitz  |  11:07 AM ET, 09/06/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  George Strait, Asa, St. Vincent

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 08/30/2011

Quick spins: Tommy Keene, Beirut, Tinariwen
By Timothy Bracy, Patrick Foster and Bill Friskics-Warren

By Timothy Bracy, Patrick Foster and Bill Friskics-Warren  |  10:00 AM ET, 08/30/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Tommy Keene, Beirut, Tinariwen

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 08/23/2011

Quick spins: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Game, Sun Araw
By Elizabeth Nelson and David Malitz

By Elizabeth Nelson and David Malitz  |  09:00 AM ET, 08/23/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Stephen Malkmus, Game, Sun Araw

Posted at 11:55 AM ET, 08/16/2011

Quick spins: The War on Drugs, Sly Stone, Hercules and Love Affair
By Patrick Foster, Allison Stewart and David Malitz

By Patrick Foster, Allison Stewart and David Malitz  |  11:55 AM ET, 08/16/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  The War on Drugs, Sly Stone, Hercules and Love Affair

Posted at 12:28 PM ET, 08/09/2011

Quick spins: Addis Acoustic Project, Gucci Mane & Waka Flocka Flame, Trivium
By Bill Friskics-Warren and Allison Stewart

By Bill Friskics-Warren and Allison Stewart  |  12:28 PM ET, 08/09/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Addis Acoustic Project, Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka Flame, Trivium

Posted at 10:15 AM ET, 08/05/2011

Album review: Luke Bryan, “Tailgates & Tanlines”
By Allison Stewart

By Allison Stewart  |  10:15 AM ET, 08/05/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Luke Bryan

Posted at 11:30 AM ET, 08/02/2011

Quick spins: Trace Adkins, Richard Buckner, Ximena, Sarinana
By Allison Stewart and David Malitz

By Allison Stewart and David Malitz  |  11:30 AM ET, 08/02/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Trace Adkins, Richard Buckner, Ximena Sarinana

Posted at 12:00 PM ET, 07/26/2011

Quick spins: Kelly Rowland, Little Dragon, the Horrors
By Allison Stewart, Bill Friskics-Warren and David Malitz

By Allison Stewart, Bill Friskics-Warren and David Malitz  |  12:00 PM ET, 07/26/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Kelly Rowland, Little Dragon, The Horrors

Posted at 11:56 AM ET, 07/19/2011

Quick spins: Theophilius London, Pictureplane, They Might Be Giants
By Allison Stewart, David Malitz and Elizabeth Nelson

By Allison Stewart, David Malitz and Elizabeth Nelson  |  11:56 AM ET, 07/19/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Theophilius London, Pictureplane, They Might Be Giants

Posted at 11:23 AM ET, 07/12/2011

Quick spins: Eleanor Friedberger, Washed Out, The Cool Kids
By David Malitz, Patrick Foster and Allison Stewart
A lyrical ad­ven­ture from the Fiery Furnaces singer, an elegant full-length debut from Washed Out and the oft-delayed, not-really-worth-the-wait debut from the Cool Kids.

By David Malitz, Patrick Foster and Allison Stewart  |  11:23 AM ET, 07/12/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Eleanor Friedberger, Washed Out, The Cool Kids

Posted at 12:30 PM ET, 07/05/2011

Quick spins: Lloyd, Pure X, Old 97s
By Allison Stewart, David Malitz and Tim Bracy

By Allison Stewart, David Malitz and Tim Bracy  |  12:30 PM ET, 07/05/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Lloyd, Pure X, Old 97s

Posted at 11:08 AM ET, 06/28/2011

Quick spins: Dolly Parton, Big Sean, Jill Scott
By Allison Stewart and Bill Friskics-Warren
Reviews of new albums by Dolly Parton, Big Sean and Jill Scott.

By Allison Stewart and Bill Friskics-Warren  |  11:08 AM ET, 06/28/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Dolly Parton, Big Sean, Jill Scott

Posted at 12:00 PM ET, 06/22/2011

Listen: Benoit and Sergio, “Everybody”
By Click Track
The duo’s new single is Freon-cool.

By Click Track  |  12:00 PM ET, 06/22/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Benoit & Sergio

Posted at 11:53 AM ET, 06/21/2011

Quick spins: Ty Segall, Iceage, Justin Moore
By David Malitz and Bill Friskics-Warren
Ty Segall expands his garage rock repetoire, Danish teenage punks Iceage offer a scorched-Earth debut and Justin Moore lays the hillbilly shtick on thick.

By David Malitz and Bill Friskics-Warren  |  11:53 AM ET, 06/21/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Ty Segall, Iceage, Justin Moore

Posted at 12:21 PM ET, 06/14/2011

Quick spins: Junior Boys, Owl City, La Cherga
By Patrick Foster, Allison Stewart and Bill Friskics-Warren
New albums from Canadian synth-pop duo Junior Boys, platinum-selling basement sensation Owl City and multicultural juggernaut La Cherga.

By Patrick Foster, Allison Stewart and Bill Friskics-Warren  |  12:21 PM ET, 06/14/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Junior Boys, Owl City, La Cherga

Posted at 12:29 PM ET, 06/07/2011

Quick spins: [Expletive] Up, The Rosebuds, Black Cobain
By David Malitz, Timothy Bracy and Allison Stewart
An epic new album from Toronto’s [Expletive] Up, a stellar breakup album from the Rosebuds and a very promising new mixtape from D.C. rapper Black Cobain.

By David Malitz, Timothy Bracy and Allison Stewart  |  12:29 PM ET, 06/07/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  [Expletive] Up, The Rosebuds, Black CObain

Posted at 01:02 PM ET, 05/31/2011

Quick spins: The Vaccines, The Black Swans, “Dave Nada Presents Moombahton”
By Allison Stewart and Bill-Friskics-Warren
New albums from Brit-rockers the Vaccines, shambling indie rockers the Black Swans and moombahton inventor Dave Nada.

By Allison Stewart and Bill-Friskics-Warren  |  01:02 PM ET, 05/31/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  The Vaccines, The Black Swans, Dave Nada

Posted at 11:43 AM ET, 05/24/2011

Quick spins: Brad Paisley, Maybach Music Group, Thurston Moore
By Emily Yahr, David Malitz and Allison Stewart
Reviews of new albums by country star Brad Paisley, Rick Ross’s newly-formed Maybach Music Group and Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore’s new solo album.

By Emily Yahr, David Malitz and Allison Stewart  |  11:43 AM ET, 05/24/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Brad Paisley; Rick Ross; Wale; Pill; Meek Mill; Thurston Moore

Posted at 01:10 PM ET, 05/17/2011

Quick spins: Tinie Tempah, Thee Oh Sees, Mia Doi Todd
By Allison Stewart, David Malitz and Bill Friskics-Warren
New albums from British electro-rapper Tinie Tempah, Bay Area garage rockers Thee Oh Sees and neo-folk singer Mia Doi Todd.

By Allison Stewart, David Malitz and Bill Friskics-Warren  |  01:10 PM ET, 05/17/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Tinie Tempah, Thee Oh Sees, Mia Doi Todd

Posted at 12:24 PM ET, 05/10/2011

Quick spins: The Cars, Raphael Saadiq, Matthew Morrison
By Patrick Foster, Bill Friskics-Warren and Allison Stewart

By Patrick Foster, Bill Friskics-Warren and Allison Stewart  |  12:24 PM ET, 05/10/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  The Cars, Raphael Saadiq, Matthew Morrison

Posted at 11:53 AM ET, 05/03/2011

Quick spins: Beastie Boys, Fleet Foxes, Aretha Franklin
By Patrick Foster, David Malitz and Allison Stewart
The Beastie Boys and Aretha Franklin soldier on while Fleet Foxes release a successful second album.

By Patrick Foster, David Malitz and Allison Stewart  |  11:53 AM ET, 05/03/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Beastie Boys, Fleet Foxes, Aretha Franklin

Posted at 01:58 PM ET, 04/26/2011

Quick spins: Times New Viking, Bootsy Collins, Holy Ghost!
By David Malitz, Bill Friskics-Warren and Allison Stewart

By David Malitz, Bill Friskics-Warren and Allison Stewart  |  01:58 PM ET, 04/26/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Times New Viking, Bootsy Collins, Holy Ghost!

Posted at 01:54 PM ET, 04/19/2011

Quick spins: Tune-Yards, Ralph Stanley, DJ Quik
By Patrick Foster, Bill Friskics-Warren and Allison Stewart
Stellar new albums from one-woman experimental band Tune-Yards, bluegrass great Ralph Stanley and West Coast hip-hop icon DJ Quik.

By Patrick Foster, Bill Friskics-Warren and Allison Stewart  |  01:54 PM ET, 04/19/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Tune-Yards, Ralph Stanley, DJ Quik

Posted at 12:18 PM ET, 04/12/2011

Quick spins: TV on the Radio; Jessie J; Alison Krauss
By David Malitz, Allison Stewart and Bill Friskics-Warren
Reviews of new albums by art-rock group TV on the Radio, nascent pop star Jessie J and bluegrass favorite Alison Krauss.

