This young, Los Angeles-based folk-pop lady rocketed to renown last year with a bare-bones YouTube cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” that garnered millions of views and eventually found its way to top 40 radio and MTV’s “The Hills.” A slightly souped-up version of “Umbrella” closes out Marie Digby’s debut, but original material dominates “Unfold,” […]
On his Lost Highway debut, this Houston-based country-rock crooner covers Tom Waits’ “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up,” but judging by the rest of “Trouble in Mind,” it might be too late for Hayes Carll. The fine songwriting here, rich with Texas-music echoes, suggests that this 32-year-old is the owner of a much older soul. […]
Not only is this one of the best new-artist debuts in recent memory (think Dixie Chicks in 1998), Lady Antebellum’s self-titled set will go down as one of the year’s best, period. The singing/songwriting combination of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and multi-instrumentalist Dave Haywood is fresh and mature. The trio’s unique vocal arrangement — Kelley’s […]
It’s no secret that country stars and pop-metal vets are joining forces these days, and for 25-year chart maven Def Leppard, the road, too, leads to Nashville. Fist-pumping, arena-ready “Nine Lives,” which leads the Brits’ forthcoming new “Songs From the Sparkle Lounge,” finds country singer Tim McGraw and Lep frontman Joe Elliott trading testosterone-fueled lines […]
It took Sarah McLachlan nearly a decade to graduate from mod-rock darling to mainstream deity, via her late-’90s Lilith tour and string of cross-format hits, including “Building a Mystery,” “Aida” and “Angel.” Since, output has been sporadic; even upcoming album “Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff, Volume 2″ (following 1996’s “Volume 1″) leaves fans itching for […]
This ain’t your uncle’s Breeders. Kim Deal’s cheeky Pixies spinoff, which held rock radio in its sway 15 years ago with “Last Splash,” returns with its fourth studio album and first in six years. Make no mistake: The Breeders in 2008 are not festival headliner material. This quartet is more like a Midwest garage band, […]
In the wonderful land of Oz, where pop-rock mercifully continues to reign, the Veronicas are thriving heroines, with five top 10s, including No. 2 “Untouched.” But twin singer/songwriters Jess and Lisa Origliasso are not exactly strangers to America. “When It All Falls Apart” grazed top 40 playlists in 2006, but the V’s were lumped in […]
The third single from Luke Bryan’s engaging debut, “I’ll Stay Me,” is an ear-grabbing salute to the good things a “Country Man” has to offer: “Your little iPod is loaded down with Hoobastank/Don’t be a tape-player-hater girl, we’re groovin’ to Hank.” The catchy melody and cute lyric will surely draw smiles for one of country’s […]
Sara Bareilles rocketed to fame on the back of one very soulful “Love Song” — No. 1 on the Pop 100 — and returns with a second musing on the consummate pop topic. The delightful “Bottle It Up” opens with a prescient observation: “There’ll be girls across the nation that will eat this up.” Indeed. […]
Part of western world usually held traditional celebrated on the night October 31,the evening before All Saints day, November 1st every year, it is call Halloween day. When the Halloween came, every people very glad to welcome it with prefect preparation, usually they prepare kinds of dressing costumes to wear at the day.
Every people save […]
R.E.M.’s first album in four years shoehorns 11 tracks of jagged guitars, quick and dirty drums, and Michael Stipe’s gruff keen into 34 minutes, rocking with a blacker, blunter edge than “Document,” “Green” or “Monster.” Armed with deadpan “wow’s” and “T-Rex moves” honed from 1996’s “Wake-Up Bomb,” Stipe limns politics, the media and […]
Moving from stadiums to ballrooms, the Rolling Stones performed two shows at New York’s Beacon Theater in October 2006, filmed by Martin Scorsese for this documentary, which opens April 4. The accompanying live album captures the pure magic of a high-energy rock show performed in a small venue, offering a mix of crowd-pleasers (”Jumpin’ […]
George Strait is one of music’s most consistent hitmakers for a reason — he knows a hit song when he hears one, and he sings it only if it fits him. “Troubadour” is chock-full of classic Strait. “I Saw God Today” is a perfect example of a track that speaks to the country core, […]
With a Modest Mouse covers collection out of his system, Mark Kozelek is back to sketching his signature tales of love poisoned by expectation on his second album as Sun Kil Moon. Evenly divided between the distorted guitar epics of the last two Red House Painters albums (”The Light”) and spartan voice-and-acoustic confessionals (”Lucky […]
