There are 1,836 posts tagged Review (this is page 62 of 263).
I know. There are more pressing things going on in the world right now than an alternative pop/rock album from the ’90s. But I started listening to and researching this album prior to Criterion Month, and I never got around to writing about it before that month started. So now, here I am attempting to write about it before Shocktober begins.
Album: Jagged Little Pill
Artist: Alanis Morissette
Release Date: June 13, 1995
Copies Sold In The U.S.: 15.3 million Continue reading
I’m well aware that these will be very cold takes, considering these are two pretty huge albums that got the hot take treatment upon their release a few weeks ago. However, I couldn’t help but feel the need to compare and contrast these two albums, considering they have a lot in common, as well as a lot of differences in terms of how their pop star creators have navigated their careers up until now. Also, I’m not sure that they’re albums that are all that conducive to the “hot take” treatment, considering their breadth and ambition. Continue reading
Is it just me, or did indie rock get a lot dreamier over the course of this decade? Perhaps blame it on some of the more influential bands of the decade who literally put “dream” in their album titles (ahem, War on Drugs, Beach House), or just blame it on drugs in general. But it seems that more and more bands have embraced a flurry of hazy guitars and half-comprehensible lyrics that harken back to shoegaze, but with less of the inherent noise. Jay Som proved on her last album that she could embrace the noise with stand-out track “1 Billion Dogs”, but here she plunges deeper into some dreamier jams. Continue reading
That’s right. It’s 2019 and I’m still writing about The Hold Steady.
Which does bring up the question: at what point do you give up on a band you loved in college who might have passed their expiration date? Well, I find this happening less and less these days, considering streaming makes casual listening incredibly easy, which is exactly the kind of listening perfect for an old favorite of yesteryear. Meanwhile, the bands that never really mattered to you that much will fade regardless, while the ones you truly loved will have gained enough of your trust that you’ll continue listening to them into your dreaded thirties. Continue reading
Sometimes, you just wish the art could speak for itself. But alas, we live in a time where that rarely happens. This especially comes to mind when talking about Sleater-Kinney’s latest, The Center Won’t Hold, which ended up being the last album recorded with drummer Janet Weiss before she exited the band prior to the album’s release. So while listening to it, one can’t help but take into consideration whether the new sounds explored on the album caused a rift in the band’s, well, center. Then when you also take into account that Weiss was injured in a potentially career-ending car accident last month, it feels as though a bit of a gray cloud hangs over The Center Won’t Hold. Continue reading
I’ve had a bit of trouble settling on a verdict for Hobbs & Shaw, the first(?) Fast & Furious spin-off film. On one hand, it is a very silly, over-the-top buddy cop action movie. On the other, it seems like the product of a bunch of bad decisions that just had to be followed through on because: money. It’s a movie where Dwayne Johnson pulls a helicopter out of the air, like Captain America. It’s also 135 minutes long and feels like it. Is this too much of a good thing?
There was something very assuring about discovering Bedouine, the project of singer/songwriter Azniz Korkejian. First, because there’s something inherently calming about the familiar, but nonetheless striking way she sings and plays guitar. Secondly, because after seeing videos online of her performing, despite being a relative up-and-comer, she looked to be about my age. Granted, I can’t actually find her age anywhere, but I did find an interview where she refers to her 20s as a thing of the past. Which isn’t that important, I’m just getting a little burned out on 20-year-old indie phenoms playing bedroom pop. Apparently, Korkejian spent much her early adulthood working as a sound engineer while music was nothing but a hobby, which explains why these songs are so casual but also so effortlessly pretty. Continue reading
