January 2011 Archives
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On the Record is a video series where rock stars gush about their favorite records -- in exactly 45 seconds. Click above to watch Trackademicks talk about his favorite album. Rhapsody subscribers can listen to State of the Arts and millions of other albums whenever and however they want. Click here to sign up for a free Rhapsody trial subscription and see what we're all about. |
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 Watch Jay-Z on the Record |
 Watch La Roux On the Record |
 Watch Diplo On The Record |
 Watch Animal Collective On the Record |
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Many favor this album for its warm, genuinely unpretentious feel. The stellar selection of songs precludes any notions of Jackson being the King of Pop, but surely they helped fan that flame. The gentle disco beat of "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and the heart-wrenching "She's Out of My Life" are just two of Off the Wall's many highlights. — Linda Ryan
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One of the joys of 30 Rock is its light-as-air musical score, which blends elements of Eisenhower-era EZ listening with hints of jazz, classical and Americana. Composer Jeff Richmond (aka Mr. Tina Fey) handles everything with rare grace and skill, making this one of the few -- perhaps only -- TV comedy scores you will actually want to listen to once the show is over. As a plus, you get comedy songs from the show: "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah," "Muffin Top" and "What Do You Say to Cleveland" top the list. — Nick Dedina
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Yes, Gil is such an elder statesman in Brazil that he actually became the minister of culture under Lula. But who better? And it is an absolute joy to hear the singer, liberated from office, return to recording with such grace. This release features Gil and his acoustic guitar with minimal backing, and that stripped-down aesthetic serves his offbeat interpretations of his own and others' classic songs well. — Sarah Bardeen
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Hailing from the Bay Area, Goapele is without a doubt a star on the rise. Blessed with an ultra-smooth singing voice and ear for quality beats, she shines brightly on her solo debut. Even Closer also features collaborations with some of the Bay's nicest emcees, including Pep Love and Zion I. — Brolin Winning
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On the Record is a video series where rock stars gush about their favorite records -- in exactly 45 seconds. Click above to watch John Vanderslice talk about his favorite album. Rhapsody subscribers can listen to White Wilderness and millions of other albums whenever and however they want. Click here to sign up for a free Rhapsody trial subscription and see what we're all about. |
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 Watch Snow Patrol on the Record |
 Watch Brian Wilson On the Record |
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Watch Animal Collective On the Record |
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France's Air made their name with the 1998 debut Moon Safari, a seductive romp through downtempo beats and kitschy, easy-listening signifiers. They earned their cachet with their soundtrack to Sophia Coppola's 2000 film The Virgin Suicides, which proved them unparalleled interpreters of the sexier side of ennui, channeling '60s pop tropes through '90s recombinant techniques — a little like Beck, without the irony. With the following year's 10,000 Hz Legend, their gauzy façade had faded and torn, as they struggled to put a real raison d'etre to their stylistic command — a familiar trajectory for so many buzz bands. And then, unexpectedly, they returned in 2004 with Talkie Walkie, an album that redeemed their alternately moody and starry-eyed approach with the strongest songwriting of their whole career. "Cherry Blossom Girl," "Run," "Universal Traveler," "Mike Mills," "Surfing on a Rocket" — pretty much the whole album overflows with hummable melodies, delivered in one of the most soothing altos imaginable and wrapped up in a gorgeous package of strummed guitars, unobtrusive drum-machine beats, rock-steady electric basslines and delicate filigrees of analog synthesizers and effects.Air is an important antecedent for a host of bands that followed — Phoenix and their chiming indie pop, Delorean and their electronics-infused rock, plus the whole chillwave movement, with its emphasis on beautiful dreamers and windswept cool. But what came before Air? We unpack their influences across a spectrum of breezy, elemental acts.
Jean-Jacques PerreyThe Amazing New Electric Sound of Jean-Jacques Perry
The French electronic music of the '60s is often remembered in relation to IRCAM, the research institute that pioneered plenty of innovations in synthesizers and software while largely forgetting about music's pleasure principle. That wasn't the case with Jean-Jacques Perrey, a musician incapable of saying no to a pungent slice of fromage. This 1968 album may have been recorded on state-of-the-art Moogs, but his cheerful burble was anything but highfalutin'. Like Bruce Haack or Raymond Scott, he used his circuitry to channel childlike innocence. While Air's music is never quite as goofy, it's undoubtedly touched with the same playful, impish spirit.
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When It Falls is as much of a chill-out staple as Zero 7's sumptuous debut, Simple Things. Both albums use exquisitely silky downtempo to create a cocoon of warmth and calm, with threads of psychedelia to keep it interesting. "Passing By" is the perfect accompaniment into the next life. — Mia Quagliarello
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Releasing an album in December or January is always a bit of a crapshoot. On the one hand, it could give everyone one more thing to put on their Christmas list (or spend their holiday loot on). On the other, it could get lost amid the mountains of wrapping paper and holiday albums and New Year's resolutions and year-end lists. And that, friends, is where your handy dandy Pop Roundup comes in. We've gathered up the latest and greatest in pop releases from the past month or two, providing you with everything you need to catch up on what you missed while you were busy shoveling fruitcake in your mouth or trying to work it off at the gym later or, you know, drinking.
Keri HilsonNo Boys Allowed (Mosley/Interscope)
In a Nutshell: Keri Hilson's second album showcases supremely well-crafted and lovingly sung soul-pop (with particular emphasis on the pop). But Hilson is both a clever girl and clever about being a girl. No Boys is not only full of smart shout-outs to the ladies (and nuanced reminders about respecting them), it also articulates an idea of girlishness as a strength rather than a liability.
Don't Miss: The wicked, wickedly smart "Pretty Girl Rock." "Buyou" and "Gimme What I Want," which find Hilson treading into the big beats and fierce stances of diva-pop territory.
For Those Who Like: Smart girls; pretty girls; smart, pretty girls who rock; Beyonce; Kanye West in a submissive(ish) position; Rihanna; old-school girl groups with coy attitude.
Keyshia ColeCalling All Hearts (Geffen)
In a Nutshell: Keyshia Cole's fourth album encompasses at least two of R&B's most significant strains: processing relationship particulars and working through some stuff. Forget confessional. This is like finding her letters and reading each one out loud, and every one is coated in silky, slow-jam grooves.
Don't Miss: "Thank You," a post-gospel nod to the No. 1 guy in her life (the Big Guy); the rehabbed heart (and impassioned, if slightly off-key, vocals) she displays on "Better Me."
For Those Who Like: Oprah. Reality TV. Real-life struggle, realized in song. Mary J. Blige. Toni Braxton. Letters. Reading them out loud. Writing in diaries. Monica.
Thrash metal came to being in the mid-'80s, typified by breakneck tempos, shouted vocals and a level of hostility that plain scared the pants off parents. In the U.S., Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth became known as The Big Four. Simultaneously, Kreator, Destruction and Sodom formed The Big Three of Germany. Wherever they were, the bands all seemed to have a single aim: to take the hallowed moves of NWOBHM (that's New Wave of British Heavy Metal) and fire them out of a cannon. Scenes sprouted up in San Francisco, SoCal, Jersey and Toronto, to name a few spots, with records coming out throughout the '80s and on into the '90s. Basically, death and black metal came out of thrash. Below, we offer a collection of tunes geared to either introduce folks to the genre, hit on some of the big moments for the acolytes or just provide a playlist that, when suitably cranked, is guaranteed to bum out your neighbors. Unfortunately we don't have the rights to Metallica, so no "Whiplash."
The idea of singing — harmonizing — as a duo has gone hand in hand with country music since long before labels started recording it in the 1920s. Family acts, who would have been harmonizing with each other at home and in church for years, became a popular attraction in the '30s and '40s, and laid the foundation for duos (related or not) for decades to come.Over the past few months, there has been a spate of releases by duos trying to make a name for themselves: Steel Magnolia, Thompson Square, the JaneDear Girls, Joey + Rory and Bomshel are among a clutch of new artists hoping to be the next big country music duo. With that in mind, let's take a look at some classic country duos — twosomes who have made an indelible impression in the country music world, and set the bar for all the newcomers.
