Category: CD Reviews (Page 40 of 398)

Ingram Hill: Look Your Best

November 4, 2010 /


RIYL: Better Than Ezra, Collective Soul, Hootie and the Blowfish

True to form, Memphis rock band Ingram Hill has returned with their third release, Look Your Best.  The group’s debut, June Picture Show, and the follow-up, Cold in California, were released on Hollywood Records in 2004 and 2007, respectively, so this 2010 release (on Rock Ridge Music) is in line with the band’s every-three-years format. And, well, if you’re a fan of Ingram Hill, Look Your Best is pretty much a continuation of their previous work – especially to the debut, since they enlisted Rick Beato to produce once more.  If you’re looking for the next cool thing, you won’t find it here. Instead, Ingram Hill write real songs with real hooks that just have this way of making you feel good – as if you’re in a nostalgia warp of sorts to the bands mentioned above; but also the proximity of the band to Nashville has helped front man Justin Moore and company to continually hone his songwriting craft. 

The key to Ingram Hill, in addition to being a great live band, is the fact that they continue to churn out songs with catchy melodies and huge chorus hooks – ear candy, if you will – and Look Your Best is more of that same formula.  The opener “Broken Lover” is a bit too formulaic, but as you delve deeper into this set, you’ll unearth some gems like the power ballads “Hey Girl,” and “Wish You’d Say,” and the mid-tempo “Come Around.”  Really, any of these could be hits on country radio if things don’t pan out with Ingram Hill.  But sure as it’s hot and sweaty in Memphis, fans of the band aren’t hoping for that anytime soon.  (Rock Ridge 2010)

Ingram Hill MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Rock

Cheesecake Factory: Kylie Minogue on “The Tonight Show”

November 3, 2010 /

Welcome to the first, and for all we know, last installment of our new column that celebrates beautiful women in music, which is a nice way of saying that we’re objectifying the bejeezus out of them.

We’ll keep this one simple: Kylie Minogue is awesome. She will likely never sing a song that will change the world, or rewrite the rules of pop – though the Flaming Lips did cover her song “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” so that’s worth something – but the world is a much happier place for having her in it. Even better, she’s actually gotten better looking as she’s gotten older, something the teen pop idols of today will appreciate when they’ve been kicked to the curb the second they’re old enough to legally order a drink. Lastly, Kylie’s a breast cancer survivor, though our theory is that once it discovered that it had appeared in her body, the cancer willingly left, apologizing as it did so.

She has a new record, the better-than-Madonna’s-last-one Aphrodite, and last week, she sang second single “Get Outta My Way” on “The Tonight Show.” We’re the last people to pimp anything that features Jay Leno on it, but sweet Jesus, look at her. Guuuuuuuuuuh.

Artists, CD Reviews, Cheesecake Factory, Dance, Pop, Rock Babes, Videos

The Pixies: Live, Acoustic and Electric

November 2, 2010 /


RIYL: Nirvana, The Replacements, Jesus & Mary Chain

Here’s a nifty Blu-ray two-fer for the indie rock purist in your life. “Acoustic” and “Electric” were released individually in 2006, but are smartly paired together here, along with some footage of one of the Pixies’ first gigs at the legendary TT the Bear’s.

The acoustic show, recorded in 2005 at the Newport Folk Festival, was certainly a unique affair for both the festival and the band; the band had never done a full acoustic show before, and the festival organizers never had an artist that could claim to have influenced Nirvana, but there they were, plugging through a well-balanced set of alt rock hits (“Monkey Gone to Heaven,” “Here Comes Your Man”) and large chunks of their debut album Surfer Rosa and their 1989 breakthrough Doolittle. It’s cute, though forcing guitarist Joey Santiago to play an entire set without an electric guitar is a crime against nature, something that the “Electric” set rectifies. Recorded at the tiny Paradise rock club in Boston only a few days after the Newport gig (Frank Black and Kim Deal are even wearing the same shirts), “Electric” is the Pixies as they are meant to be heard. Black even goes off the set list at the beginning and begs drummer David Lovering to do “La La Love You” because his mom’s in the audience. The band scarcely lets up from there, and Santiago gets his ya-ya’s out on a blistering version of “Vamos” where he plays his effects pedals like a synthesizer.