By David Malitz, Allison Stewart and Bill Friskics-Warren  |  12:18 PM ET, 04/12/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  TV on the Radio, Jessie J, Alison Krauss

Posted at 10:56 AM ET, 03/29/2011

Quick spins: Wiz Khalifa, Dirty Beaches, Mary Mary
By Allison Stewart and David Malitz
New albums by rapper Wiz Khalifa, indie enigma Dirty Beaches and gospel duo Mary Mary, reviewed.

By Allison Stewart and David Malitz  |  10:56 AM ET, 03/29/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Click Track, Quick spins | Tags:  Wiz Khalifa, Dirty Beaches, Mary Mary

Posted at 12:50 PM ET, 03/22/2011

Album review: Chris Brown, “F.A.M.E.”
By Sean Fennessey
Chris Brown doubles down on aggression on his second album since his infamous domestic violence arrest.

By Sean Fennessey  |  12:50 PM ET, 03/22/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Chris Brown

Posted at 12:01 PM ET, 03/22/2011

Album review: Duran Duran, “All You Need Is Now”
By Allison Stewart
On its 13th album in 30 years, Duran Duran sounds like a modern version of itself. Which is a good thing.

By Allison Stewart  |  12:01 PM ET, 03/22/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Duran Duran

Posted at 02:46 PM ET, 03/15/2011

Album review: Travis Barker, “Give the Drummer Some”
By Allison Stewart
Blink-182’s drummer surrounds himself with famous guests and the results are predictably messy and uninspired.

By Allison Stewart  |  02:46 PM ET, 03/15/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Travis Barker

Posted at 01:45 PM ET, 03/15/2011

Album review: Caitlin Rose, “Own Side Now”
By Bill Friskics-Warren
The Nashville newcomer is highly poised on her debut album.

By Bill Friskics-Warren  |  01:45 PM ET, 03/15/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Caitlin Rose

Posted at 12:53 PM ET, 03/15/2011

Album review: Miranda Cosgrove, “High Maintenance”
By Allison Stewart
Yet another tween singer enters an overcrowded market.

By Allison Stewart  |  12:53 PM ET, 03/15/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Miranda Cosgrove

Posted at 12:54 PM ET, 03/08/2011

Album review: Avril Lavigne, "Goodbye Lullaby"
By Allison Stewart
There’s not a lot of fun to be had on Avril Lavigne’s new album.

By Allison Stewart  |  12:54 PM ET, 03/08/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Avril Lavigne

Posted at 01:45 PM ET, 03/01/2011

Album review: Ron Sexsmith, "Long Player Late Bloomer"
By Joe Heim
Ron Sexsmith shares more keen observations on his latest. (Natasha Bardin) Ron Sexsmith has a rainy-day voice to match his rainy-day songs. Mellifluous but with enough of a burr to keep your attention, it's a unique quality that the baby-faced,...

By Joe Heim  |  01:45 PM ET, 03/01/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Ron Sexsmith

Posted at 01:25 PM ET, 03/01/2011

Album review: Marsha Ambrosius, "Late Nights & Early Mornings"
By Allison Stewart
Former Floetry member Marsha Ambrosius delivers a debut of pleasing if inessential neo soul. (Courtesy of the artist) Formerly known as "The Songstress," Marsha Ambrosius was once the R&B half of British hip-hop/R&B outfit Floetry. The duo broke up in...

By Allison Stewart  |  01:25 PM ET, 03/01/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Marsha Ambrosius

Posted at 01:04 PM ET, 03/01/2011

Album review: DeVotchKa, "100 Lovers"
By Patrick Foster
DeVotchka's fifth album is its most accomplished. (Courtesy Anti- Records) Among common rock-and-roll adjectives, "majestic" is perhaps the most overused and least useful. But if one starts to think of majesty as less "Kashmir" and "Bittersweet Symphony" and more the...

By Patrick Foster  |  01:04 PM ET, 03/01/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  DeVotchka

Posted at 01:05 PM ET, 02/01/2011

Album review: RA the MC, "Victory Lap"
By Allison Stewart
D.C. rapper RA the MC succeeds without gimmicks. It's hard out there for a femcee, especially one without a shtick. District-based rapper RA the MC doesn't have the outsize, mafiosa-in-leopard-print persona of a Lil' Kim or the monster-in-a-pink-wig rep of...

By Allison Stewart  |  01:05 PM ET, 02/01/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  RA the MC

Posted at 12:35 PM ET, 02/01/2011

Album review: The Go! Team, "Rolling Blackouts"
By David Malitz
The Go! Team: Coming to a commercial near you? It turns out, The Go! Team was ahead of its time. Not in some Velvet Underground or Afrika Bambaataa way. Quite the opposite, in fact. First heard on 2004's surprise hit...

By David Malitz  |  12:35 PM ET, 02/01/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  The Go! Team

Posted at 12:00 PM ET, 02/01/2011

Album review: North Mississippi Allstars, "Keys to the Kingdom"
By Bill Friskics-Warren
The influence of Jim Dickinson is heard throughout the new album by North Mississippi Allstars. (Courtesy of the band) The North Mississippi Allstars didn't begin work on their new album until after the death of Jim Dickinson, the father of...

By Bill Friskics-Warren  |  12:00 PM ET, 02/01/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  North Mississippi Allstars

Posted at 11:50 AM ET, 01/25/2011

Album review: Destroyer, "Kaputt"
By David Malitz
Dan Bejar's newest Destroyer album is both his weirdest and most welcoming. Destroyer's Dan Bejar has become a cult favorite thanks to a songwriting style equally iconoclastic and idiosyncratic. He's a lyrical descendant of Dylan, writing overstuffed lines that are...

By David Malitz  |  11:50 AM ET, 01/25/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Destroyer

Posted at 11:20 AM ET, 01/25/2011

Album review: Cold War Kids, "Mine Is Yours"
By Patrick Foster
Cold War Kids push for mainstream success has left their songs uninteresting. Cold War Kids have built their reputation on spiky, loose-limbed music, illuminatingly detailed lyrics and a voice-might-crack-at-any-second singer who could sound simultaneously tender and unhinged. Like their distinctive...

By Patrick Foster  |  11:20 AM ET, 01/25/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Cold War Kids

Posted at 10:45 AM ET, 01/25/2011

Album review: Mouse on Tha Track, "Swagga Fresh Freddie"
By Sean Fennessey
Mouse On Tha Track has endured through his label's tough times. The Baton Rouge-based rap label Trill Entertainment has endured a trying time in recent years. In December 2007, Pimp C, Trill's co-founder and spiritual godfather, died. In September 2008,...

By Sean Fennessey  |  10:45 AM ET, 01/25/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Mouse On Tha Track

Posted at 12:57 PM ET, 01/18/2011

Album review: White Lies, "Ritual"
By Sean Fennessey
White Lies came a decade too late for their own good. (Fiction Records) Commercial rock, a polymorphous genre that ruled popular music for decades, has spent this one sniveling in the corner, searching for reinvention. In the United States, rock...

By Sean Fennessey  |  12:57 PM ET, 01/18/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  White Lies

Posted at 12:20 PM ET, 01/18/2011

Album review: Death, "Spiritual Mental Phyiscal"
By David Malitz
The latest collection of unearthed songs from proto-punks Death isn't essential, but still has its moments. (Tammy Hackney) "For the Whole World to See," a 2009 release by long-forgotten '70s proto-punks Death, was a premier example of why we should...

By David Malitz  |  12:20 PM ET, 01/18/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Death

Posted at 11:40 AM ET, 01/18/2011

Album review: Gregg Allman, "Low Country Blues"
By Bill Friskics-Warren
Gregg Allman's first album in 14 years is a spirited salute to the blues. Gregg Allman's first solo album in 14 years consists almost entirely of vintage blues material from the '40s, '50s and '60s. And yet it's more than...

By Bill Friskics-Warren  |  11:40 AM ET, 01/18/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Gregg Allman

Posted at 11:35 AM ET, 01/11/2011

Album review: "The Grascals & Friends: Country Classics With a Bluegrass Spin"
By Allison Stewart
The Grascals get help from Dolly Parton and Brad Paisley. (Courtesy of the band) The Grascals & Friends' "Country Classics With a Bluegrass Spin" offers pretty much what it advertises: a passel of famous country songs gently re-imagined, and occasionally...

By Allison Stewart  |  11:35 AM ET, 01/11/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  The Grascals

Posted at 11:15 AM ET, 01/11/2011

Album review: Cake, "Showroom of Compassion"
By Patrick Foster
Who doesn't like Cake? (Robert Knight) The music starts and is instantly recognizable: A dry, twangy guitar floats over a rhythm section informed by funk; a trumpet weaves in and out; a squiggly keyboard chases the singer's sly, deadpan intonations....

By Patrick Foster  |  11:15 AM ET, 01/11/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Cake

Posted at 10:40 AM ET, 01/11/2011

Album review: British Sea Power, "Valhalla Dancehall"
By David Malitz
More of the same isn't a bad thing for British Sea Power. (Dan Dennison) Nearly a decade into its career, British Sea Power is at a point where it can rely neither on buzz band hype nor nostalgia to create...