We've only scratched the surface here. Got a favorite duo we haven't covered? Let us know. And, while you're reading, check out our Twangin' Twosomes extended playlist.
The Stanley Brothers
Ralph and Carter Stanley were Virginia boys who infused their bluegrass music with the mountain traditions they grew up with. By 1947, the two were playing around, mixing it up with peers such as Bill Monroe, whose more commercial sound influenced the brothers' approach to bluegrass. The following year, the Stanleys signed to Columbia Records, and over the next three years they recorded 22 songs, many of which have become classic bluegrass mainstays. The duo left Columbia for Mercury in 1953 and continued to push the boundaries of bluegrass, adding flourishes of gospel and honky-tonk to their original songs.
The Complete Mercury RecordingsCompare this collection to The Complete Columbia Stanley Brothers and you'll quickly notice just how much more forceful the duo sounds here. Where their earlier sides for Columbia highlighted the brothers' high harmony work, these mid-'50s recordings for Mercury saw the Stanleys and their Clinch Mountain Boys morph into a rugged bluegrass juggernaut, one that stressed manic breakdowns over traditional ballads. Still, it wouldn't be the Stanley Brothers without a tearjerker or three. — Justin Farrar
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In a recording career that stretched across most of the 20th Century and yielded dozens upon dozens of classic album this may just be Frank Sinatra's most famous (and copied) album. Sinatra and arranger Nelson Riddle put a medium tempo jazz bounce into ballads and created the upbeat and richly romantic "Swingin' Lovers" sound. As a special bonus this is also the album where jazz master Sweets Edison really started his tenure as Frank's most featured soloist. The CD improves on perfection by offering a bonus track of "How About You." — Nick Dedina
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Remember the '90s, when production giants like DJ Premier, Da Beatminerz, the RZA and Pete Rock were often as famous as the rappers they toiled for? That era has passed. So, too, is the early 2000s, when super-producers like Timbaland, Scott Storch, the Neptunes and Lil Jon could charge up to $100,000 a beat.Rap musicianship has since retreated to the background, as well as the theory that great producers have a recognizable sound signature and a style that is unmistakably theirs. Today's legion of producers use a variety of styles — whether it's club-rattling crunk or urban radio-baiting babymaker grooves — to win placements on major-label projects. They're better known to rap geeks than casual fans. But that may soon end. A few of them, particularly Lex Luger and Boi-1da, have the potential to command the kind of attention their predecessors once did. At stake is the notion that hip-hop culture is about more than just an emcee — even at the highly corporatized major level, musicians and engineers can contribute just as much to a hit as a star vocalist.
Lex Luger
Key Tracks: Waka Flocka Flame's "Hard in Da Paint"; Jay-Z and Kanye West's "H.A.M."; and Rick Ross' "B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)" and "MC Hammer"
Style: Lex Luger killed 2010 with "Hard in Da Paint" and "B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)." Both touted pop-operatic hooks that hearkened to Lil Jon in his prime; "Hard in Da Paint" in particular recalled John Williams' "Imperial March Theme." Luger's work on "H.A.M." is just a sequel to these massive anthems and an ego-stroking exercise for two of the genre's biggest stars, but it proves that he has carved an inescapable niche at only 19 years of age.
"Alternative metal" is an awfully nebulous genre tag, one that first emerged in the early 1990s. Looking back on those heady days, it was more or less slapped on any quasi-metal outfit that didn't fit nicely into an already established genre, be it thrash, groove metal, industrial metal, grunge, death metal, hardcore, progressive metal or even alternative rock. In fact, what united groups as disparate as Helmet, Jane's Addiction, Deftones and Life of Agony was how they blurred the lines between said genres, and in the process helped lay the groundwork for the rise of nu metal. Of course, this is either a good or bad thing depending what you think of Korn and Limp Bizkit. Nevertheless, these bands can be credited with mixing and matching elements — funk rhythms, hip-hop samples, industrial/goth darkness, odd time signatures, hardcore-informed breakdowns, blast beats, classic-rock riffage and so on — in new and unusual ways.Because alternative metal is such a porous and ever-shifting category, it's probably best if we apply it to specific albums rather than bands. Thus, here are 14 records that will help you understand this pivotal — if transitional — time in heavy-metal history.
HelmetMeantime
No matter how many nu-metal morons rip off Meantime, the album's innovative zest never diminishes. When it was released in 1992, its unremitting succession of proggy grooves and start/stop dynamics sounded unlike anything else in modern rock. That's because Helmet were the first high-profile group to filter all the scuzzy noise-rock released on the Tough & Go and Amphetamine Reptile labels through the hardcore-metal crossover then dominating New York City. On top of all this, guitarist Page Hamilton threw in a bunch of arty chops he learned while hanging around the Knitting Factory's avant-scene. — Justin Farrar
Type O NegativeBloody Kisses
In the early 1990s, Type O Negative's Bloody Kisses knocked down the walls separating goth, metal and even alternative rock. Augmenting the group's core sound with cool washes of synthesizer and art-pop moves, main man Peter Steele crafted a sound that derives its power from mood and atmosphere rather than straight-up heavy-metal heft. Indeed, Bloody Kisses is an extremely rich listening experience. Each and every song is a soundscape in need of exploration. At the same time, don't overlook Steele's lyrics. The guy possesses an ironic sense of humor that is subtle, if outrageous. — J.F.
Before your favorite rock, rap, pop and country stars were famous, they were just … people. Which, chances are, also means they were struggling and striving musicians or singers who probably spent time in bands that never hit big, and that you may have never even heard of. Some of those bands recorded actual albums, or at least singles — many of which just happen to be available on Rhapsody. Here's a pile to check out. Moving Sidewalks
These sun-fried late '60s blues banditos were best known for the love-in-the-elevator nugget "99th Floor" — a radio chart-topper for over a month in Houston, not so much anywhere else. Guitarist Billy Gibbons later made his name with ZZ Top.
The Vagrants
The Vagrants were soul-garagers who attended the same Forest Hills, Queens, high school as sundry future Ramones; the group featured hefty guitarist Leslie West before he moved on to form '70s hard-rocking boogie bunch Mountain.
The Mynah Birds
This Toronto R&B outfit recorded sundry tracks under different lineups in the mid-'60s — notably "It's My Time" and "Go On and Cry," which Motown didn't release at the time, though they showed up on a box set four decades later, after ex-Mynahs Rick James and Neil Young had become household names.