There isn’t much in the way of on-stage banter – after the first couple songs, they just tend to play and play – and for some reason they had no use for “Dig for Fire,” one of their best-known songs – but they get credit for mixing up the set lists and covering 37 different songs between the two shows. And with the holidays fast approaching, this is the kind of thing that someone is probably reluctant to buy, but would love to get. (Eagle Vision 2010)

The Pixies MySpace page
Click to buy Acoustic and Electric from Amazon

Alternative, Artists, CD Reviews, Concert DVDs, Indie, Music DVDs, Rock

The Octopus Project: Hexadecagon

November 1, 2010 /


RIYL: Minimalism, The Orb, the soundtrack to Koyanisquatsi

The Octopus Project are an indie instrumental electronic group. So while they’ll probably never have a sound that one would describe as “pop,” their 2007 album Hello, Avalanche came pretty close. Tracks like “Ghost Moves” and “Truck” were just a vocal track away from a James Murphy tune, and the hauntingly beautiful “I Saw The Bright Shinies” proved that you don’t need a singer to make an excellent ballad as long as you have a Theremin.

But anyone who was hoping that the group might take the sound from Hello, Avalanche and advance it even further into the pop landscape is going to be shocked with the group’s latest effort, the highly experimental Hexadecagon. Taking a hard right away from the traditional songwriting structure from Hello, Avalance, Hexadecagon dumps all the hooks, jangle and upbeat beats from that album and replaces them with Philip Glass and Steve Reich-influenced minimalism. Repetition is the name of the game here, with tracks like the opener “Fuguefat” and the aptly named “Circling” focusing on a single motif and repeating it over and over again, slowly introducing new elements piece by piece. It’s not dance music, that’s for sure. But it still maintains one important element of Hello, Avalanche; it’s a great record that is a lot of fun. (Peek-a-Boo 2010)

The Octopus Project MySpace Page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Electronica, Hipster

N.E.R.D.: Nothing

November 1, 2010 /


RIYL: Prince, Lady GaGa, Justin Timberlake

As the Neptunes, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo are as responsible as anyone for the sound of popular music over the last decade as anyone else. Starting out as the apprentices of New Jack Swing godfather Teddy Riley, Chad & Pharrell’s minimal synth stabs took a diverse array of artists to the top of the charts: from coke-rap duo Clipse to teenyboppers the Backstreet Boys, Britney & ‘NSync.

As their performing alter egos N.E.R.D., Pharrell and Chad (joined occasionally by rapper Shae Haley) have not been as successful. One moderately successful debut album (In Search Of…) should have led to bigger things, but two subsequent efforts have been average performers commercially and critically. N.E.R.D.’s sound might be a little too eclectic for Top 40 radio – it’s not very easy to put in a box or define. Is it hip-hop? It is soul music? Is it rock?

NERD 3 - SMALL

A year or so ago, as the band prepared to record their fourth album, Nothing, they introduced a fourth member into the group, female singer Rhea. This move was a head-scratcher to many. It seemed as though N.E.R.D. was looking at label mates the Black Eyed Peas as a blueprint to success. Thankfully (because Lord knows we don’t need another version of BEP in this world), Rhea was sacked and N.E.R.D. returned to its original configuration.

Somewhat surprisingly, given the band’s inconsistent output and the Neptunes’ declining commercial fortunes, Nothing is quite a good album. The sound is still as varied as ever: the guys are still equal parts garage-rock and synth-pop, but none of it feels forced. There are a handful of eye-rolling lyrical moments – Pharrell Williams isn’t and will never be the world’s best lyricist – but Nothing offers more bang for your buck than any N.E.R.D./Neptunes/Pharrell album other since their debut.

The album’s opening track, “Party People,” turns out to be a bit of a red herring. The synthed-up club jam (boasting vocals by T.I.) is certainly the most commercial thing they’d ever released. Interestingly, N.E.R.D. pulls off that sound well – at least for the one song. The rest of the album veers from the rocking “Help Me” to the quasi-mystical “Life as a Fish” (which honestly reads like the diary entries of a very, VERY stoned college student). There’s a cool Daft Punk production (“Hypnotize U”), way more saxophone than on the past 15 years of N.E.R.D. albums and Neptunes productions combined, and a refreshingly varied approach to subject matter that includes the inspirational “God Bless Us All” and the politically motivated “It’s in the Air” in addition to the usual ass-shaking anthems (which happen to be MUCH less annoying and even kinda enjoyable in this context).

Nothing won’t reinvent the wheel and it probably won’t be a huge commercial success, either – the Neptunes’ moment (well, more like a decade than a moment) seems to have passed them. However, this is the most vibrant work that Pharrell in particular has been a part of in quite some time. Strangely (and happily for those of us who don’t live and die by radio and the charts) their music appears to be getting more interesting as their star fades. (Interscope 2010)

N.E.R.D. MySpace page

Artists, CD Reviews, Dance, Funk, Hip Hop, Pop, R&B, Rap

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