By David Malitz  |  10:40 AM ET, 01/11/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  British Sea Power

Posted at 11:38 AM ET, 01/04/2011

Lost tracks: Tom Ze, "Estudando a Bossa (Nordeste Plaza)"
By Bill Friskics-Warren
Tom Ze leaves the experimenting behind for an album of straightforward acoustic guitar-based bossa novas. (Courtesy of the artist) Reviews of good albums we overlooked last year... A mainstay of Brazil's late '60s Tropicalia movement, singer-composer Tom Ze has spent...

By Bill Friskics-Warren  |  11:38 AM ET, 01/04/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Tom Ze

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 01/04/2011

Lost tracks: Carol Sloane, "We'll Meet Again"
By Matt Schudel
Carol Sloane is the queen of the jazz ballad. (Courtesy of the artist) Reviews of good albums we overlooked last year... As a singer of jazz ballads, Carol Sloane has no equal. She has an understated delivery, she makes you...

By Matt Schudel  |  11:00 AM ET, 01/04/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Carol Sloane

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 01/04/2011

Lost tracks: "Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine"
By Allison Stewart
John Prine gets the tribute treatment from the likes of Conor Oberst, My Morning Jacket and more. (Lowell McGinnis) Reviews of good albums we overlooked last year... Once the latest in a long line of New Dylans, these days John...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:30 AM ET, 01/04/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Conor Obsert, John Prine, Justin Vernon, Old Crow Medicine Show

Posted at 11:25 AM ET, 12/28/2010

Lost tracks: Emma Pollock, "The Law of Large Numbers"
By Patrick Foster
Emma Pollock's latest is a grower. (Jenny Lewis) Reviews of good albums we overlooked this year... Emma Pollock spent a decade as singer and guitarist in the well-respected Scottish quartet the Delgados and released a modestly pleasing solo debut in...

By Patrick Foster  |  11:25 AM ET, 12/28/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Emma Pollock

Posted at 10:55 AM ET, 12/28/2010

Lost tracks: The Secret Sisters, "The Secret Sisters"
By Allison Stewart
Lydia and Laura Rogers have the approval of some important names. (Autumn DeWilde) Reviews of good albums we overlooked this year... The Secret Sisters come preapproved by two of the only music men whose opinions still matter, reverent roots aficionado/super-producer...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:55 AM ET, 12/28/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  The Secret Sisters

Posted at 10:27 AM ET, 12/28/2010

Lost tracks: "Roots of OK Jazz, Congo Classics 1955-1956"
By Bill Friskics-Warren
Francois Luambo Makiadi was compared favorably to James Brown. Reviews of good albums we overlooked this year... Rock-and-roll's big bang wasn't the only pop explosion of the mid-1950s. Something similar was happening half a world away in central Africa, where...

By Bill Friskics-Warren  |  10:27 AM ET, 12/28/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  OK Jazz

Posted at 11:45 AM ET, 12/21/2010

Lost tracks: Avi Buffalo, "Avi Buffalo"
By Allison Stewart
Avi Buffalo's songs are moving and strange. (Eydie McConnell) Reviews of good albums we overlooked this year... In 2010, the tape deck kids triumphed. The two biggest, Wavves' Nathan Williams and Avi Buffalo's teenage frontman Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg, were more alike...

By Allison Stewart  |  11:45 AM ET, 12/21/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Avi Buffalo

Posted at 11:15 AM ET, 12/21/2010

Lost tracks: Roc Marciano, "Marcberg"
By Sean Fennessey
Roc Marciano's solo debut is a fantastic throwback to the mid-'90s. (Courtesy of the artist) Reviews of good albums we overlooked this year... Roc Marciano is a survivor of the roughest neighborhoods of Long Island, of the Busta Rhymes-led crew...

By Sean Fennessey  |  11:15 AM ET, 12/21/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Roc Marciano

Posted at 10:50 AM ET, 12/21/2010

Lost tracks: Rangda, "False Flag"
By David Malitz
Rangda was one of 2010's most welcome collaborations. (Courtesy of Drag City) Reviews of good albums we overlooked this year... If fame is a prerequisite for being in a supergroup, then labeling Rangda as such would be a stretch. But...

By David Malitz  |  10:50 AM ET, 12/21/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Rangda

Posted at 12:45 PM ET, 12/14/2010

Album review: R. Kelly, "Love Letter"
By Sean Fennessey
R. Kelly keeps it too old school. (AP Photo/Stephen Wandera) On Nov. 28, R. Kelly performed on the 2010 Soul Train Awards, and, as is his wont, he killed. Dressed like a time-lost Vegas showman in cape, single black glove...

By Sean Fennessey  |  12:45 PM ET, 12/14/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  R. Kelly

Posted at 12:00 PM ET, 12/14/2010

Album review: Ciara, "Basic Instinct"
By Allison Stewart
Ciara tries to make amends for her recent work with "Basic Instinct." It's here, right on schedule: The back-to-basics album, the one that comes after the hit debut and the failed experimental album but before the inevitable comeback disc. In...

By Allison Stewart  |  12:00 PM ET, 12/14/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Ciara

Posted at 10:45 AM ET, 12/14/2010

Album review: Crystal Bowersox, "Farmer's Daughter"
By Allison Stewart
"American Idol" runner-up Crystal Bowersox is likable, but doesn't deliver a great album. "American Idol" couldn't have invented a more appealing contestant than plucky, dreadlocked Crystal Bowersox, last season's runner-up. With a voice like Sheryl Crow's after a week...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:45 AM ET, 12/14/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Crystal Bowersox

Posted at 11:30 AM ET, 12/07/2010

Album review: T.I., "No Mercy"
By Sean Fennessey
Time behind bars didn't serve T.I. well. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images) There is conventional wisdom about what jail time does to musicians. Whether Johnny Cash, Ray Charles or 2Pac, the trope goes that confinement produces something like reflection - a hardening...

By Sean Fennessey  |  11:30 AM ET, 12/07/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  T.I.

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 12/07/2010

Album review: Deadmau5, "4x4=12"
By Allison Stewart
There's a man inside that mouse suit. (Courtesy of the artist) His name is Joel Zimmerman, but you might know him better as Deadmau5, a Coachella-playing, "Gossip Girl"-appearing DJ and the latest entrant in the Next Moby sweepstakes. The...

By Allison Stewart  |  11:00 AM ET, 12/07/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Deadmau5

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 12/07/2010

Album review: Duffy, "Endlessly"
By Bill Friskics-Warren
Duffy expands her sound without coming off as overly-retro. (Courtesy of the artist) It's neither accurate nor fair to describe the lush, yearning sound of the Welsh singer-songwriter Duffy as retro. Granted, this follow-up to her blockbuster 2008 debut finds...

By Bill Friskics-Warren  |  10:30 AM ET, 12/07/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Duffy

Posted at 11:15 AM ET, 11/30/2010

Album review: Black Eyed Peas, "The Beginning"
By Allison Stewart
Black Eyed Peas: so bad it's bad. (Mark Gail/TWP) The Black Eyed Peas' new disc, "The Beginning," is one of only a few albums in history to be numbered among Oprah's Favorite Things, but she also chose Ugg sparkle boots,...

By Allison Stewart  |  11:15 AM ET, 11/30/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Black Eyed Peas

Posted at 10:45 AM ET, 11/30/2010

Album review: Calle 13, "Entren Los Que Quieran"
By Bill Friskics-Warren
Calle 13 get political. Plenty of hubbub - everything from comedy to controversy - follows the Puerto Rican hip-hop duo Calle 13. Their penchant for high jinks notwithstanding, the stepbrothers have consistently given voice to an underlying ethic of resistance,...

By Bill Friskics-Warren  |  10:45 AM ET, 11/30/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Calle 13

Posted at 10:15 AM ET, 11/30/2010

Album review: Soulja Boy, "The DeAndre Way"
By Sean Fennessey
Soulja Boy's at his best when he keeps it simple. (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen) The hip-hop boy king Soulja Boy is no longer a boy. Soulja, a.k.a. DeAndre Way, is 20 years old. And he's no longer a pop insurgent, either....

By Sean Fennessey  |  10:15 AM ET, 11/30/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Soulja Boy

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 11/23/2010

Album review: Justin Bieber, "My Worlds Acoustic"
By Allison Stewart
Get ready for the perkiest acoustic album you'll ever here. (Reuters/Mario Anzuoni) It's like "Blood on the Tracks," only adorable. Justin Bieber's Wal-Mart-only new release, "My Worlds Acoustic," packs a double punch. Consisting of unplugged versions of the greatest hits...

By Allison Stewart  |  11:00 AM ET, 11/23/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Justin Bieber

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 11/23/2010

Album review: Nicki Minaj, "Pink Friday"
By Allison Stewart
Nicki Minaj surrounds herself with guest stars on "Pink Friday." (Business Wire) You have to reach as far back as Lil' Kim to find an analog to Nicki Minaj, who was hardcore rap's reigning princess long before "Pink Friday," her...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:30 AM ET, 11/23/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Nicki Minaj

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 11/23/2010

Album review: My Chemical Romance, "The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys"
By Patrick Foster
My Chemical Romance delivers more middle-school anthems. (AP Photo/Mike Derer) There might be a unifying theme to the latest My Chemical Romance album (Orwellian repression is bad? Rock-n-roll = freedom?), but it doesn't matter. What's important is that "Danger Days"...

