Category: Pop (Page 72 of 216)

Sam & Ruby: The Here and the Now

September 4, 2009 / Lee Zimmerman

Like many classic couples before them – Marvin and Tammi, Johnny and June, Gram and Emmylou – Sam Brooker and Ruby Amanfu make music that affirms their mutual affection. Nevertheless, this pair navigates a wide divide, from the seductive soul of “Too Much” and “Ain’t Love Something” to the rootsier realms of “The Suitcase Song” and “Need Me Less.” While most of the songs dabble in softer hues, the supple arrangements – a hint of violins on “Heaven’s My Home,” a bit of brass on the aforementioned “Too Much” – vary the shadings and add to the allure. Although The Here and the Now marks the duo’s debut, one of its entries – “Heaven’s My Home” – garnered a Grammy nod and was also selected for the soundtrack to “The Secret Life of Bees.” If The Here and the Now is any indication, Sam & Ruby have a promising future.

Sam and Ruby MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Folk, Pop

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Leslie and the Badgers: Roomful of Smoke

September 4, 2009 / David Medsker

As fitting an album title as we’ve seen in ages. Not only does the latest effort from Los Angeles ork-country outfit Leslie and the Badgers sound like a roomful of smoke, you can also taste the stale beer at the bar, smell the exhaust from the van that’s already on its way to the next show, and hear the sizzle of the overdone eggs at the diner that opens at 0-dark-thirty. The band doesn’t sound as rough around the edges as those hallmarks to life on the road might indicate; outside of singer Leslie Stevens’ Dolly Parton-ish twang, Roomful of Smoke is a very modern-sounding album that happens to be steeped in traditional country, which means lots of fiddles and broken hearts by the pound. (They even pull out a singing saw for “If I Was a Linen.”) “Winter Fugue,” however, sounds like a lost Jayhawks track, while the playful two-step “Don Juan” will surely be every scorned college girl’s best friend. It’s tempting to refer to Leslie and the Badgers as the real Lonely Hearts Club Band, but with songs like these, we’re guessing Leslie and her mates don’t spend much time alone. (Leslie and the Badgers 2009)

Leslie and the Badgers MySpace page

Americana, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Country, Pop

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Watch Moby videos, win Moby tickets

September 3, 2009 / David Medsker

Everyone’s favorite bald, bespectacled techno god is launching a US tour in support of his album Wait for Me, and as a means of getting the word out, Moby and LP33.tv have devised a plan where they will give away a pair of tickets to one lucky person in each city on the tour.

But here’s the thing: this is no ‘enter your name and sit back’ contest, no sir. Contestants must log on to Moby’s Facebook page and rate the videos on his player. They will rack up one entry for each video they rate, with the opportunity to rack up more entries for every embeddable video they host on a web page. (No word on whether all videos must be rated favorably, but since this is aimed at his most dedicated fans, odds are that will not be an issue.)

To see the contest rules, click here. Good luck, y’all, bodyrock y’all.

Alternative, Ambient, Artists, Concerts, Dance, Electronica, External Music, giveaway, Pop, Videos

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Kate Earl: Kate Earl

August 28, 2009 / Jeff Giles

Earl’s 2005 debut, Fate Is the Hunter, came and went with barely a whisper, which might be why her sophomore effort takes no chances: With Earl’s name (and thoroughly enjoyable face) plastered across its garishly bright artwork, Kate Earl would leap off store shelves if there still were any. Musically speaking, these 11 songs cover plenty of bases too, from the moody, vaguely Dido-ish “Nobody” to the charmingly retro “Only in Dreams,” which sounds like Olivia Newton-John recording a Phil Spector tribute with Imogen Heap behind the boards. (In other words, awesome.) After drawing the listener in with a stack of unapologetically (and, it must be said, pleasantly) commercial pop tunes, Earl wisely spends the back half of the album getting deep. Tracks like “Golden Street” lack the bright melodic sparkle of Earl’s earlier cuts, but they also prove she has something more to say than “a love like this is everlasting” (from “Everlasting,” natch). An Alaska native, Earl may have picked the wrong year for her breakout – the poor girl will have to answer as many questions about Sarah Palin as she will about her own music – but she’s still primed for her major-label breakout. Whatever that means in 2009, anyway. For pop fans who can’t stomach Colbie Caillat levels of saccharine sweetness, Kate Earl is one of this year’s better bets. (Universal Republic 2009)

Kate Earl MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop

Kate Earl Kate Earl CD review

Various Artists: Wizards of Waverly Place

August 21, 2009 / David Medsker

First, we’ll pause as everyone gets their ‘Disney kids suck’ jokes out of their system. All finished? Good, now let’s move on. Truth be told, we nearly deleted the email promoting this CD on sight, but took a cursory glance, then wrote the rep and said, “Send this pronto.” The reason? Cover versions, cover versions and more cover versions of songs having to do with, surprise, magic. Nothing here transcends the original recordings, of course, but some of them fare better than you might expect. Selena Gomez turns in a rather good performance of Pilot’s “Magic” (it is not coincidence that Gomez, the best singer here, gets the album’s first three tracks), and Meaghan Martin turns in a disciplined, if breathy, performance on the cover of Olivia Newton-John’s “Magic.” The boys, however, do not fare as well. Steve Rushton is completely overpowered by ELO’s “Strange Magic” (though producer John Fields assembles a nifty arrangement), as is Mitchel Musso by “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” Honor Society’s version of the Cars’ “Magic,” meanwhile, is as fluffy and throwaway as the original, and Drew Seeley’s cover of America’s “You Can Do Magic” is destroyed by an oh-so-trendy 6/8 beat and a pinched vocal. The end result is exactly what you’d expect from a collection of Disney-sanctioned covers: overproduced and kid-friendly, but not without its, um, charms. (Walt Disney Records 2009)