53 total search results — Page 3 of 3
Wu-Tang Clan – 8 Diagrams
Review — January 2, 2008
It almost seemed like this record would never come out. It's been six years since Iron Flag and 14 since 36 Chambers revolutionised hip hop, and in that intervening period, the genre has seen the rise of the shallower side of the performers, with quality production often sidelined in favour …
Weezer – Weezer (The Red Album)
Review — July 21, 2008
Oh, Weezer. Here we are, album six for the band who've spent an entire career trying to figure out who they are. Are they The Pixies-aping geek rockers with a penchant for nerdery and romance? Are they riff-wielding guitar heroes rocking ironic stadiums? Are they misunderstood indie icons? Are they, …
The Offspring – Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace
Review — July 24, 2008
With an album title that sounds like the most recent Foo Fighters record, a song called "Fix You" (I thought Coldplay had already professed that particular desire), and a collection of tracks that sound like they want to be Green Day, My Chemical Romance or The Offspring circa 1994, The …
Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown
Review — May 22, 2009
I'm going to keep this brief, because Billie Joe Armstrong and company couldn't 21st Century Breakdown is Green Day's first record clocking in at over an hour in length, comprising, as you're probably sick of hearing about, three acts and eighteen songs. It also picks up where American Idiot left …
AFI – Crash Love
Review — September 30, 2009
Album number eight from the band now renowned for their genre-shifting and reinvention. Three years in the making, three producers in the studio, and twelve tracks long (given the band's penchant for Lost-esque symbolism, there's probably some deep significance to these numbers). What new style will be unveiled with …
Florence and the Machine – Lungs
Review — January 4, 2010
In a U.K. pop scene increasingly dominated by uncertain female electro-pop princesses or paltry imitations of Rihanna or Beyonce, it's refreshing and exciting to see the dominance of a genuinely interesting and invigorating talent. Twenty-three year old Florence Welch and her four accomplices - The Machine - present us a …
Janelle Monáe – The ArchAndroid
Review — July 4, 2011
When music historians look back on the first decade of the 21st century, they'll no doubt highlight the dazzling array of pop musicians daring to innovate. Those producing music which both reinvents and creates, challenging conventions and spinning concepts and long-term constructions around their work. Except, of course, they …
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – The Brutalist Bricks
Review — December 27, 2010
Their first record for Matador; their first record featuring new bassist Marty Key: The Brutalist Bricks is a record of firsts. It's the band's second shortest record, however (2004's Shake the Sheets is a couple of minutes briefer, at 39:52), and a departure from the drawn-out, exploratory songs of 2007's …
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Review — May 30, 2011
Three years in the making since their praised-to-the-heavens self-titled debut, Helplessness Blues is a masterpiece of a sophomore offering, consisting of everything that made Fleet Foxes a standout record for its generation - let alone year - and at the same time expanding upon the band's signature sound.Frontman Robin …
Muse – The 2nd Law
Review — November 5, 2012
The year is 2052. Society as we know it has completely changed. The laws of government and nation have crumbled into dust, trodden down firmly by the feet of innumerable footsoldiers of the new autocratic rulers of the world. Big Brother's voice rings from every speaker; CCTV cameras record every …
Green Day – ¡Uno!
Review — November 12, 2012
Thank god it's not another concept album.That's perhaps untrue, though: maybe this is just a concept album broken over three separate records: ¡Uno! is the first in a trilogy (wittily to be followed by ¡Dos! and, of course, ¡Tre!). That said, the forty one minutes of this, Green Day's …
Janelle Monáe – The Electric Lady
Review — November 26, 2013
It's encouraging that after releasing one of the best records of 2010, Janelle Monáe wasn't rushed into releasing the follow-up album to The ArchAndroid until she was good and ready. Three years have given her and her Wondaland Arts Society time to regroup and evolve and the range and …
