Neo-Soul Master D’Angelo Revisits Chiseled HeightsThis stacked two-disc best-of hearkens back to D’Angelo’s chiseled heights as a minimalist R&B master, when we were just putty awash in his gently plucked near-whisper of a croon.
Free Nine Inch Nails Album: Fully Worth Download Time!In the two days since NIN surprised us with yet another album—this one free to download, and with singing!—we’ve reconnected with Trent Reznor, dirty pop-song writer.
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Buckshot and 9th Wonder Link Up For Riding MusicFrom the lighter-than-air choral flourishes garnishing the album’s intro to the sped-up soul strings driving the closing track, The Formula soars.
Zooey Deschanel’s Band Almost As Good As Her ActingZooey Deschanel’s voice — a versatile croon big enough for the back rows — bends and turns to Ward’s shifting guitar blues in a blend of honky-tonk, lounge act, and fifties girl group.
‘Living Bridge’: The Indie-Rock Compilation of the YearHere’s a rare indie compilation perfect for geeks and novices alike: a two-disc collection of otherwise unavailable tracks from bigger-name bands as well as unknowns.
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Janet Jackson Hits the Dance — and Bedroom — FloorJanet Jackson hit the big 4-0 last year, but the lighter-than-air sex jams on her tenth studio album are still blush-inducing — which is not to say embarrassing.
Shelby Lynne Meets Dusty and Does Right by HerRecorded in just five days, with only one original track, and based on a concept hatched by Barry Manilow, this Nashville refugee’s latest sounds like a stopgap at best — until you actually listen to it.
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Columbia Professor Gathers Data at GunpointIn his penetrating book Gang Leader for a Day, the Columbia prof recounts his time infiltrating and, yes, overseeing, for one day, Chicago’s gangbangers.
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D.J. Conjures Beats From Genres You Should KnowWhen Jay-Z told us “you ain’t got enough stamps in your passport to fuck with young H-O,” we shrugged; if the scrappy Montreal D.J. Ghislain Poirier were to make the same boast, we’d nod vigorously in agreement.
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‘Odelay,’ the Best Album of 1996, Goes ‘Deluxe’Before reinventing himself as a melancholy Scientologist, Beck Hansen proudly rap-sung about rocking the plastic like a man from the Catskills, passing the dutchie from coast to coast, and doing the hot-dog dance.
‘Golden Opportunities Mixtape’ is gloomy, great—and free.Now free on the band’s site is Golden Opportunities Mixtape, a collection of covers and one original track, all recorded at various radio stations, gigs, and “empty hotel stairwells.”
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Kids play Steve Reich better than he can.When a 1976 work became the obsession of a group at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, it was clear that New York had lost its exclusive on Steve Reich.
Barbez front man’s latest inspired by Paul Celan’s poetry.Dan Kaufman, of the band Barbez, has recorded a quiet, haunting album of rock songs after the astringent poetry of Paul Celan that is admirable in its unpretentious literariness.
Sérgio and Odair Assad multiply two guitars by 40 years.The Brazilian guitar duo Sérgio and Odair Assad have been collaborating for over 40 years, and this recent album is a blissful testament to the richness of their pairing.
Coheed and Cambria advance a mind-blowing tetralogy.Geekery sublimates into full-throttle catharsis on No World For Tomorrow, a combination of fleet tempos, ultra-sticky choruses, and unreconstructed heavy-metal wanking.