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Superb guitar pop classic from the literate Englishman and his Scots band. Both Lloyd Cole's tuneful, literate songs and the Commotions' jangle-rich folk-rock guitar sound have an open, airy mid-1960s feel to them without being "retro" (touches of Dylan, Cohen and the VU abound with a little Television thrown in for CBGB cred). Loaded with brilliant songs such as "Perfect Skin," "Forest Fire," "Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?" and the title track, Rattlesnakes stands proud next to Prefab Sprout's Steve McQueen, Aztec Camera's High Land, Hard Rain and the Smiths' catalog as best of the 1980s. This extended edition features a mess of rarities, b-sides, concert cuts and demos. — Nick Dedina
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Muse return with this sweeping sci-fi epic, infused with stories of space travel ("Starlight") and a burst of flamenco guitar ("Hoodoo"). This fourth disc marks a bold step into the future of their operatic Brit rock, with the histrionic pitch of Matthew Bellamy's voice rising as if in response to global warming temperatures. Despite its overall dark, apocalyptic tones, this neo-prog space shuttle is worth taking a risk on. — Michele K-Tel
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Mos Def has largely abandoned traditional song structure. Verse-chorus-bridge-coda? Forget about it. The raps here are rambling, stream-of-consciousness rants that appropriate the griot braggadocio of spiritual enlightenment before pivoting to the apocalyptic fury of political fear and loathing. Songs barely reach the two-minute mark, while the sound ranges from twisting Bollywood pomp to weepy Mediterranean psych. And, just when you think it's over, Dilla shows up on an unexpected Black Star reunion. The album is a rabbit hole, and its stab at hip-hop transcendentalism is as messy as it is beautiful. — Sam Chennault
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Listeners expecting one more "One More Time" or "Robot Rock" may be surprised by Daft Punk's soundtrack to the 2010 sequel to Tron. Their score to the cyber-thriller doesn't forgo the synthesizers entirely, but they're folded into conventional orchestral beds, heavy on swelling strings and obvious drama. Occasionally, an electronic passage will recall Tangerine Dream's arpeggiated fantasias, but for the most part they follow the lead of Wendy Carlos' similarly hybrid score for the original Tron, locking electronic experimentation within a familiar Hollywood frame. — Philip Sherburne
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On the Record is a video series where rock stars gush about their favorite records -- in exactly 45 seconds. Click above to watch The Script talk about their favorite album of all time. Rhapsody subscribers can listen to The Script and millions of other albums whenever and however they want. Click here to sign up for a free Rhapsody trial subscription and see what we're all about. |
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Watch Snow Patrol on the Record |
 Watch Mat Kearney On the Record |
 Watch Rob Thomas On The Record |
 Watch Parachute On the Record |
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The endearingly kooky Macy Gray burst into our lives with this delicious, delirious funk-fest. "I Try" got the most attention, but the whole album feels strong and confident, thanks to Gray's spunky singing and attitude. "Sex-O-Matic Venus Freak" could turn even the plainest Jane into one -- such is the power of Macy. — Mia Quagliarello
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Descendants of Africans who escaped slave ships and built communities with the local Arawakan population along the Caribbean coast of Central America, Garifuna musicians are heirs to one of the world's most distinctive and resilient cultures. So it only makes sense that the musics they play represent some of the globe's most joyous yet politically critical, unique yet inherently diasporic, prolifically traditional yet hybrid, adaptive and inventive: the percussive religious music, the acoustic guitar-driven paranda, the various permutations of the punta rock genre created by the late great savior of Garifuna music, Andy Palacio. Most recently is the exciting and game-changing new album from Honduras' Aurelio Martinez. Martinez already had quite a pedigree: A respected master of Garifuna traditions in his own right (not to mention a politician who was the first person of African descent to be elected to the Honduran National Congress), he was also the heir to Andy Palacio's throne and the chosen mentee of Youssou N'Dour. His debut album, Garifuna Soul, was released on Garifuna treasure chest Stonetree Records and widely acclaimed in global music circles. And then, for his next trick, he released his latest album, Laru Beya, as the second-ever album to be released on Next Ambiance, the world music imprint of respected indie label Sub Pop that the world of world music has been watching with keen interest. And what an eyeful -- or, rather, earful -- Martinez and Next Ambiance have given us. Densely layered, impeccably produced and swirling with globe-crossing currents of unexpected sound, Laru Beya is a sonic evolution (or perhaps revolution) that is steeped in the hybridized, resilient, powerfully distinctive Garifuna tradition.
Take a listen to our Garifuna Rocks! playlist, which situates Martinez's album within the rich and fascinating history of Garifuna music, from traditional, drum-driven chants to Garifuna rap -- and everything in between -- paying special tribute to the legacies of Martinez and Andy Palacio, who we lost in 2008.
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On his fourth album under the simian pseudonym, Simon Green continues to refine his unique brand of downtempo music. Instead of sampling, Green creates most of his source material himself, laying down drums, bass, keys and horns and then arranging the parts into fluid, funky jams. His primary model is the orchestral soul of Isaac Hayes or Marvin Gaye, but it's updated by touches of dub, hip-hop and even U.K. garage. Like Four Tet, it's music that flaunts description -- post-folktronica? Neo-neo-soul? -- and seduces you into meeting it on its own generous terms. — Philip Sherburne
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So here we are, a few short weeks into 2011, and the new year, baby that it is, is already strutting its stuff and looking rather fabulous. Musically speaking, we're starting the year off with some very hot new singles off some very hotly anticipated upcoming albums by some very big, very bold-faced and, uh, well, very hot names. So we've devoted this edition of single-phile to providing you, dear pop fan, with a little guide to the year (so far) in hot! new! singles!, including our 25-words-or-less summaries and predictions for whether or not the song will last through 2011's middle age.
Artist: Britney SpearsSong: "Hold It Against Me"
Album: From her upcoming and wildly anticipated seventh album (title TBA), due in March
In 25 Words or Less: Britney goes after dance-pop turf she helped create, rides big throbbing club beats like cowgirl, sounds more comfortable in own innuendo than has in years.
Likelihood You'll Still Be Listening to It Six Months from Now: 85%. It's not Britney's best work, but she sounds confident, sexy and ready to take on our apparent addiction to clubby dance-pop.
Broadcast were one of the most exciting avant-pop outfits of the '00s, drawing lines between the jangle of classic indie pop, the retro-futurist mystique of Stereolab (whose Duophonic label Broadcast recorded for, before moving to Warp Records), and the psychedelic charge of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and early computer music. Never easy to pin down, Broadcast surprised even their most devoted followers with their last album, 2009's Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age, which cast their off-kilter dream pop in a hazier, more psychedelic mold.Last week, Trish Keenan — one half of the duo — passed away at the age of 42, laid low by pneumonia. It's a tragic, premature end to Broadcast's remarkable transmissions. Whether you're a fan of the band or a newcomer to their catalog, I'd urge you to read some of the memorials occasioned by Keenan's passing, particularly Nitsuh Abebe's affecting tribute for New York Magazine and Jess Harvell's appreciation in Pitchfork. As a poignant appendix to Keenan's remarkable life and career, Fact magazine unearthed Keenan's "Mind Bending Motorway Mix," completed just weeks ago and streaming on SoundCloud.
We've assembled our own tribute in the form of a playlist sampling tracks from all the Broadcast albums and EPs in Rhapsody's catalog.
When discussing their all-time favorite Kyuss album, the band's fanatics seem divided into two camps: those who champion Blues for the Red Sun, released in 1992, and those who worship its successor, 1993's Welcome to Sky Valley. I fall into the latter group. This probably has to do with personal history more than anything. It was the first Kyuss album I ever heard. Not only that, it fell into my lap at just the right time: college! Don't get the wrong impression; I was a stellar student while attending Western Michigan University between the years 1993 and '97. But I also enjoyed getting super-high and cranking punishingly loud rock music late into the night. Welcome to Sky Valley, needless to say, stayed in heavy rotation for several semesters.Originally comprised of three suites (each one between 14 and 20 minutes long) and a minute-long hidden track, Welcome to Sky Valley is an authentic journey album, not unlike Hawkwind's Space Ritual and Cream's Wheels of Fire. Despite the fathers-of-stoner-rock tag, Kyuss were wildly versatile. They cultivated a perfect blend of the new doom metal and grunge then rising up from the underground (Melvins, Saint Vitus, The Obsessed, Soundgarden) and older psychedelic hard rock (Black Sabbath, Cream, Captain Beyond). The band, as Welcome to Sky Valley clearly demonstrates, possessed the ability to temper power riffage with delicious tangents into prog chops, folksy blues-rock and ambient space.
Chris Goss of the Masters of Reality needs to be mentioned right about now. As Kyuss' producer and mentor, he was pivotal in helping the young California desert freaks achieve their expansive sound. I think this had a lot to do with the fact that Goss was from an older generation. A gifted musician and songwriter in his own right, the dude came of age in the 1970s. He experienced the rise of Black Sabbath firsthand. What's more, he long ago discovered the secret to all classic hard-rock albums from back in the day: heaviness and groove are vital, yes, but what's also extremely important are subtlety, detail and richness. These are qualities Welcome to Sky Valley possesses in spades.
