Reviews
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gin Wigmore
Karen O and Co., the New York alt-rock trio widely known as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, went neon for “It’s Blitz!,” a staggering best-of-2009 creation that pulsed with dance-floor fever and, as promised, got heads rolling. Four years later and they’re back with a different animal … er, insect.
Jessie Ware, Ashley Monroe
If you’ve heard British breakthrough singer Jessie Ware’s “Wildest Moments” (and if you haven’t, what are you waiting for?), you know she has one helluva voice. She could belt and whip that thing around like a weapon. But she doesn’t.
Justin Timberlake, Kacey Musgraves
Sexy’s back, but not like you remember it: After seven long, hard, long years without Justin Timberlake at the pop-scene forefront, the creative chameleon finally gives acting a break and gets back behind the mic on his own terms, with a novel project that’s risky and rewarding. But not at first.
Tim McGraw, Jewel
“Two Lanes of Freedom” is a significant departure for the country-music stud who’s so brand new, his wardrobe now includes butt-hugging white pants. He takes advantage of this newfound liberation – he’s officially free from Curb Records (his label home for two decades before recently signing with Big Machine for this outing) – and blends [...]
Lisa Loeb, Justin Bieber
Lisa Loeb will forever be defined as an artist of a bygone decade. (Boy, reality does bite.) But it’s not like she doesn’t already know this; “The ’90s” is a hand-clappy/ooh-ooh pop song off her seventh studio album that fondly reminisces on her career-high – when the ubiquitous “Stay (I Missed You)” became an MTV [...]
Tegan and Sara Go Retro Pop
Let the loyalists who like their Tegan and Sara all emo-rocky make a big fuss about the girls’ complete shift into super pop, but they’re missing out. Only music snobbery stands in the way of completely embracing “Heartthrob,” their seventh album led by the irresistible Robyn-esque cuteness of “Closer,” an uncharacteristically slight (but totally awesome) [...]
‘Girls’ Impresses With ‘Quarter-Life Crisis’ Music
Robyn’s sad-but-liberating “Dancing on My Own” already made life infinitely better, but then HBO’s groundbreaking series “Girls” did something awesome with it during its debut season: They had the show’s star, Lena Dunham’s every-girl Hannah, shake out her boy blues to the tune. Awesome how? Any Robyn fan can relate to the dorkiness of shadowing [...]
Christina Finds Her Voice Again
Christina Aguilera opens her seventh album by calling this a “rebirth” despite her “broken pieces” – or, in other words, a really bad few years (last album, tabloids and “Burlesque”).
Kylie Strips Down For New Album
It’s practically an unspoken rule that being gay means you have to adore Kylie Minogue. We take her seriously. But non-queers? They only know who she is when the wedding DJ plays “Locomotion.”
No Doubt Returns With Vintage Sound
No Doubt’s femme-fronter Gwen Stefani longs for the past on a track from the band’s new album, “Push and Shove,” when she sings, “Do you remember how it was?”