By Patrick Foster  |  10:00 AM ET, 11/23/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  My Chemical Romance

Posted at 10:45 AM ET, 11/16/2010

Album review: Kid Rock, "Born Free"
By Sean Fennessey
Maturity doesn't suit Kid Rock particularly well on "Born Free." (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images) "Bawitdaba," where have ye gone? One of the very best things about Kid Rock, the polymorphous Detroit schlockmeister and recovering rap-rock aesthete, was his shamelessness. It was...

By Sean Fennessey  |  10:45 AM ET, 11/16/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Kid Rock

Posted at 10:15 AM ET, 11/16/2010

Album review: Keith Urban, "Get Closer"
By Bill Friskics-Warren
Keith Urban's new album is a tribute to his wife, Nicole Kidman. (Kyle Gustafson/FTWP) "You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love longs / But I look around me and I see it isn't so," sang Paul...

By Bill Friskics-Warren  |  10:15 AM ET, 11/16/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Keith Urban

Posted at 09:45 AM ET, 11/16/2010

Album review: Don Omar, "Meet the Orphans"
By Allison Stewart
Don Omar showcases the artists on his label on "Meet the Orphans." (Courtesy of the artist) At this point, Don Omar, flamboyant reggaeton superstar and self-described "King of Kings," is almost as well known for his compilation discs as he...

By Allison Stewart  |  09:45 AM ET, 11/16/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Don Omar

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 11/09/2010

Album review: Kid Cudi, "Man on the Moon 2: The Legend of Mr. Rager"
By Allison Stewart
Kid Cudi sounds down and out. (Kyle Gustafson/FTWP) There's something wrong with Kid Cudi. He's taken up the guitar, for one thing. When rappers do this, it brings back bad memories of Lil Wayne's "Rebirth." Other bad signs: Cudi's summer...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:30 AM ET, 11/09/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Kid Cudi

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 11/09/2010

Album review: "Coal Miner's Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn"
By Joe Heim
Loretta Lynn gets the tribute treatment from the likes of Paramore's Hayley Williams and Miranda Lambert. (Richard Lipski/TWP) Loretta Lynn writes songs that knock you on your head and off your feet. For 50-plus years, the 76-year-old pride of Butcher...

By Joe Heim  |  10:00 AM ET, 11/09/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Alan Jackson, Hayley Williams, Loretta Lynn, Martina McBride, Miranda Lambert, Sheryl Crow

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 11/09/2010

Album review: Reba McEntire, "All the Women I Am"
By Allison Stewart
Reba McEntire can't often find the right combination on "All the Women I Am." (AP Photo/Gail Burton) Trouble sets in early on Reba McEntire's 26th studio album, "All the Women I Am." The prefab first single and lead track, "Turn...

By Allison Stewart  |  09:30 AM ET, 11/09/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Reba McEntire

Posted at 11:30 AM ET, 11/02/2010

Album review: Matt & Kim, "Sidewalks"
By David Malitz
Matt & Kim tone down the exuberance just a bit. (Windish Agency) By David Malitz Matt & Kim are part of a new breed of musicians that's much more interested in being your best friend than any sort of rock...

By David Malitz  |  11:30 AM ET, 11/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Matt & Kim

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 11/02/2010

Album review: Jason Aldean, "My Kinda Party"
By Allison Stewart
There's something very familiar feeling about Jason Aldean's latest. (Josh Sisk/FTWP) By Allison Stewart Georgia-born country star Jason Aldean may never do another song as weird as "Dirt Road Anthem," the redneck rap song that is the high point of...

By Allison Stewart  |  11:00 AM ET, 11/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Jason Aldean

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 11/02/2010

Album review: Mariah Carey, "Merry Christmas II You"
By Click Track
Mariah Carey's new Christmas collection can't match her previous holiday effort. (Mark Gail/TWP) By Sean Fennessey Sixteen years ago, Mariah Carey assured her standing in the pop cultural firmament. Not with a public meltdown or scandalous divorce, but with an...

By Click Track  |  10:30 AM ET, 11/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Mariah Carey

Posted at 11:30 AM ET, 10/26/2010

Album review: Avey Tare, "Down There"
By David Malitz
Animal Collective's Avey Tare explores darker sounds on his solo debut. (Josh Dibb) By David Malitz It would be a stretch to call Animal Collective's prismatic tapestries formulaic, but patterns -- really trippy ones -- emerge. Murky and mirthful sounds...

By David Malitz  |  11:30 AM ET, 10/26/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Animal Collective, Avey Tare

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 10/26/2010

Album review: Kylesa, "Spiral Shadow"
By Allison Stewart
Georgia hard rockers Kylesa reach new heights with "Spiral Shadow." (Geoff L. Johnson) By Allison Stewart Savannah, Ga., rocks harder than you'd think. Hard enough, at least, that proggy metal band Kylesa is probably only the seventh or eighth sludgiest...

By Allison Stewart  |  11:00 AM ET, 10/26/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Kylesa

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 10/26/2010

Album review: Bryan Ferry, "Olympia"
By Allison Stewart
Bryan Ferry is back to sounding like himself. (Reuters/Thomas Peter) By Allison Stewart Former Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry's last album was 2007's "Dylanesque," a strange and lizardly assortment of Dylan covers recorded, or so it would seem, at 3...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:30 AM ET, 10/26/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Bryan Ferry

Posted at 10:55 AM ET, 10/19/2010

Album review: Shakira, "Sale el Sol"
By Allison Stewart
Shakira returns to her strengths on "Sale el Sol." (Brian Jones/AP) By Allison Stewart Global pop star and hip-swinging tsunami Shakira's last album was 2009's forgettable "She Wolf," a work of cheerful insanity that found the singer following her usual...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:55 AM ET, 10/19/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Shakira

Posted at 10:35 AM ET, 10/19/2010

Album review: Sugarland, "The Incredible Machine"
By Allison Stewart
Sugarland goes big on every song, which isn't always the best choice. (Susan Biddle/TWP) By Allison Stewart Before anyone actually heard it, talk was that Sugarland's new album, "The Incredible Machine," was a steampunk concept album -- steampunk being a...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:35 AM ET, 10/19/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Sugarland

Posted at 10:15 AM ET, 10/19/2010

Album review: Tye Tribbett, "Fresh"
By Click Track
Tye Tribbett offers a rare combination of hair metal cheese and gospel arranging. (Courtesy of the artist) By Sean Fennessey The New Jersey-born preacher and showman Tye Tribbett is a rock star living in a gospel world. "Fresh," his fourth...

By Click Track  |  10:15 AM ET, 10/19/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Tye Tribbett

Posted at 11:05 AM ET, 10/12/2010

Album review: Sufjan Stevens, "The Age of Adz"
By Click Track
Sufjan Stevens boldly changes his style on his new album. (Andrea Bruce/TWP) By Patrick Foster This album isn't about an American state, but it is about the state of an American. That citizen being one Sufjan Stevens, who, after a...

By Click Track  |  11:05 AM ET, 10/12/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Sufjan Stevens

Posted at 10:40 AM ET, 10/12/2010

Album review: Darius Rucker, "Charleston, SC 1966"
By Allison Stewart
Darius Rucker's smooth transition to country continues on his new album. (Kyle Gustafson/FTWP) By Allison Stewart It turns out it wasn't that difficult for Darius Rucker to make the transition from frontman of the frat party pop band Hootie and...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:40 AM ET, 10/12/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Darius Rucker

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 10/12/2010

Album review: Die Antwoord, "$O$"
By Click Track
It's hard to get a read on Die Antwoord, which is entirely the point. (Courtesy of the artist) By Sean Fennessey Never trust a viral video. The members of South African trio Die Antwoord (English translation: The Answer) are hilarious....

By Click Track  |  10:00 AM ET, 10/12/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Die Antwoord

Posted at 10:45 AM ET, 09/28/2010

Album review: Neil Young, "Le Noise"
By Allison Stewart
Neil Young teams with acclaimed producer Daniel Lanois on his new album. (Tracy Woodward/TWP) By Allison Stewart "I've tried to leave my past behind," Neil Young sings on his new album, "Le Noise," and it's at least partly true: Few...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:45 AM ET, 09/28/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Neil Young

Posted at 10:10 AM ET, 09/28/2010

Album review: Mark Ronson, "Record Collection"
By Click Track
Mark Ronson knows how to put the puzzle pieces together. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images) By Sean Fennessey Music has forever been a breeding ground for impresarios -- people who build as much around spectacle as on the strength of...

By Click Track  |  10:10 AM ET, 09/28/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Mark Ronson

Posted at 09:40 AM ET, 09/28/2010

Album review: Kenny Chesney, "Hemingway's Whiskey"
By Click Track
Kenny Chesney moves out of his comfort zone -- slightly -- on his new album. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer) By Bill Friskics-Warren With his career sales exceeding 30 million CDs, country singer Kenny Chesney can afford to take chances. His latest...

By Click Track  |  09:40 AM ET, 09/28/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Kenny Chesney

Posted at 10:45 AM ET, 09/21/2010

Album review: John Legend and the Roots, "Wake Up"
By Click Track
John Legend steps his vocal game up on his new outing with the Roots. (Nick Kirkpatrick/TWP) By Sean Fennessey "Wake Up!" could have been a very different thing. Initially inspired to remake the Arcade Fire song of the same name,...