Masters of RealityMasters of Reality (aka The Blue Garden)
A lot of stoner-rock fans date the genre's birth to this now-legendary flop of an album. It was released at the height of '80s hair metal, when the Billboard had no space for a bunch of grizzled dudes from upstate New York dropping references to the occult while grooving like Sabbath and Cream. Even when the band goes into rust-belt bar rock mode — as on "Gettin' High" and "The Candy Song" — they sound ominous and oddly detached, as if they're serial killers who've just satisfied their ravenous appetites. — Justin Farrar
How has 2011 held up so far? Well, there's already been a decent selection of alternative and indie albums released. We've gathered them all up for you in this month's roundup. Read about and listen to new music from The Decemberists, Cake, Smith Westerns, Wire, Social Distortion, Tennis and more.
While reading, listen to a sampling of each album mentioned below on this playlist:
The DecemberistsThe King is Dead
The Decemberists continue to prove they are far more than well-read indie-popsters from Portland. After 2009's Hazards of Love, the quintet steps out of prog rock's dense forest and lands on an expansive pasture where accordions, harmonicas and banjos run free. As R.E.M.'s Peter Buck lends some of his 12-string guitar prowess and Gillian Welch adds lightness to standout single "Down by the Water," the folk lilt lifts Colin Meloy's melancholic cries to twangy croons. Though the foot-stompin' melodies fit him well, his usual cutting wordplay has softened some in the sun of this bucolic setting. — Stephanie Benson
TennisCape Dory (Fat Possum Records)
This Denver duo, husband-and-wife team Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore, formed Tennis after a sailing voyage in the Atlantic. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? A sonic document of their months-long adventure shapes their debut album, Cape Dory, which comes off as blithe and breezy as such an extended vacation would suggest. The melodies sway with effortlessness; only a few songs break the three-minute mark as Riley's jangly lo-fi guitar guides Moore's squeaky-clean, girl-group coos. It's like a Ronette going surfing with Jan & Dean by day, sharing space with a budding garage rocker by night. — S.B.
You always hear that jazz is in trouble — and it always is. Twenty-ten was no different, and darn if there wasn't a flood of jazz albums that came out last year that rank up there with many of the best releases of any decade.I have a feeling that 2011 will follow suit, with jazz's golden child Esperanza Spalding already slated to cross over as a pop star and pianist Brad Mehldau continuing to win a new audience that grew up on indie rock rather than acoustic bop.
The following 10 releases are just a sampling of what is in store for the year. I have included two pop/rock albums that should be interesting, one of which is by Paul Simon, who has worked regularly with the finest jazz musicians in the world since his days with Art Garfunkel (why do you think the acoustic bass on "The 59th Street Bridge Song [Feelin' Groovy]" is so, well, plain groovy?).
We are even planning to have a pre-release listening party for a couple of these, so check back in with us from time to time.
Paul Simon, So Beautiful or So What (April 12)
Paul Simon hasn't had the biggest successes with his last few releases — Songs from the Capeman was tied to a musical that flopped on Broadway; the propulsive You're the One was shut out on radio and TV; and Surprise (a collaboration with Brian Eno) was probably too edgy for his fan base. But Dylan, Plant and Springsteen have all earned critical praise and big sales for their late-career comebacks, and this could be Simon's year. The previewed track, "Getting Ready for Christmas Day," sounds like classic Paul Simon (simultaneously sweet and cutting), yet is sonically post-modern and 21st century. He has also reunited with jazz/quality soft-rock producer Phil Ramone, whom he worked with back in the days of Still Crazy After All These Years. Also, Bob Dylan-style, Simon has gone from being uncool to being an often-cited influence on today's indie rock acts and singer-songwriters. Word on the album is strong.
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I never took Charlie's could-been-Elvis rep very seriously until I heard the passionately confident Jimmy Reed medley that opens side two of this Nashville album. What's missing is Elvis's insolent verve--Rich is sometimes soulful to a fault, veering dangerously toward mere sincerity, a clue to his Nashville success. But there's a payback in maturity and attention to musical detail. No more blues, except for a redefinitive "Since I Met You Baby," and no rock or rockabilly. But he manages to render a piece of countrypolitan mawk like "A Picture of You" at least interesting by sheer belief, and the way he sings his wife Margaret's "Life' Has Its Little Ups and Downs" makes you know what they mean by "'til death do us part." — Robert Christgau
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Vocal ensembles are making a comeback thanks to shows like Glee and The Sing Off, but in the gospel community tight harmonies and soaring voices have always been in style. Below are some shining examples of gospel choirs or groups, many headed by artists with their own thriving solo careers. Here's the thing: in the rock world, you know you've arrived when you have a Playmate or a model on your arm. In the gospel world, you've made it big when you have your own group. 
Fred Hammond & Radical for ChristPurpose By Design
Hammond started out playing bass for The Winans and then joined the group Commissioned. Since then, he's cracked the Billboard 200 four times and nabbed three Gospel Music Association Dove Awards and an armload of Stellar Awards for his work with Radical for Christ. The group's 2001 release, Purpose By Design, was a definite standout, and it also had a track on the inspirational soundtrack for the animated film Prince of Egypt.
Last year, Otis "Madlib" Jackson, Jr., made plans for a Madlib Medicine Show: 12 releases consisting of six albums of original material and six mixtapes of songs by other artists. It proved a failure, with just nine installments reaching market, including a 10th chapter and no ninth. Add those discs to gigs producing Strong Arm Steady's In Search of Stoney Jackson and Guilty Simpson's OJ Simpson, and excursions such as Young Jazz Rebels' Slave Riot and the Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble's Miles Away, and that only made for … 13 releases in 2010. Amusingly, Madlib couldn't finish the Medicine Show, but he couldn't curb his excessive productivity, either.Madlib is an unapologetic throwback to the pop and jazz years of the '50s and '60s, when musicians would simply participate in recording sessions, and labels would compile albums from the best material. This could lead to several titles a year from best-selling bandleaders like Miles Davis and Frank Sinatra — a far cry from the new-every-two strategy employed by today's pop stars. Madlib functions the same way as his heroes: he records constantly, and occasionally stops to compile the results into yet another release.
Thanks to classics such as Quasimoto's The Unseen and Madvillain's Madvillainy, Madlib is regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop artists of the past decade. Unlike Timbaland, The Neptunes, Just Blaze, Kanye West or even J Dilla, he remains an underground phenomenon, issuing nearly all his material on indie imprint Stones Throw Records. Certainly, he has never had a mainstream hit. However, major artists with an appreciation for progressive beats have sought him out: he made tracks for Erykah Badu's New Amerykah albums, Mos Def's The Ecstatic, and Ghostface Killah's More Fish. Rumors abound that he contributed tracks to Kanye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and that he may land some credits on Kanye West and Jay-Z's forthcoming Watch the Throne. It's impossible to understand the genre's recent developments without listening to his work.
With the reclusive producer set to restart the Medicine Show series this month with No. 11: Low Budget Hi-Fi Music, it's a good time to take a deep dive into the Madlib Invazion.
LootpackSoundpieces: Da Antidote!
Madlib, MC Wildchild and DJ Romes were part of the Likwit Crew, a collective of emcees and producers led by Tha Alkaholiks, and made a few appearances on the latter's three albums. (Check out "WLIX" for an example of vintage Lootpack in effect.) Spending years deep in the cut, the Lootpack generated a massive backlog of material that began to reach the public via Soundpieces: Da Antidote! Released in 1999, the long-gestating 24-track debut fascinated and overwhelmedz most listeners. In spite of the deluge, Soundpieces' generally high quality made it clear that the Madlib Invazion had just begun.
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The Kinks entered the 1970s with the same stumbling, drunken surprise as The Faces — only long glimpses of confusion and sadness kept popping up between the episodes of hedonistic fun. The first half of this underrated platter about Englishmen on the American road features "Celluloid Heroes," Ray Davies' greatest song of the period. A concert occupies the second half. — Nick Dedina
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You gave us your questions. We put them in a box. Watch Danny O'Donoghue & Glen Power of The Script on cowbells, staying employed and Natalie Imbruglia. Be sure to listen to their new record Science & Faith on Rhapsody.
