On the Record
Was he really kickin' his habit? Although KC was cranked out during interludes from the nut house he was thrown into for heroin fixation, Pop's ferocious as ever (possibly fortified by the coke David Bowie …
Clapton’s 19th solo album is an entertaining mix of songs old, songs new, songs borrowed, and songs blue. That is, blues as only "Old Slowhand" can sing and play them. He is joined by name-brand …
It was inevitable that Saviorself, half of National City hip-hop duo Old English, would branch out and release a solo project. In previous Old English music, he clearly comes across as the lead. Self-Employed Mixtape …
On their sixth studio set, Rasputina’s dropped the cello-femmes-trio bit. A lot of the cello here comes from Daniel DeJesus, who doubles on a two-stringed Chinese instrument called an erhu. The three-cellos bit was fine …
Who's gonna chuck one of rock's MVPs (Faces, Stones, Jeff Beck Group) outta bed for eating crackers? Music bearing Wood's brand has been a window into all-nighters with the major talents he calls friends. Shining …
The title of Neil Young's new solo album, Le Noise, is a play on words from his collaboration with Grammy-winning producer Daniel Lanois. If you erase “Le,” you have a definitive review of the album. …
The Manic Street Preachers previous album had new music set to old words written by their missing and presumed-dead guitarist Richey Edwards. It seemed like a swansong, an apt epitaph to their body of work. …
Vince Clarke, modern-day Bach? For those of you not tuned when Yaz (Yazoo in the U.K.) did this the first time around, I figured I'd get your attention. Realistically, Vince Clarke (the half that doesn't …
Songstress of sulk Sia Furler gained prominence via Six Feet Under's use of her sublime "Breathe Me." Remember? "Help, I have done it again/I have been here many times before/Hurt myself again today/And the worst …
Help me, Rhonda, help, help me, Rhonda, get this CD...out of my head. Brian Wilson takes one of the greatest love songs ever written and turns it into the Beach Boys singing “Little Saint Nick.” …
Maybe there's a message here for musicians determinedly gigging, recording, and self-promoting. Something about breaking up — and releasing nothing for 17+ years — has proven a brilliant gambit for Scottish post-punk/garage brats Frances McKee …
It could and probably will be posited once The Inevitable Past Is the Future Forgotten goes under the critical microscope that post-rock trio Three Mile Pilot didn't disband so much as reproduce. A little indie-rock …
I've loved Patty Griffin since 1996's Living With Ghosts, where she premiered a voice that could purr and whisper and insinuate on its own successful terms, but rose to quick, sharp stabs, as if the …
Breaking from his role as lead man for the Killers, Brandon Flowers tests the waters of a solo career. His new album Flamingo has enough floating particles of the Killers' sound to make it appealing …
Synthesizer guru Hadji Bakara could not join Wolf Parade for their third album, Expo 86: "Hadji Bakara's brain got so big that he accidentally got accepted into the University of Chicago to pursue a doctorate …