By Click Track  |  10:45 AM ET, 09/21/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  John Legend, The Roots

Posted at 10:25 AM ET, 09/21/2010

Album review: Selena Gomez, "A Year Without Rain"
By Allison Stewart
Selena Gomez positions herself as the Disney equivalent of Katy Perry. (Reuters/Lucy Nicholson) By Allison Stewart Disney princesses seem to come along every 15 minutes, but few of them charm like Selena Gomez, the serene and adorable star of the...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:25 AM ET, 09/21/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Selena Gomez

Posted at 09:45 AM ET, 09/21/2010

Album review: Billy Currington, "Enjoy Yourself"
By Click Track
Billy Currington's new album proves he more than just a heartthrob. By Bill Friskics-Warren Despite charting a handful of No. 1 country singles since 2005 -- and being something of a heartthrob among his female fans -- Billy Currington remains...

By Click Track  |  09:45 AM ET, 09/21/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Billy Currington

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 09/14/2010

Album review: Trey Songz, "Passion, Pain and Pleasure"
By Click Track
Trey Songz: More balladry, less bawdy. (Kyle Gustafson/FTWP) By Sean Fennessey There is something unusually Broadway about the 25-year-old Virginia-bred singer Trey Songz. The mode he works in - sex-obsessed, hi-tempo R&B - is utterly masculine, but his voice has...

By Click Track  |  10:00 AM ET, 09/14/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Trey Songz

Posted at 09:40 AM ET, 09/14/2010

Album review: Grinderman, "Grinderman 2"
By Click Track
These are some bad, bad men. (Courtesy of Billions Corporation) By Patrick Foster Nick Cave is one of the few recording artists truly qualified to title a song "Evil." For more than three decades, the Australian renaissance man has spelunked...

By Click Track  |  09:40 AM ET, 09/14/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Grinderman

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 09/14/2010

Album review: Weezer, "Hurley"
By Allison Stewart
Weezer takes a step back to respectability with "Hurley." By Allison Stewart You're not the only one who misses the old Weezer. On "Memories," one of the best tracks on the group's new disc, "Hurley," singer Rivers Cuomo reminisces about...

By Allison Stewart  |  09:00 AM ET, 09/14/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Weezer

Posted at 11:15 AM ET, 09/07/2010

Album review: Jukebox the Ghost, "Everything Under the Sun"
By Click Track
Jukebox the Ghost: They're crafty. (Shervin Lainez) By Patrick Foster "Songcraft" conjures visions of wizened warblers like Leonard Cohen polishing and re-polishing a turn of phrase, a chord change, until a song hums with perfect alchemy. There's songcraft in the...

By Click Track  |  11:15 AM ET, 09/07/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Jukebox the Ghost

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 09/07/2010

Album review: Sara Bareilles, "Kaleidoscope Heart"
By Allison Stewart
Sara Bareilles attempts to build on the success of her No. 1 hit "Love Song." (Tracy Woodward/TWP) By Allison Stewart Thanks to the success of her '07 track "Love Song," singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles became known as the queen of the...

By Allison Stewart  |  11:00 AM ET, 09/07/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Sara Bareilles

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 09/07/2010

Album review: Portico Quartet, "Isla"
By Click Track
Portico Quartet: No words needed. (Photo courtesy of Portico Quartet) By Bill Friskics-Warren This instrumental ensemble, whose 2007 debut was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize given to the best album released in the U.K. that year, is back with a...

By Click Track  |  10:30 AM ET, 09/07/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Portico Quartet

Posted at 10:50 AM ET, 08/31/2010

Album review: Jenny and Johnny, "I'm Having Fun Now"
By Allison Stewart
Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice make a twinkly album together. By Allison Stewart The Johnny in Jenny and Johnny is Johnathan Rice, the underrated Scottish singer-songwriter; the Jenny is Jenny Lewis, the ever-so-slightly overrated Rilo Kiley frontwoman, solo artist and...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:50 AM ET, 08/31/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Jenny Lewis, Jenny and Johnny, Johnathan Rice

Posted at 10:31 AM ET, 08/31/2010

Album review: Kingpen Slim, "The Beam Up 2"
By David Malitz
Kingpen Slim is another local rapper worth hearing. (Kyle Gustafson/FTWP) By David Malitz There are generally two basic paths a rapper can take on a mix tape - focus on a specific aesthetic or tackle a wide-ranging group of...

By David Malitz  |  10:31 AM ET, 08/31/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Kingpen Slim

Posted at 09:55 AM ET, 08/31/2010

Album review: Ryan Bingham, "Junky Star"
By Allison Stewart
Ryan Bingham's Oscar nomination hasn't changed his sound. (Brandon Wu/FTWP) By Allison Stewart It was one of the stranger career trajectories in recent memory: Ryan Bingham, a mid-level singer-songwriter with a slim back catalogue, was rescued from folkie purgatory by...

By Allison Stewart  |  09:55 AM ET, 08/31/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Ryan Bingman

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 08/24/2010

Album review: Magic Kids, "Memphis"
By David Malitz
Making magic on their debut album. (Courtesy of True Panther Records) By David Malitz On first listen, this debut from Magic Kids sounds like a soda-fountain-sweet collection of breezy sock-hop ditties that draws heavily from the Beach Boys playbook. And...

By David Malitz  |  10:30 AM ET, 08/24/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Magic Kids

Posted at 10:15 AM ET, 08/24/2010

Album review: Usher, "Versus"
By Click Track
Usher (AP Photo/Charles Sykes) By Sean Fennessey We don't tell pop stars how to age gracefully, but perhaps we should. It's been five months since the release of Usher's sixth album, "Raymond v. Raymond" - which crossed the platinum benchmark...

By Click Track  |  10:15 AM ET, 08/24/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Usher

Posted at 10:10 AM ET, 08/24/2010

Album review: Young Jeezy, "1000 Grams"
By David Malitz
Jeezy's latest mixtape isn't much more than a placeholder. (Michael Blackwell) By David Malitz Young Jeezy has never sounded cheery. And thank God for that. He's always agitated, and that's exactly what makes him one of today's most consistently engaging...

By David Malitz  |  10:10 AM ET, 08/24/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Young Jeezy

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 08/17/2010

Album review: Esperanza Spalding, "Chamber Music Society"
By Click Track
Esperanza Spalding's star continues to rise. (Kyle Gustafson/FTWP) By Bill Friskics-Warren A classically trained bassist, Esperanza Spalding made her jazz debut in 2008 and became something of an overnight sensation, with bookings on Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel and an invitation...

By Click Track  |  10:30 AM ET, 08/17/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Esperanza Spalding

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 08/17/2010

Album review: Brian Wilson, "Reimagines Gershwin"
By Allison Stewart
One legend tackles another on Brian Wilson's latest. (Jonathan Alcorn/FTWP) By Allison Stewart The Gershwin vault is a musical Holy Grail, a metaphorical repository of more than 100 unfinished songs and fragments of songs written by legendary composer George Gershwin...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:00 AM ET, 08/17/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Brian Wilson, George Gershwin

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 08/17/2010

Album review: Trace Adkins, "Cowboy's Back in Town"
By Allison Stewart
Trace Adkins may love you. He definitely loves beer. (Kyle Gustafson/FTWP) By Allison Stewart Trace Adkins belongs to a glowering, Stetsoned, entirely male subspecies of country music stars: Hominis redneckus. An enduring breed, they are known by their tendency to...

By Allison Stewart  |  09:30 AM ET, 08/17/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Trace Adkins

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 08/10/2010

Album review: Blake Shelton, "All About Tonight"
By Click Track
Shelton's second EP of the year shows him to be a well-rounded songwriter. By Bill Friskics-Warren Blake Shelton's second six-song EP of the year offers much the same mix of rowdy stomps and reflective ballads as its unapologetically down-home predecessor,...

By Click Track  |  10:30 AM ET, 08/10/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Blake Shelton

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 08/10/2010

Album review: Mike Posner, "31 Minutes to Takeoff"
By Click Track
A Duke grad that does bitter R&B. What's not to love? Oh, right. By Sean Fennessey Oh, the folly of youth. Mike Posner has been positioned as a wunderkind craftsman who wrote his first bona-fide hit, the slithery R&B-pop single...

By Click Track  |  10:00 AM ET, 08/10/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Mike Posner

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 08/10/2010

Album review: "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" soundtrack
By Allison Stewart
Michael Cera gets to pretend to play songs written by Beck in his new movie. By Allison Stewart The recent spate of hipster-studded "Twilight" soundtracks were like the indie-rock equivalent of Happy Meals - tasty but overly commercialized product-placement opportunities...

By Allison Stewart  |  09:30 AM ET, 08/10/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Beck, Broken Social Scene, Scott Pilgrim

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 08/03/2010

Album review: Freddie Gibbs, "Str8 Killa"
By Allison Stewart
Freddie Gibbs lives up to the hype. By Allison Stewart Rust Belt MC Freddie Gibbs is a rapper's rapper - a deathly serious street-hop sage with little interest in freestyling or hanging out with Weezy. He comes with an impressive...

By Allison Stewart  |  09:30 AM ET, 08/03/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Freddie Gibbs

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 08/03/2010

Album review: Los Lobos, "Tin Can Trust"
By Bill Friskics-Warren
"Tin Can Trust" is a return to roots for Los Lobos. By Bill Friskics-Warren Los Lobos's first album of new material in four years marks a return to the group's rough-and-ready roots. Recorded in a small studio in a rundown...