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After decades of digital neglect, one of history's most gloriously pure voices finally gets remastered on this stellar overview of Cooke's artistry. Includes R&B, gospel, standards and such timeless hits as "You Send Me," "Chain Gang," "Another Saturday Night" and "(What A) Wonderful World." It gets no better than this. — Nick Dedina
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This project -- bringing Malian and Cuban musicians together to record -- was meant to happen back in 1996, but visa problems stalled it. Producer Nick Gold ended up filling the studio time with some old Cuban musicians who became the Buena Vista Social Club. Thank heavens this project, 14 years later, finally happened, because you can't fake chemistry like this. It helps when the musicians -- including Eliades Ochoa and Toumani Diabate -- are top-class. Four days of live recordings with just any group of musicians wouldn't have resulted in such rich, subtle, vibrant music. — Sarah Bardeen
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This album opens with a sly little JB guitar sig, a quick turntable scratch and KRS-One declaring, "Class is in session." And though KRS would become hip-hop's self-anointed teacher, the lesson here is murky and violent. KRS threatens Marley Marl's Juice Crew on "South Bronx," "bucks down a crack dealer named Peter" on "9 MM Goes Bang" and concludes that "the girlies are free 'cuz the crack cost money" on "P is Free Remix." Shortly after the release of this album, Scott La Rock was shot down in the Bronx, a tragedy that would forever transform both KRS and hip-hop. — Sam Chennault
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When Stacey Kent's 2007 Breakfast on the Morning Tram became a surprise best seller in France, the U.K.-based American vocalist responded by cutting this celebration of modern French song. Kent uses Jobim's "Waters of March" to illustrate how much bossa nova has influenced France's modern indie pop sound, and she also recasts Rodgers & Hammerstein's "It Might As Well Be Spring" as a hammock-swaying Rio tune. Elsewhere, she takes on songs written by cutting-edge singer-songwriters like Benjamin Biolay and Keren Ann, and other modern French tunes the jazz community should also cover. Kent's fresh, upbeat approach remains as American as apple pie, yet she is a pop-jazz singer in the classic sense: she serves the song and the lyrics instead of her own ego. Kent also works beautifully with her band, which includes a who's who of British talent, including guitarist John Parricelli and saxophonist Jim Tomlinson (who has long made music with Kent off the stage). — Nick Dedina
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Editor's Note: Listen to a selection of the songs mentioned here on a playlist at the end of this post, or click through to listen to all of these artists on Rhapsody.
You'd think I would want to take a break from jazz. After all, I recently got through hundreds of releases and put together the list of the 20 best jazz albums of 2010. Practically every week I compile The Jazz Spot playlist and highlight the hottest new genre releases and reissues (along with some old favorites). I also program our numerous jazz radio stations, including The New Breed, which is dedicated to the best musicians working the scene today.
But, I cannot get enough of the music — jazz is still offering up so much riveting, exciting and diverse musical sounds made by artists who are in it for love. Fast-rising star Esperanza Spalding chose to step away from an upcoming pop album and take a deep dive into a magical world of cool jazz/classical music. Marc Ribot has gone from being the favorite jazz guitarist of the indie rock crowd to producing a quiet solo set. Newcomer Gregory Porter has the pipes for R&B but instead chose to join the likes of Jose James in putting a new spin on the protest soul-jazz-vocal-bop of the 1960s and early '70s (as you will read below, even smooth jazz is catching this mighty protest bug). Likewise, two of the artists below would never consider themselves jazz musicians, yet they actively collaborate often with a new crop of European jazz musicians.
Each one of the following releases is distinct. While it's possible that you won't like every single one of them (perish the thought), I don't think you will feel cheated. I've included one massive box set retrospective because it's a good place to either start a lifelong romance with jazz or to get reacquired with an old flame. Thanks to Sarah Bardeen and Chuck Eddy for writing up a couple of the picks.
The classical/jazz chamber album that became a best seller, pits a jazz artist against Justin Bieber at the Grammys and made it to Rhapsody's Best Albums of 2010: Jazz list:
Esperanza SpaldingChamber Music Society
In his 1988 book, The Death of Rhythm & Blues, Nelson George talks a lot about how, starting in the late '70s, crossover of white artists compromised the role of black radio. An old R&B disc jockey named Jack Gibson, who'd worked in radio since the '40s, started a tip sheet called Jack the Rapper, battling the trend. "Black stations should not play any white records," Gibson told George. "Every time they do, they take airplay away from a black artist." He did name one exception, though. And that exception was Teena Marie.Gibson's logic was partly that Teena, who died at age 54 on December 26, 2010, "works for a black-owned and -operated company, Motown." By the mid-'80s, though, she'd already fled that label for Epic and sued Motown for unpaid royalties (resulting in "a clarification of California law," Ben Sisario wrote in his New York Times obituary, "that made it much more difficult for record companies to keep an act under exclusive contract" — which basically makes Teena the music world equivalent of baseball's Curt Flood). And long after she left Motown, Teena's devoted fans were still, overwhelmingly, a black audience. She only had one real "pop" hit — 1985's "Lovergirl" — and she had to cross over from black radio to get it. Has any other white artist, ever, been able to make that claim?
Yet Teena Marie was no R&B purist. In fact, in the past three decades, music has seen no less "pure" performer. Her music left nothing out, and held nothing back. Here she is, in 1981's "Square Biz," which combined rap and R&B before anybody else thought to: "I like spirituals and rock/ Sarah Vaughan, Johann Sebastian Bach/ Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, and Nikki Giovanni just to name a few." The excellent album containing that song, It Must Be Magic, was dedicated to John Lennon, two Kennedys and Martin Luther King, Jr., at the end of a typically lengthy and florid cover poem that noted how "art is long and life is short." From another poem, on the cover of 1980's Lady T, which pictured Teena in glamorous eveningwear on the front and as a baseball-playing tomboy on the back: "I am upper suburbia and I am Venice Harlem/ I am one million contradictions to my complacent life." Later: "I have been persecuted and labeled just like you/ Aah but you label Campbell Soup cans … not people!" Teena Marie could not be pinned down.
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This winning debut from the Spoonful features great John Sebastian originals such as "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind," the once sweet/now creepy "Younger Girl," and the classic title track that only went to No. 9 in the charts. It also showcases the group's earlier incarnation as a jug band that specialized in turning old folk and blues standards into rockers. — Nick Dedina
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If you're a new or casual fan of bachata, it may come as a surprise to learn that this massively popular genre (which can be heard streaming out of countless car windows and clubs across Latin America and the United States) was little known outside the Dominican Republic countryside just a few short years ago. And the fact that it was not only heavily stigmatized (and, at times, even persecuted) as, at best, embarrassingly backwoods and, at worst, the sound of depravity may be downright shocking. Truly, the slow, romantic, seemingly innocuous shuffling slide of the Caribbean style that today gives even reggaeton a run for its money belies its complicated, even tumultuous history. But it's that same struggle that gives the swaying rhythm of the bachata its substance.
The bachata began life as a kind of Dominican take on the Cuban bolero, a soft, romantic style of guitar music that grew and gained popularity across the countryside for years before it was even known by the name bachata (in fact, its early permutations were called bolero campesino). That naming and the codification of the style as a uniquely Dominican sound came about in the 1960s, its title taken from the gatherings that occurred around the music (bachata more or less translates as "party"). The sweet and at times almost mournful songs focused on themes of love, but they also often candidly addressed the plight of the impoverished, rural lower classes. It was a bold move that did not sit well with the ruling classes, who looked down upon the genre's frank sexuality and bold political stance. They denigrated it as a music of prostitution and crime and promoted the more middle-class merengue as the Dominican music. Bachateros, relegated to barrios and limited to just one national radio station, embraced their genre's "bad" rep, taking the opportunity to sing the little-heard stories of the difficulties of life in the country's underground.
That scrappiness ultimately paid off. At some point in the 1980s, the genre's undeniable (and ever-increasing) popularity won out over its bad rap. Electric guitars were introduced, merengue stars and other middle-class artists began experimenting with the style and bachateros began to become massive, international stars. Of course, in the process, a good deal of the revolutionary zeal was watered down — or at least drowned out by the slicker, sexier, more urban sounds of modern bachata (which often include elements of hip-hop, R&B and reggaeton). But you don't have to dig very deep to discover the "secret," radical, underground history, which continues to influence the now very mainstream genre of bachata.
