Cover records are a tricky business at best and yet I find myself drawn to them. I’m never sure if it is for the train wreck or the diamond in the rough. In this case, it was mostly just nondescript rehashings. For the most part, what is good on this record is what was good in the original recordings. Where… Read more »
I’m getting old…but not as old as the Scorpions. Klaus Meine and Rudolph Schenker have been at it for over and 50 years and Mathias Jabs has been with them for over 40. With the core of the band from their prime intact, Rock Believer is their 19th studio album. If they put a question mark after the opening track,… Read more »
For many of the last 17 years, I have created an end of year comp that I call Missed Hits. The idea was to share music that hit me and that I expected many people had missed. Despite spending a lot of time discovering and writing about music in early 2021, I kind of expected this task to be more… Read more »
Lamb is my biggest sleeper artist of the past 25 years. My reaction to their first album was somewhere between “huh?” and “meh,” but they crept into my subconsciousness and Lou Rhodes emerged as one of my all-time favorite voices. I was listening to Rhodes’ collaboration with Cinematic Orchestra on the lovely Ma Fleur when I discovered she released four… Read more »
My ear isn’t what it used to be, but I think the first downbeat on Now Here No Where is a bowed contrabass over a drum hit. If an entire album can be summarized by a single moment, that is the moment. This record balances things we perceive to be binary: organic and electronic, warm and cool, soundscapes and bangers…. Read more »
When I heard that Joris Voorn mixed a new Global Underground set, I immediately hunted it down. As soon as that first melody opened up, I prepared for an epic release of beats. Other than a bass drone, nothing came. Track two began, and again, no release. While there is a ton of innovation within electronic dance music, the genre… Read more »
I’m constantly humbled by how little I know about music. Bob recently offered me a humbling moment when he introduced me to Late Night Tales, a 20-year-old compilation series that I missed for the past 20 years. As I sit in the wee small hours of Sunday morning, recovering from a marathon workday and recuperating so I can do it… Read more »
1977 is big and easy. The opening track “Goldfisch” accurately sets the stage. The beats are generic, the melodies simplistic, the compositions predictable. This is the kind of electronic dance music that inevitably finds its way into festivals and blockbuster movies. If that’s your thing, I think you’ll like this record. Personally, I struggled to get through “Goldfisch” and the… Read more »
As I’ve gotten older, two things I look for in an album are consistency and flow. I don’t mind if a record takes me on a roller coaster ride or a slow walk around a dark neighborhood late at night, as long as the songs fit together as part of a greater whole. The songs on Frontera fit together. Yes,… Read more »
I love experiencing how different DJs navigate the peaks and valleys that are essential to great mixes. The 2004 Fabric set from Akufen (nee Marc Leclair) demonstrates how one creative song choice can shape an entire set. The first few tracks establish a glitchy mood, and the equipment complaints and Joe Walsh references of “Little Tiny 1/8 Inch Jack” cement… Read more »