By Bill Friskics-Warren  |  09:00 AM ET, 08/03/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Los Lobos

Posted at 08:30 AM ET, 08/03/2010

Album review: Ola Belle Reed, "Rising Sun Melodies"
By Bill Friskics-Warren
Ola Belle Reed was an enormously influential figure in bluegrass music. By Bill Friskics-Warren As a performer, bandleader and humanitarian, Reed, who died in 2002, was a role model for generations of bluegrass musicians, and not only women. Her songs...

By Bill Friskics-Warren  |  08:30 AM ET, 08/03/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Ola Belle Reed

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 07/27/2010

Album review: Fat Joe, "The Darkside, Vol. 1"
By Sean Fennessey
By Sean Fennessey In a recent interview, the rapper Fat Joe spoke candidly about reaffirming his bona fides. "I'mma have to do something that I'm an expert at; it's called 'kill people,' " he said. Joe, of course, was...

By Sean Fennessey  |  09:00 AM ET, 07/27/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Fat Joe

Posted at 08:45 AM ET, 07/27/2010

Album review: Mountain Man, "Made the Harbor"
By David Malitz
By David Malitz It's nearly impossible to find an album with more unadorned elegance than "Made the Harbor" by Vermont's Mountain Man. Save for some very quiet, gently plucked acoustic guitar, the nectar-sweet voices of Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra...

By David Malitz  |  08:45 AM ET, 07/27/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Mountain Man

Posted at 08:30 AM ET, 07/27/2010

Album review: Tom Jones, "Praise & Blame"
By Allison Stewart
By Allison Stewart Almost every male crooner over 60 has his Johnny Cash Moment, when he stops making drecky adult contemporary (or country, or pop) albums and returns to his purportedly natural state of grave artistic seriousness, even if,...

By Allison Stewart  |  08:30 AM ET, 07/27/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Tom Jones

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 07/20/2010

Album review: Rick Ross, "Teflon Don"
By Sean Fennessey
By Sean Fennessey To say that Rick Ross has a gift for pronouncing words is an understatement. The Miami rapper is an enunciator of the highest order, his voice a tidal wave baritone. On his fourth album he bear-hugs...

By Sean Fennessey  |  10:30 AM ET, 07/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Rick Ross

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 07/20/2010

Album review: Gyptian, "Hold You"
By Allison Stewart
By Allison Stewart Jamaican reggae singer Gyptian is the owner of the summer's most compelling dance hall hit, "Hold You (Hold Yuh)," a featherweight ballad so smooth it makes Usher's slickest slow jam sound like a Mel Gibson phone...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:00 AM ET, 07/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Gyptian

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 07/20/2010

Album review: Sheryl Crow, "100 Miles From Memphis"
By Bill Friskics-Warren
By Bill Friskics-Warren A number of pop and rock singers, from Shelby Lynne to Elvis Costello, have tried their hand at making soul or soul-inspired records. Sheryl Crow's "100 Miles From Memphis," the latest entry in this crossover sweepstakes,...

By Bill Friskics-Warren  |  09:30 AM ET, 07/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Sheryl Crow

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 07/13/2010

Album review: Hellyeah, "Stampede"
By Patrick Foster
By Patrick Foster Like a Ford F-150 barreling down a gravel country road , - leaving choking dust clouds and clattering beer cans in its wake, Hellyeah crushes subtlety like a bug. This team of metal all-stars' second album...

By Patrick Foster  |  10:30 AM ET, 07/13/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Hellyeah

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 07/13/2010

Album review: Wavves, "King of the Beach"
By David Malitz
By David Malitz Nathan Williams is not a complicated dude. The 24-year-old San Diego indie rocker, who records as Wavves, is mostly obsessed with the beach and just generally chillaxin'. His first two albums were especially uncomplicated - two...

By David Malitz  |  10:00 AM ET, 07/13/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Wavves

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 07/13/2010

Album review: School of Seven Bells, "Disconnect From Desire"
By Patrick Foster
By Patrick Foster On "My Cabal," the final track of last year's "Alpinsims," School of Seven Bells conjured a breezy summer sunrise, an uplifting moment in a sea of grey and gauzy synth-pop. The clouds clear away and the...

By Patrick Foster  |  09:30 AM ET, 07/13/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  School of Seven Bells

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 07/06/2010

Album review: Kelis, "Flesh Tone"
By Sean Fennessey
By Sean Fennessey In R&B's fanatical inner circles Kelis is quietly celebrated as a forgotten innovator. Consider Beyoncé's tenacity, Ciara's hushed moan and Rihanna's hair, among other guideposts. Kelis, it's often said, was there first. So "Flesh Tone," her...

By Sean Fennessey  |  11:00 AM ET, 07/06/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Kelis

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 07/06/2010

Album review: Kylie Minogue, "Aphrodite"
By Allison Stewart
By Allison Stewart "You know that I'm magical/And I am the original," Kylie Minogue sings on the title track to her 11th studio album, "Aphrodite." "I am the only one to make you feel this way." You can't blame...

By Allison Stewart  |  10:00 AM ET, 07/06/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Kylie Minogue

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 07/06/2010

Album review: Enrique Iglesias, "Euphoria"
By Allison Stewart
By Allison Stewart When did Enrique Iglesias lose his way? Sure, he's never had what you might call exacting standards, never given the impression that he wants to be anything more than what he is: a likable, jeans-and-T-shirt kind...

By Allison Stewart  |  09:30 AM ET, 07/06/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Enrique Iglesias

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 06/29/2010

Album review: Scissor Sisters, "Night Work"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart At their best, sparkle disco champs Scissor Sisters bring to mind the result of a one-night stand between Erasure and the Killers. Their self-titled '04 debut was a synth-pop bacchanal; on its too-somber follow-up, "Ta- Dah,"...

By David Malitz  |  10:00 AM ET, 06/29/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Scissor Sisters

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 06/29/2010

Album review: 3OH!3, "Streets of Gold"
By David Malitz
By Sean Fennessey 3OH!3 will never be subtle - "I'm gonna have a house party / in my house," the two men in 3OH!3 shout on "House Party." "I'm gonna pour booze / down my mouth" - but that's...

By David Malitz  |  09:30 AM ET, 06/29/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  3OH!3

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 06/29/2010

Album review: Alejandro Escovedo, "Street Songs of Love"
By David Malitz
By Bill Friskics-Warren Like any number of underground rock heroes, Alejandro Escovedo has never achieved popular acclaim commensurate with his gifts or accomplishments. But he has long enjoyed the adulation of his peers, as demonstrated by "Por Vida," a...

By David Malitz  |  09:00 AM ET, 06/29/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Alejandro Escovedo

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 06/22/2010

Album review: The Roots, "How I Got Over"
By David Malitz
By Jesse Serwer As deans of the college touring circuit and the house band for Jimmy Fallon, the Roots probably spend more time around indie rockers than rappers these days. It shows on "How I Got Over," the artiest...

By David Malitz  |  10:00 AM ET, 06/22/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  The Roots

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 06/22/2010

Album review: Miley Cyrus, "Can't Be Tamed"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart If Miley Cyrus's career can be measured in Britney Years, she is now in Phase Two, after the teasing but wholesome debut but before The Era Of K-Fed. With her adolescence and starmaking vehicle "Hannah Montana"...

By David Malitz  |  09:30 AM ET, 06/22/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Miley Cyrus

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 06/22/2010

Album review: Sia, "We Are Born"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart Sia Furler is a pop singer with a soul singer voice that she has never seemed to know quite what to do with. Occasionally Winehouseian (yes, it's a word), a dropout from the Beth Orton School...

By David Malitz  |  09:00 AM ET, 06/22/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Sia

Posted at 10:15 AM ET, 06/15/2010

Album review: Robyn, "Body Talk Pt. 1"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart Swedish pop singer Robyn has been a star in waiting for so long that she started off as an antidote to Britney Spears and now, five years after her last release, has reemerged as an antidote...

By David Malitz  |  10:15 AM ET, 06/15/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Robyn

Posted at 09:45 AM ET, 06/15/2010

Album review: Gaslight Anthem, "American Slang"
By David Malitz
By Patrick Foster Though many have tried, Gaslight Anthem might be the first millennial band to truly crack the Dad Rock market. "American Slang," the Jersey quartet's third salvo, grinds their Petty, Springsteen, Strummer and Westerberg-isms to a wickedly...

By David Malitz  |  09:45 AM ET, 06/15/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Gaslight Anthem

Posted at 09:15 AM ET, 06/15/2010

Album review: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Mojo"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart Tom Petty's last album with the Heartbreakers predates the invasion of Iraq, though it may not seem like it was all that long ago. In the years since, Petty has been a constant presence - touring,...

By David Malitz  |  09:15 AM ET, 06/15/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Tom Petty

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 06/08/2010

Album review: Pill and DJ Drama, "1140: The Overdose"
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey Rapper Pill is best known for the track "Trap Goin' Ham," from his mix tape "4180: The Prescription," and the accompanying video, a raw look at his Atlanta neighborhood that shows kids playing as well as...