Take a tour of bachata's rise from the underground and the countryside to international prominence with our guide to its key albums and artists.
The worlds of world and Latin music can be very disparate. But because there is some overlap (hence, the job title of yours truly), we've merged the two worlds (or perhaps more accurately, multiple worlds) temporarily to run through some of the year's most hotly anticipated albums. Just call it musical globalization! On this vast horizon, then, are Garifuna soul and Guadalajaran rock, Pitbull and Ladysmith Black Mambazo — and that's essentially just the first quarter of 2011. In short, the world(s) are looking pretty exciting this year.
Pitbull, Planet Pit (March)
Pitbull spent 2010 playing crossover guest star to pals like Enrique Iglesias ("I Like It") and Usher ("DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love") and dropping his first (entirely) Spanish-language album. Twenty-eleven is set to find him taking that crossover appeal, jumping back in the driver's seat and, apparently, driving all over the planet. If the lead single off Mr. 305's sixth album is any indication, his plan for conquering the world has diverged much from earlier efforts. "International Love" pulses with friendly, vaguely Latin but mostly generically clubby beats and plenty of innocuously sexy braggadocio. In other words, he's not taking any risks, but hey, if it ain't broke ...
Mana, Drama Y Luz (February)
After three decades playing together, seven well-received studio albums, three Grammys, five Latin Grammys and one stint touring with Mr. Carlos Santana, Mana are pretty much Latin rock stalwarts. You know them. You like them. And even if you don't know them, we pretty much guarantee you'll find their rootsy arena grooves likable. A new Mana album (their first since 2006's Amar es Combatir) is, therefore, as much a cause to celebrate as, say, your old college buddies coming to town for the weekend. You'll smile, you'll have a few drinks, you'll think of good times and you'll most likely dance.
Burlap to Cashmere, TBD (April)It's not hyperbole to say that cousins Steven Delopoulos and John Philippidis turned Christian music on its head with their 1998 debut, Anybody Out There?, under the moniker Burlap to Cashmere. Influenced by their Greek heritage and Brooklyn upbringing, it was 180 degrees from anything else happening in the genre. They seemed too good to be true, and it turns out they were. Band members headed in separate directions before a sophomore disc was released. Delopoulos carved out a solo career in the years since and did some dates with Philippidis, but fans missed Burlap as a band. Now, more than a decade later, they're back. But Delopoulos has a warning for those expecting a return to 1998: "This record is very different than the first — [we're] not a Spanish salsa CCM disco band anymore ... thank God!" Instead, expect more '70s singer-songwriter influences like Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and Cat Stevens. That works for me.
Steven Curtis Chapman, TBD (Summer)
Chapman has sold nearly 10 millions albums, and he's won five Grammys and a whopping 56 Dove Awards. His best album is arguably his most recent, 2009's Beauty Will Rise. Inspired by the death of his young daughter, it traced his family's very personal journey from grief to hope. The disc earned Chapman his 15th Grammy nomination, and has fans old and new waiting eagerly to see what he'll come up with next.
Along with resolutions and returned gifts, January brings hope. Some yearn for world peace, others want a viable alternative to fossil fuels that breaks our dependency on Middle East oil. And then there are those who pray for jobs for the unemployed or adequate health care for the elderly and poor. Us, we'd take new albums by Justin Timberlake, OutKast or Pavement — or maybe better (or worse) storylines from Glee. Below, you'll find all of our wishes for music in 2011.New Music from the Reunited
All you "reunited bands": let's hear some new music already. Poking at our nostalgia buttons is so last decade. We're pointing our fingers at acts like Pavement, Pixies, Blur (we'd even embrace an album made on an iPad, Mr. Albarn) or Soundgarden, who teased fans with the subpar "Black Rain" after getting back together to play Lollapalooza last year. And we'd also like to request something new from Neutral Milk Hotel (okay they haven't officially reunited ... yet) or perhaps some sort of Elephant 6 mega collaboration? If you need some guidance, look to The Cars, who plan to release their first album in 23 years, or even Jane's Addiction, who, after "reuniting" about 10 times already, just gained some indie cred by nabbing TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek to take on bass duties for their new album. As exciting as all your reunion shows are, over 99 percent of the population cannot partake in such festivities, so how about taking that shiny tour money and heading to the studio? — Stephanie Benson
All I Want for 2011 Is a New Justin Timberlake Album
Oh, please, Santa and Grilled Cheezus and Krishna and Tooth Fairy. Please let Justin Timberlake make a new album in 2011. Look, J.T., we understand that you are very busy being an acTOR and, fine, fine, we'll even admit that you were actually quite good in The Social Network (though that Yogi Bear movie might be unforgivable). And we know you are also very, very busy designing restaurants and opening clothes lines and canoodling with Jessica Biel (or not, depending on the day and the tabloid) — or Andy Samberg. And we even know that his primary partner in crime has fallen a bit out of fashion in these days of synth-pop and Dr. Luke. But for the love of M.J., J.T., we need some of that sweet, sweet, funky, falsetto-voiced dance-pop back in our lives. Five years is too long to wait for you to bring "Sexyback" again (and no, that Jamie Foxx cameo doesn't count). — Rachel Devitt
Last year was an astonishingly good one for electronic music, and 2011 is looking like it's no slouch either. House music and dubstep are set to be the principal poles around which everything revolves this year, but don't expect that to mean that things will stay the same. The blogosphere is already agog over James Blake, a young U.K. producer who started off making experimental beats, amplified his buzz via an unexpected Feist cover, and will soon drop a lush, vocal-centric album with huge crossover potential. Find out what's in store for Blake plus new material from Isolee, Boys Noize, Siriusmo, Wolf + Lamb, Soul Clap, and Kode 9 with the Space Ape — plus an unexpected reissue on Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder label.James Blake, TBA (February 7)
The debut album from England's young singer/producer James Blake promises to resonate far beyond the edges of the "electronic music" world. Pitchfork obsessively covered the dubstep upstart's every move in 2010, and his unexpectedly emotive cover of Feist's "Limit to Your Love" blazed like wildfire across the blogosphere. His debut album may polarize, but you can expect it to be huge, with a mixture of minimalist drum programming, taut synthesizers and, at the center of it all, that voice.
Wolf + Lamb / Soul Clap, DJ Kicks (March)
As American dance music digs into the recession-era spirit of house parties and local pride — spiced with a little bit of Easyjet-set Ibiza/Berlin techno tourism — Brooklyn's Wolf + Lamb and Boston's Soul Clap have emerged as leading figures on the scene, building a fan base that spreads from Brooklyn loft parties to Burning Man raves. For their eight-handed take on the DJ Kicks series, they pull tracks mainly from their extended circle, with the likes of Lee Curtiss, Nicolas Jaar and No Regular Play offering a bleary-eyed, after-hours disco vibe. (See the track listing here.)
Something was missing from pop music last year. Don't get us wrong, 2010 was a great year for pop and all: we enjoyed the dance popicization of the charts, we thought Taylor Swift was winning and cute and Kanye was winning and arrogant. But still, the year was missing ... something. Or rather, someone. Namely, a diva — a real, honest-to-goodness pop diva (well, besides Kanye). Welcome to 2011, which we are christening the Year of the Diva! This year's hotly anticipated and fervently rumored albums include efforts from classic divas (the kind that need only one name: the Beyonces), divas-in-the-making (like the young Ms. Willow Smith), anti-diva divas (we're looking at you, Kelly Clarkson) and rehabbed divas (take a guess). And then there's the new album from pop's newest diva ultima, one Lady Gaga. It's shaping up to be a seriously fierce year, pop fans.