By David Malitz  |  10:00 AM ET, 06/08/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  DJ Drama, Pill

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 06/08/2010

Album review: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, "Before Today"
By David Malitz
By Patrick Foster Many will call "Before Today" Ariel Pink's first "real" album. Indeed, after making countless piles of homemade, lo-fi tracks -- reference 2004's "The Doldrums" or last year's "Grandes Exitos" for prime examples -- the L.A. songwriter/multi-instrumentalist...

By David Malitz  |  09:30 AM ET, 06/08/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Ariel Pink

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 06/08/2010

Album review: Konono No. 1, "Assume Crash Position"
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey Kinshasa group Konono No. 1 is still using homemade likembé (thumb pianos) and drums and amplifiers crafted from salvaged parts, still putting out the same brilliant Bazombo trance with the junkyard feel that first floored listeners...

By David Malitz  |  09:00 AM ET, 06/08/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Konono No. 1

Posted at 02:00 PM ET, 06/03/2010

Really quick spins: Hip-hop mixtape edition
By Sarah Godfrey
By Sarah Godfrey Click Track reviews recent releases from T.I., Rick Ross, The Cool Kids and Styles P T.I. ,“[Expletive] a Mixtape" Although this project is a mixtape by definition -- it's a free download released outside of label channels,...

By Sarah Godfrey  |  02:00 PM ET, 06/03/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Really quick spins | Tags:  Cool Kids, Jamie Foxx, Rick Ross, Styles P, T.I., Timbaland, Young Jeezy

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 06/01/2010

Album review: Jack Johnson, "To The Sea"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart The trouble with being Jack Johnson, if the placid lyrics and unruffled surfaces of his perfectly fine new disc, "To the Sea," are any indication - is that there seems to be no trouble at all....

By David Malitz  |  10:30 AM ET, 06/01/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Jack Johnson

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 06/01/2010

Album review: Major Lazer & La Roux, "Lazerproof"
By David Malitz
By Jesse Serwer La Roux, the British synth-pop duo, and Major Lazer, a hipster dancehall vanity project helmed by producer-DJs Diplo and Switch, don't share any obvious aesthetics. But their respective bodies of work - just one 2009 LP,...

By David Malitz  |  10:00 AM ET, 06/01/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  La Roux, Major Lazer

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 06/01/2010

Album review: Tift Merritt, "See You on the Moon"
By David Malitz
By Bill Friskics-Warren Americana insiders have been banking on Tift Merritt to become her generation's answer to Lucinda Williams or Emmylou Harris ever since the North Carolina-based singer-songwriter released her major label debut in 2002. That hasn't exactly happened,...

By David Malitz  |  09:30 AM ET, 06/01/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Tift Merritt

Posted at 01:00 PM ET, 05/26/2010

Really quick spin: Tabi Bonney, "A Place Called Stardom"
By Sarah Godfrey
By Sarah Godfrey D.C.-based rapper Tabi Bonney has never needed to rely on mix tapes as promotional tools — the legions of cool kids rocking pieces from his clothing line have been advertisement enough. So it's only now --...

By Sarah Godfrey  |  01:00 PM ET, 05/26/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Really quick spins | Tags:  Buckshot, GZA, Mick Boogie, Shydi, Tabi Bonney, Wale

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 05/25/2010

Album review: Rusko, "O.M.G."
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey DJ-producer Rusko, the reigning king of dubstep, is in demand these days - his work will appear on M.I.A.'s upcoming album, and he recently agreed to pitch in behind the boards on a new Britney Spears...

By David Malitz  |  10:30 AM ET, 05/25/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Rusko

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 05/25/2010

Album review: Stone Temple Pilots, "Stone Temple Pilots"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart In the life cycle of a troubled band, reunion albums are the next-to-last stage, after rehab stints, regrettable solo albums and supergroup side projects, but before the final reunion tour, The One Where Everything Falls Apart....

By David Malitz  |  10:00 AM ET, 05/25/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Stone Temple Pilots

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 05/25/2010

Album review: Elikeh, "Adje! Adje!"
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey The West African nation of Togo doesn't have the same reputation for churning out Afropop as countries such as Ghana, Mali and Nigeria. But D.C.-based Elikeh, fronted by Togolese singer-guitarist Massama Dogo, is seeking to change...

By David Malitz  |  09:30 AM ET, 05/25/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Elikeh

Posted at 10:15 AM ET, 05/18/2010

Album review: Janelle Monae, "The ArchAndroid"
By David Malitz
By Bill Friskics-Warren Not since the '70s heyday of George Clinton's Parliafunkadelicment Thang has anyone fused science fiction/fantasy and genre-defying funk with such vision and aplomb as Janelle Monáe does on this full-length debut. The album chronicles the adventures...

By David Malitz  |  10:15 AM ET, 05/18/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Janelle Monae

Posted at 09:45 AM ET, 05/18/2010

Album review: Nas and Damien Marley, "Distant Relatives"
By David Malitz
By Jesse Serwer There's no precedent for Nas and Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley's "Distant Relatives." As much as their respective genres have exchanged with one another over the years, a major rapper and a major reggae artist have never...

By David Malitz  |  09:45 AM ET, 05/18/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Damian Marley, Nas

Posted at 09:15 AM ET, 05/18/2010

Album review: Band of Horses, "Infinite Arms"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart "Infinite Arms," Band of Horses' third album and major label debut, was supposed to be their Big Moment, the album that did for them what "Evil Urges" did for My Morning Jacket: Which is to say,...

By David Malitz  |  09:15 AM ET, 05/18/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Band of Horses

Posted at 10:15 AM ET, 05/11/2010

Album review: The Dead Weather, "Sea of Cowards"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart One of the more interesting things about "Horehound," the 2009 debut from the ersatz supergroup the Dead Weather, was its introduction of the combustible pairing of White Stripes frontman Jack White and the Kills' Alison Mosshart,...

By David Malitz  |  10:15 AM ET, 05/11/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Jack White, The Dead Weather

Posted at 09:45 AM ET, 05/11/2010

Album review: Elizabeth Cook, "Welder"
By David Malitz
By Bill Friskics-Warren The title of Elizabeth Cook's fifth album is both a nod to her moonshiner father, who learned to weld while doing time in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, and a clue as to her musical modus operandi....

By David Malitz  |  09:45 AM ET, 05/11/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Elizabeth Cook

Posted at 09:15 AM ET, 05/11/2010

Album review: The National, "High Violet"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart Brooklyn band the National has been overpraised and under-famous since the release of 2007's "Boxer," which did well enough to suggest a move from underground stardom to the actual kind was there for the asking. If...

By David Malitz  |  09:15 AM ET, 05/11/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  The National

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 05/04/2010

Album review: The Hold Steady, "Heaven Is Whenever"
By David Malitz
By Bill Friskics-Warren The spirituality inherent in the concert experience has long been explicit in the Hold Steady's music, and here, five studio albums into what is shaping up as a brilliant career, frontman Craig Finn still sounds transported...

By David Malitz  |  10:30 AM ET, 05/04/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  The Hold Steady

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 05/04/2010

Album review: Deftones, "Diamond Eyes"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart Back in the day, the Deftones were dubbed hard rock's answer to Radiohead. Sacramento-based, they were technically the confederates of don't-call-them-nu-metal acts like Korn and Tool, only smarter, more ephemeral and half in love with the...

By David Malitz  |  10:00 AM ET, 05/04/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Deftones

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 05/04/2010

Album review: Toni Braxton, "Pulse"
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey Here's a little taste of what Toni Braxton has been up to during the five years since the release of her last studio album: She starred in her own Las Vegas show, appeared on "Dancing With...

By David Malitz  |  09:30 AM ET, 05/04/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Toni Braxton

Posted at 02:00 PM ET, 04/28/2010

Really quick spin: Gordo Brega, "M.W.A."
By Sarah Godfrey
By Sarah Godfrey Spanglish-spitting, Bronx-born rapper Gordo Brega has released his long-awaited debut album "M.W.A,” (available today at Studio43.com), a collection of complex rhymes -- in both English and Spanish -- focused on partying, street life, and D.C. flag-waving....

By Sarah Godfrey  |  02:00 PM ET, 04/28/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Really quick spins | Tags:  Gordo Brega

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 04/27/2010

Album review: B.o.B., "B.o.B. Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray"
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey It would have made sense for Decatur rapper-singer B.o.B. to use his debut major-label CD, "B.o.B. Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray," as a showcase for his solo skills, a chance for the mix-tape star to...

By David Malitz  |  10:30 AM ET, 04/27/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  B.o.B., Bobby Ray

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 04/27/2010

Album review: Gogol Bordello, "Trans-Continental Hustle"
By David Malitz
By Bill Friskics-Warren Few punks this side of the Mekons and the Clash make resistance sound as liberating as Gogol Bordello; ever fewer have made as many timely and great albums, and the group's latest is no exception. Produced...

By David Malitz  |  10:00 AM ET, 04/27/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Gogol Bordello

Posted at 09:45 AM ET, 04/27/2010

Album review: Daddy Yankee, "Mundial"
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey Daddy Yankee may be the pride of Puerto Rico, but international superstardom has made him a citizen of the world. The reggaetón star/standard bearer picked up some new sonic influences while touring and racking up passport...