Lady Gaga, Born This Way (May)
She may be the (drag) queen of pop, but don't envy Gaga just yet. The good Lady has the weight of the world on her meat-encased shoulders. Yes, her debut was a smash success that charted hit after hit and virtually changed the shape of the pop music landscape (into one that looks more like a gay dance club, apparently). And yes, she's become one of the world's favorite fascinations in these short couple years, enchanting and perplexing us with her breathlessly dramatic performances and her is-she-or-isn't-she intersex baiting and her Kermie couture. But honey. That is a LOT of pressure to put on an album — especially the notoriously tricky sophomore effort! Here is an artist who has made a name for herself by constantly outdoing herself — by constantly shocking and surprising us. She is her own stiffest competition, and the whole world (almost literally) is waiting with bated breath to see if Gaga can keep it up, so to speak. The title bodes well: this is a Lady who knows her audience and has finely honed her (self-appointed) role as queen of the freaks and geeks and monsters and queers. But you gotta wonder if she's sleeping at night, no? Breathe easy, Gaga! We can't wait to see what you come up with next!
What's in store for 2011? Here's what we're most looking forward to.Also, take a listen to our Artists to Watch in 2011 playlist.
Radiohead, TBD (TBA)
It's been over three years since Radiohead shook up the music industry with its innovative pay-what-you-want tactic for In Rainbows. And while their business savvy was front-page news, it somewhat overshadowed the music itself, which was (still is) really freakin' good. In Rainbows is soft, warm, melodic; it's a slightly different Radiohead from the one on the universally acclaimed Kid A, whose edgy, otherworldly experimentation made it arguably the album of the last decade. Still, In Rainbows was not far behind. Since that release, Thom Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich got cozy with Flea as Atoms for Peace, but that project has yet to churn out an album; drummer Phil Selway released his solo debut in 2010; and Jonny Greenwood has continued working on film scores. No one quite knows what to expect from a new Radiohead album (which makes it that much more exciting). Yorke is a big fan of Flying Lotus, who we're guessing will be a significant influence. Can the Brits keep topping themselves? We're dying to find out.
The Strokes, TBD (March)
The Strokes teased fans by headlining some big gigs in 2010 without playing any new material. Word is they didn't want any crappy recordings leaking online. Fair enough, boys. It's hard to believe nearly a decade ago they released one of the finest alt debuts of the '00s. Now it's been half a decade since last album First Impressions of Earth, with nearly every Stroke using that hiatus to experiment elsewhere. They've admitted to some awkwardness in getting back to the studio together; even Julian Casablancas recorded all of his vocals separately. Hopefully that tension will manifest as something as fresh and exciting as Is This It.
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The follow-up to Flying Lotus' breakout album, Los Angeles, finds the L.A. producer making serious headway with his inimitable style. Running the Brainfeeder label and signing to Warp have made him an ambassador for the "beat music" scene, but barring his obvious ties to hip-hop and left-field club music, no one else sounds like him. Splattered with astral jazz and electro-funk, FlyLo's mostly instrumental tracks harness an array of crusty breakbeats and luminous timbres into music at once psychedelic and profoundly grounded: no-nonsense funk united with truly experimental sonics. — Philip Sherburne
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The rap world will find it hard to top 2010, a year where B.o.B., Nicki Minaj and Wiz Khalifa introduced themselves to the masses, Eminem reclaimed his crown as the music industry’s biggest star, and Kanye West issued his critically lauded gem My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. For now, we only have questions. Can Dr. Dre’s Detox live up to the hype? Will Jay Electronica finally release an album? And can Wiz Khalifa convert his hit single “Black & Yellow” into a popular album? Meanwhile, just as FaR*eAst Movement did last year, a few dark horses will unexpectedly emerge to steal the show. Jay-Z & Kanye West, Watch the Throne (March)
Chummy superstar collaborations rarely make for great music. For every Madvillainy, a zippy masterpiece penned by a raw and hungry Madlib and MF Doom, there are more of The Best of Both Worlds, a daffy Cristal-fueled afterthought Jay-Z and R. Kelly recorded between nightclub jaunts. Jay's involved in this one, too, and worryingly it is slated to appear in March, fueling suspicions that it was made quickly and perhaps sloppily. The key to Watch the Throne is the mercurial Kanye West. If we hear the perfectionist "toast to the douche bags" Kanye we know and love (to hate), then we may get the rare rap summit that actually bangs.
Happy New Year and welcome to 2011! Have you gotten used to writing 2011 on your checks yet? No? Yeah, we're with you on that. A week into the new year and our heads might not be screwed on right yet, but we do know one thing: there are some killer country music releases on the horizon. We've combed new release schedules from a number of sources and have come up with a pretty impressive list of albums to anticipate — most of which are due to hit during the first quarter of 2010. Oops. We mean 2011.
Sara Evans, Stronger (March 8)
Sara Evans has had a rough ride the past few years. After a very public divorce while starring in the hit television show Dancing with the Stars, Evans seemed to lose her footing — both literally and figuratively. While she soldiered on with the show, she hasn't put out an album since 2005 (2007's Greatest Hits hardly counts). For someone such as Evans — and those like her — with a traditional slant to her sound, the infiltration of younger, poppier sirens into the halls of country music certainly creates a bind: do they ride the rails to popdom, or do they dig their heels in and stick to their sound? If her new single is any indication, Evans is splitting the difference. "A Little Bit Stronger" tells the tale of a woman dealing with the aftermath of a breakup and seems to reflect the singer's own life. It's a powerful ballad that makes the most of Evans' wondrous vocals, while nudging the singer into modern, mainstream country. Destined to become a classic breakup song, "A Little Bit Stronger" certainly whets the appetite for more from Sara Evans.
Last year was a fantastic one for rock music. A lot of new faces, from Laura Marling and Black Dub to Black Tusk and JJ Grey, seized pop's spotlight with some great music. Twenty-eleven looks to be a boss year as well — but for different reasons. The next 12 months will surely produce a sizeable batch of new talent, but it looks as if the coming year will mainly revolve around A-list stars dropping high-profile albums, many of them way, way overdue. Now obviously, a good number of these won't even come out. But the list of bands and musicians at least threatening new records is impressive nonetheless: Foo Fighters, Lenny Kravitz, Radiohead, Coldplay, Metallica, Paul Simon, ZZ Top and many more.Check it out.
Foo Fighters, TBD (spring)
Rejoice, all you Foo Fightin' fanatics: on January 3rd of this young year, nice guy Dave Grohl tweeted, "Ladies and gentlemen … we are officially done. Champagne, anyone?" He was referring to the group's new album, which is suppose to be the heaviest, most hard rockin' of their lengthy career. Not only that, it's produced by Butch Vig. In addition to producing some album called Nevermind, the knob-twiddlin' icon played a huge role in sculpting the original grunge sound that emerged in the late 1980s via labels such as Sub Pop, Touch & Go and Amphetamine Reptile.
With every new year comes the promise of great new music. Those hopes are nearly always well founded, though inevitably there are also some disappointments. Here we've assembled what we think are the most promising prospective releases for 2011, broken out by genre. In the comments field, let us know your expectations for them, and whether there are some albums that you're looking forward to that aren't on this list.Pop
Lady Gaga, Born This Way (May)
She may be the (drag) queen of pop, but don't envy Gaga just yet. The good Lady has the weight of the world on her meat-encased shoulders. Yes, her debut was a smash success that charted hit after hit and virtually changed the shape of the pop music landscape (into one that looks more like a gay dance club, apparently). And yes, she's become one of the world's favorite fascinations in these short couple years, enchanting and perplexing us with her breathlessly dramatic performances and her is-she-or-isn't-she intersex baiting and her Kermie couture. But honey. That is a LOT of pressure to put on an album — especially the notoriously tricky sophomore effort! Here is an artist who has made a name for herself by constantly outdoing herself — by constantly shocking and surprising us. She is her own stiffest competition, and the whole world (almost literally) is waiting with bated breath to see if Gaga can keep it up, so to speak. The title bodes well: this is a Lady who knows her audience and has finely honed her (self-appointed) role as queen of the freaks and geeks and monsters and queers. But you gotta wonder if she's sleeping at night, no? Breathe easy, Gaga! We can't wait to see what you come up with next! — Rachel Devitt
Britney Spears, TBD (March)
Brit Brit's really turned it around the past couple years, huh? But while her last two albums have been successful in both a financial and a "return to form" sense, they never really achieved the Brit-geist levels of, say, a …Baby One More Time or In the Zone. And stakes are high for her sixth album: since 2008's Circus, a new sheriff has come to town (that would be Sheriff Gaga, y'all, whose hotly anticipated sophomore effort also drops this year), and the pop princesses of yore — like Britney's colleague, Christina A. — have not fared so well under her rule. But if anyone's got the boom boom to do it again (oops), it's Britney, bitch. — R.D.
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This real-life couple's debut rides the twentysomething romance rollercoaster: meeting cute (bubble-country flirtations "Ooh La La" and "Last Night Again"), getting it on (slow-hand single "Keep On Lovin' You"), breakfast in bed ("Eggs Over Easy"), weathering rough patches (Sugarland-in-Oz reggae "Rainbow"), breakup (wordy ballad "Edge Of Goodbye," with 2 a.m. drunk dialing worthy of Lady Antebellum), recovery ("Bulletproof," where new tattoos counter late Toyota payments). Jam-band soul harmonies add gravity; the closing Nebraska-like folk-blues a sense of self-destructive struggle. — Chuck Eddy
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The Doors' rep has taken a vicious beating in recent years: Jimbo's poetry sucks, Manzarek's a blowhard, etc. But it's the Doors -- not the Stones, not Zeppelin -- who invented the template for raunchy hard rock; Live in Pittsburgh 1970, recorded shortly after the release of Morrison Hotel, proves this. Morrison might be drunk, but he's howling like a madman while his group ditches the brassy psychedelia of 1969 for stripped-down shaman blues. This basket is packed with chestnuts, but nothing beats the futuristic rockabilly of a seven-minute "Mystery Train." — Justin Farrar
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With bowl haircuts, tailored suits, snappy pop songs and tight harmonies, Buffalo Springfield were an obvious reaction to the Beatles and the rest of the British Invasion. But the band's 1966 debut also drops hints of California's future: the jazzy haze permeating "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," the country bop propelling "Go And Say Goodbye," and the faint Latin swing underpinning "Hot Dusty Roads." And of course there's the uber-mature "For What It's Worth," a stone cold folk rock classic. — Justin Farrar
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The title Go is a perfect fit for the Sigur Ros frontman's debut album. It's a tiny word loaded with affirmation and dynamism, much like Jonsi's inimitable falsetto, a delicate instrument with immense power behind it. Like his work with Sigur Ros, huge symphonic crescendos are almost required to keep up with him; they serve to melt the frosted touch of his coos, in return giving listeners uncontrollable chills. Composer Nico Muhly lightens the mood with jovial beats and chirping flutes, and Jonsi even gives up some of his mystique by singing in (mostly) English. Beautiful. — Stephanie Benson
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Julieta Venegas titles her first release in four years "Another Thing." Gentle joke or dagger thrust at some unlucky lover? Listening, you could come to either conclusion. Has anyone ever argued so convincingly for the virtues of unconsummated love as Venegas does on "Amores Platonicos"? Or wrestled with the bitter truth that everything you want will escape your grasp? That Venegas slips these sentiments into such delectable, cheerful music is a testament to her gifts as a songwriter. As a bonus, her voice, which had sounded dense and sad on her unplugged release, is back together. — Sarah Bardeen
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Madlib helmed over a dozen albums in 2010, including this production gig for Los Angeles hard-knock trio Strong Arm Steady. And In Search of Stoney Jackson was arguably the best of the lot. All of Madlib's tricks are in evidence here, including wacky, laugh-out-loud samples, tasty head-nod loops and a dusty, scratchy-record tone. Admirably, Strong Arm Steady manage to keep up with him, offering inspired rhymes on dietary methods ("Chittlins & Pepsi"), the current recession ( "Best of Times") and, of course, thuggin' out ("Bark Like a Dog"). — Mosi Reeves
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Outsiders may find it hard to understand, but for more than a decade, thousands upon thousands of college students have chosen to celebrate the arrival of a new year by praising God at a Passion conference. There's no champagne, no wild parties. Instead, they welcome the turning of the calendar page by singing worship songs and talking about how to impact their world in the name of Christ. It's much more than "Kumbaya" around the campfire, though. These events, started in Austin, Tex., by Passion founder Louie Giglio, have the lofty goal of seeing "a generation stake their lives on what matters most." They're well on their way, if attendance at Passion 2011 is any indication. The most recent event, which took place Jan. 1-4 in Atlanta, sold out Philips Arena (they expected a crowd of 22,000).
You might be thinking: good for them, but Rhapsody is still a music site, right?
You're right, and Passion events just happen to feature some of today's most popular — and prolific — worship leaders (although they prefer to be called "lead worshipers" in the Passion world). Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band and Charlie Hall all found national recognition through the Passion movement, going on to win awards and see their songs climb the charts. They even have their own record label, sixstepsrecords, and their live conference CDs are perennial best sellers.
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This energetic swirl of Ellington-style big-band swing, flashy Spanish fusion and flamenco/jazz helps put to rest the stereotype that Wynton Marsalis is overly cautious or traditional. While Marsalis definitely uses his JALC Orchestra the painterly way Duke used his legendary band, he also branches out into the brash spirit of flamenco, with sense-memories of Sketches of Spain wafting in the breeze (ironic, because he's been unkind to arranger Gil Evans' work in the past). With flamenco/jazz renegades Paco de Lucia and Chano Dominguez onboard, along with a barroom full of hand-clappers and foot-stompers, The Vitoria Suite plays out like an alternately thrilling and sensual Iberian adventure. Instead of being overly cerebral, this one goes directly to the visceral and hits different pleasure centers. — Nick Dedina
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'Tis the time for reflection and resolutions. Sometimes thinking about the past can give us big ideas about what we want in the future, and so it goes with the annual "best albums" lists that nearly every major music publication cranks out around the turn of the year. These lists can be great conversation starters, and can also be a great source of music discovery. We've compiled our own lists of best 2010 releases across many genres, and we've also put together some playlists based on the picks of some other heavy hitters. Sit back and enjoy, and let us know which lists you agree or disagree with.Entertainment Weekly's Best of 2010
Vibe Magazine's Best of 2010
Spin's Top Albums of 2010
Rolling Stone's Top Tracks
The Guardian U.K.'s 2010 Picks
Billboard's Top Tracks of 2010
Pitchfork's Top Tracks of 2010
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"In Aural Ecstasy" would better describe this magical mix of Sgt. Pepper meets Van Dyke Parks, Pink Floyd, Tom Petty and some of the best '00s indie rock. Department of Eagles could easily play friendly with their astute contemporaries of the animal named kind: Hopping on and off their merry-go-round of folk, rock and pop are warbling layers of echoes and sound bytes reminiscent of Animal Collective; woodwinds, whistles and playful double bass a la Caribou and haunting harmonies and twinkling acoustic guitars resembling Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear (member Daniel Rossen's other band). — Stephanie Benson
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On the Record is a video series where rock stars gush about their favorite records -- in exactly 45 seconds. Click above to watch Jason Aldean talk about his favorite album of all time. Rhapsody subscribers can listen to My Kinda Party and millions of other albums whenever and however they want. Click here to sign up for a free Rhapsody trial subscription and see what we're all about. |
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Blige's much-loved debut album, What's The 411?, blew away listeners and critics when it was released in 1992. Produced in part by a pre-Bad Boy Puffy Combs, the record was among the first to perfectly fuse hip-hop beats with soothing soul vocalism. This is the one that inspired Blige's label as the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. — Brolin Winning
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With bowl haircuts, tailored suits, snappy pop songs and tight harmonies, There was no stopping Buffalo Springfield were an obvious reaction to the Beatles and the rest of the British Invasion. But the band's 1966 debut also drops hints of California's future: the jazzy haze permeating "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," the country bop propelling "Go And Say Goodbye," and the faint Latin swing underpinning "Hot Dusty Roads." And of course there's the uber-mature "For What It's Worth," a stone cold folk rock classic. — Justin Farrar |
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