By David Malitz  |  09:45 AM ET, 04/27/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Daddy Yankee

Posted at 09:45 AM ET, 04/20/2010

Album review: Roky Erickson with Okkervil River, "True Love Cast Out All Evil"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart Three decades ago, around the time Roky Erickson was incarcerated in the Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in East Texas, he wrote a bunch of songs: love songs, laments, judge-please-don't-lock-me-up songs. Several of these...

By David Malitz  |  09:45 AM ET, 04/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Okkervil River, Roky Erickson

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 04/20/2010

Album review: Rufus Wainwright, "All Days Are Nights"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart Created when Rufus Wainwright's mother, folk singer Kate McGarrigle, was dying of cancer, "All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu" is both an elegy and a love letter to McGarrigle, who died in January, and to...

By David Malitz  |  09:30 AM ET, 04/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Rufus Wainwright

Posted at 09:15 AM ET, 04/20/2010

Album review: Ozomatli, "Fire Away"
By David Malitz
By Mario Ivan Ona Fifteen years in the biz, and the members of Los Angeles Mexifunk troupe Ozomatli have no intention of growing up. And why should they? Their keg-stand anthems, general buffoonery and sneaky lefty politics have landed...

By David Malitz  |  09:15 AM ET, 04/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Ozomatli

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 04/13/2010

Album review: Gucci Mane, "The Burrrprint 2 HD"
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey The cover art for "The Burrrprint 2 HD," the new official mix tape from incarcerated Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane, is an opulent prison tableau: Gucci is sitting in a cell, wearing an orange jumpsuit, surrounded by...

By David Malitz  |  09:30 AM ET, 04/13/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Gucci Mane

Posted at 08:45 AM ET, 04/13/2010

Album review: Tallest Man on Earth, "Wild Hunt"
By David Malitz
By Patrick Foster Understand: Anyone singing their own songs while playing acoustic guitar still owes Bob Dylan. Meaning artistic classification is often down to which Zimmy period you're paying your debt to - and where you take it from...

By David Malitz  |  08:45 AM ET, 04/13/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Tallest Man on Earth

Posted at 08:00 AM ET, 04/13/2010

Album review: Clorofila, "Corridos Urbanos"
By David Malitz
By Achy Obejas Clorofila, a.k.a. Jorge Verdin, is utterly in love with Mexican traditional sounds, crazy about electronica and, most important, urban beats. "Corridos Urbanos," his first fully realized solo offering, actually does honor the honest-to-God Mexican corrido -...

By David Malitz  |  08:00 AM ET, 04/13/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Clorofila

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 04/06/2010

Album review: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, "I Learned the Hard Way"
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings are back, and everything old is new - again. On the group's latest effort, "I Learned the Hard Way," the singer and Daptone house band show they are still the finest...

By David Malitz  |  10:00 AM ET, 04/06/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 04/06/2010

Album review: David Byrne & Fatboy Slim, "Here Lies Love"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart Operatic in its ambitions, retro disco in its inclinations, "Here Lies Love" is an exhaustive, exhausting examination of the life of Imelda Marcos assembled by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim. Employing a succession of mostly female...

By David Malitz  |  09:30 AM ET, 04/06/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  David Byrne, Fatboy Slim

Posted at 09:15 AM ET, 04/06/2010

Album review: Slash, "Slash"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart Slash can't sing, so the former Guns N' Roses guitarist enlisted a motley assortment of veteran rock icons, Sunset Strip hangers-on and present-day pop stars to provide the vocals for his first official solo album, "Slash."...

By David Malitz  |  09:15 AM ET, 04/06/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Slash

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 03/30/2010

Album review: Usher, "Raymond v. Raymond"
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey Usher's 2004 "Confessions" was the best kind of breakup album: Assumed to detail the singer's relationship with TLC member Chili, the drama was juicy, and the moving on was fun, thanks to plenty of models, bottles...

By David Malitz  |  10:00 AM ET, 03/30/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Nicki Minaj, Usher

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 03/30/2010

Album review: Free Energy, "Stuck on Nothing"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart Philadelphia band Free Energy won the hipster lottery when LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy signed on to produce its official debut, "Stuck on Nothing." "Nothing" sounds like what 2010 musical savants with very large record collections think...

By David Malitz  |  09:30 AM ET, 03/30/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Free Energy

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 03/30/2010

Album review: Black Tambourine, "Black Tambourine"
By David Malitz
By David Malitz The current glut of reissues, remasters and deluxe editions flooding the album market is just another symptom of an industry obsessed with selling the old as new. "Black Tambourine," the self-titled complete retrospective of D.C.'s finest...

By David Malitz  |  09:00 AM ET, 03/30/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Black Tambourine

Posted at 10:15 AM ET, 03/23/2010

Album review: Monica, "Still Standing"
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey "Still Standing" is the title of Atlanta singer Monica's new studio album as well as her 12-episode BET reality show about the making of said album. For fans of the behind-the-scenes series, the album isn't just...

By David Malitz  |  10:15 AM ET, 03/23/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Monica

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 03/23/2010

Album review: She & Him, "Volume Two"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart It never should have worked, this pairing of somber-faced folkie M. Ward and twinkly indie actress Zooey Deschanel. But She & Him's 2008 debut "Volume One" was the year's best, a sonic cupcake of aggressively winsome,...

By David Malitz  |  10:00 AM ET, 03/23/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  She & Him

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 03/23/2010

Album review: Dillinger Escape Plan, "Option Paralysis"
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey Earlier this year, ever-buff Dillinger Escape Plan singer Greg Puciato bristled when MTV.com mockingly suggested he used steroids. His outrage was perfectly understandable, but there's a compliment hiding somewhere in that dig: Maybe it was just...

By David Malitz  |  09:30 AM ET, 03/23/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Dillinger Escape Plan

Posted at 09:10 AM ET, 03/16/2010

Album review: Drive-By Truckers, "The Big To-Do"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart The Drive-by Truckers used to specialize in tangly, high-concept Southern rock operas, the best of which was a 2001 two-disc Lynyrd Skynyrd allegory actually called "Southern Rock Opera," lest anybody miss the point. Stretched out over...

By David Malitz  |  09:10 AM ET, 03/16/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Drive-By Truckers

Posted at 09:05 AM ET, 03/16/2010

Album review: Marvin Sapp, "Here I Am"
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey In 2007, Grand Rapids, Mich.-based pastor Marvin Sapp's "Never Would Have Made It" became a new gospel anthem - a song of salvation that inspired people to jump up out of pews and wave their arms...

By David Malitz  |  09:05 AM ET, 03/16/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Marvin Sapp

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 03/16/2010

Album review: Eddy Current Suppresion Ring, "Rush to Relax"
By David Malitz
By David Malitz Australian garage rock group Eddy Current Suppression Ring might not have much in common with Cate Blanchett or Penfolds Grange, but with "Rush to Relax" the quartet has established itself as one of Down Under's premier...

By David Malitz  |  09:00 AM ET, 03/16/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Eddy Current Suppression Ring

Posted at 01:45 PM ET, 03/10/2010

Jersey? Sure: New albums from Ted Leo and Titus Andronicus
By David Malitz
Ted Leo has reached the point in his career where a review of a new album doesn't really serve all that much of a purpose. The indie-rock stalwart has more than proven his worth over the past two decades,...

By David Malitz  |  01:45 PM ET, 03/10/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Really quick spins | Tags:  Ted Leo, Titus Andronicus

Posted at 07:45 AM ET, 03/09/2010

Album review: Ludacris, "Battle of the Sexes"
By David Malitz
By Sarah Godfrey Ludacris's latest project was born of noble purpose: to give female perspectives, notoriously scarce in hip-hop, much needed attention. Early reports characterized "Battle of the Sexes" as a head-to-head matchup between Luda and rapper Shawnna, who...

By David Malitz  |  07:45 AM ET, 03/09/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Ludacris

Posted at 07:30 AM ET, 03/09/2010

Album review: Gary Allan, "Get Off on the Pain"
By David Malitz
By Bill Friskics-Warren Gary Allan's music might be steeped in the West Coast honky-tonk of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, but his brooding persona owes as much to rock-and-roll, an affinity that's apparent throughout the 10 tracks on his...

By David Malitz  |  07:30 AM ET, 03/09/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  Gary Allan

Posted at 07:15 AM ET, 03/09/2010

Album review: The Knife, "Tomorrow In a Year"
By David Malitz
By Allison Stewart If you've ever said to yourself, "I wonder what Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species' would sound like if masked Swedish duo the Knife turned it into an opera, and mezzo-soprano Kristina Wahlin Momme was there...

By David Malitz  |  07:15 AM ET, 03/09/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Quick spins | Tags:  The Knife

Posted at 03:00 PM ET, 03/02/2010

Really quick spin: "Up and Up presents... Gods'Illa The Album"
By Sarah Godfrey
Hip-hop fans are sick of both overly preachy and hard-partying rappers -- most artists are aware of this, but the trio Gods’Illa actually tackles the problem. On their debut album, “Up and Up Presents…Gods’Illa the Album,” brothers Acem, Truth...

By Sarah Godfrey  |  03:00 PM ET, 03/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Really quick spins | Tags:  Acem, Black Boo, Gods'Illa, Gods'Illa the Album, Powerful, Truth, UCB