TO SAY THAT AKON tries a little too hard is probably an understatement. But for the (alleged) convict, all that effort seems to have paid off — he's become a fixture in the mainstream pop scene in the past four years, and his new album, "Freedom," will likely help him stay that way.
The Senegal-born crooner has been a mainstay on the charts — and in the tabloids — since 2004, bringing his Auto-Tuned voice to practically every Top-40-able genre. He's released solo hits — such as "Lonely," which sped up a sample of Bobby Vinton's "Mr. Lonely," and "Smack That," which featured a few pleasantly mediocre verses from Eminem — and a Lil Wayne-like plethora of "featured artist" stints, from Young Jeezy's "Soul Survivor" to Gwen Stefani's "Sweet Escape" to Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," which was included on this year's "Thriller 25."
But while Akon took two albums (2004's "Trouble" and 2006's "Konvicted") to make his name synonymous with a mix of R&B and dirty pop, he also wracked up quite a reputation, one that was viciously criticized by The Smoking Gun in April: The scoop-prone Web site claimed Akon has faked his thug-life way to the top by lying about his criminal record and time served in jail, an accusation that the singer denied.
NEIL YOUNG HAS always seemed most comfortable with just an acoustic guitar. "Sugar Mountain: Live at the Canterbury House 1968," the third release in Young's "Performance Archive" series, is an entirely intimate and acoustic affair, and like "Live at Massey Hall 1971" before it, the recording has a bit of mystique to it.
Where "Massey Hall" was basically "Harvest" live — it was so good, producer David Briggs wanted to release those recordings as the 1972 album — "Sugar Mountain" could have been the introduction to Young the solo artist, since five songs come from his self-titled solo debut and the performance was recorded two days before the release of "Neil Young."
The CD/DVD set "Sugar Mountain" also comes with years of mystery around it.
Continue Reading "Before the Goldrush: Neil Young, 'Sugar Mountain'" »
CAN SOMEONE GIVE JAMIE SPEARS an award? The man should be named father of the year just for the clean-up he's forced daughter Britney to undergo these past few months. With the latest cover of Rolling Stone under her belt, Spears looks almost back to normal — at least, that's what those abs would suggest.
Her new album, "Circus," is also a return to the predictable Britney we remember from the days of yore.
The disc — which drops in the United States on the former Princess of Pop's 27th birthday — is another foray into electronica-packed pop, similar to last year's "Blackout" in practically every way. There are the up-tempo club songs ("Womanizer," "Circus"); the ballads ("Out from Under," "Unusual You") and those that fall somewhere in between ("Lace and Leather," "Shattered Glass").
And not any of them is particularly great.
But considering that Spears sent the most of her year demonstrating her fondness for Cheetos, weaves and the paparazzi, it's kind of impressive "Circus" came out at all.
Continue Reading "Toxic Big Top: Britney Spears, 'Circus'" »
THE KILLERS ARE BACK, and this time they've brought the weird.
The Las Vegas quartet's third studio album "Day & Age" sees them tapping into a little of their hometown's oddness in both new image and sound.
They break out steel drums, harpsichords and horns. They sing about alien abduction. Their new stage outfits feature animal prints and plumage.
"The word 'playful' keeps coming up," says Brandon Flowers, the singer and keyboardist. "We just really had fun. And I think it shows in the album."
AFTER PURSUING SOLO interests for the past four years, the members of Phish will reunite in Hampton, Va., in March of next year. On your local Craigslist, tickets are selling for hundreds of bucks. Excited as the fans may be, this reunion's only going to work if Phish can overcome whatever it was that sagged down those musically lifeless years just before their breakup. In short: Post-millennial Phish pretty much sucked.
Ridiculous scalper fees might be worth paying if the band uses their latest archival release as a blueprint for their comeback. "At the Roxy" (JEMP Records), which documents three consecutive concerts the band played in Atlanta in 1993, reminds us why Phish ruled the 1990s jam band scene. It's all energy. From the opener, the Rolling Stone's "Loving Cup," to the closing bluegrass traditional "Pig in a Pen," the band sounds just as hungry as the crowd. Playing with a palpable giddiness and ferocious chops, Phish freewheels through all of "Roxy's" eight discs, delivering hall-of-fame versions of nearly all their songs that are worth hearing.
ON T.I.'S "SWAGGER LIKE US," the rapper praises himself and three of the other biggest rappers in the game: Lil Wayne "for the wordplay," Jay-Z "for the birdplay" and Kanye West "for diversity."
Props to T.I. for fitting all those egos in one song, but he probably didn't listen to "808s and Heartbreak" before writing the line at hand — because Kanyeezy's new CD is anything but diverse. It's a slick, overproduced album that is a stark departure from the past successes of "The College Dropout," "Late Registration" and "Graduation," and it's crippled blandness.
Continue Reading "All Auto-Tune, No Tunes: Kanye West, '808s and Heartbreak'" »
IT'S BEEN 17 YEARS since Guns N' Roses' last full album of new songs, but "Chinese Democracy" has finally jumped up just to get beat down.
That W. Axl Rose is a mental case is undeniable. But what is debatable is whether or not we should feel sorry for him. After all, this is a rich mental case, a man capable of receiving the best help psychotherapy and psychopharmaceuticals can offer. Meanwhile, the rest of us have to make due with St. John's Wort and a sun lamp.
And while Rose agonized over the completion of "Chinese Democracy," having the luxury of going down the creative rabbit hole for more than a decade while being sucked ever deeper by the multitude of brain-numbing options modern recording provides, the rest of us have grown older, worked harder and watched our retirement accounts go "poof."
All this is to say that if "Chinese Democracy" came out in the 1970s, it would have been considered cultural class warfare. You know how the punks condemned progressive rock for its bloated everything, its disconnect from everyday tribulations and its prioritization of technique over emotion? That is "Chinese Democracy" in a nuthouse shell.
Continue Reading "Punks Jump Up (To Give a Beat Down): Guns N' Roses, 'Chinese Democracy'" »
THERE ARE FEW universal truths about music, but I have reached two conclusions.
First, BBC Sessions are almost always worth owning. Whether released under the John Peel or more general BBC banner, the brief sessions always give a unique and refreshing take on a band's best tunes or carefully picked curiosities.
Second, the opposite is true of live albums.
The latest release from Belle and Sebastian, which includes the band's compiled BBC sessions and a bonus live disc, makes a convincing case for both assertions.
Continue Reading "Studio Live: Belle and Sebastian, 'The BBC Sessions'" »
EAGLES OF DEATH METAL hail from Palm Desert, Calif., so they didn't have to go far to lay down their big L.A. album. Recorded in Burbank, "Heart On" is a pop-metal paean to the city's glammy underbelly, its innumerable palm trees and "sunset honeys." The duo raise a glass to cheap thrills on "Cheap Thrills" and learn to dance on "(I Used to Couldn't Dance) Tight Pants."
"I came to L.A. to make rock 'n' roll," they sing on the strutting "Wannabe in L.A." "Along the way I had to sell my soul." The city may lure artists westward with promises of artistic rejuvenation and commercial opportunity only to render them bland, but these actually sound best when they sound slickest — when they have nothing more substantial to say than, "Hey there, hot stuff."
Continue Reading "Welcome to the Jungle: Eagles of Death Metal, 'Heart On'" »
ISOBEL CAMPBELL HAS made a career out of odd choices.
As part of Scottish indie phenomenon Belle & Sebastian, she covered sophisticated '60s French pop with France Gall's "Poupee de Circ, Poupee de Son." She left that band, formed Gentle Waves, and recorded what amounted to a tribute to her record collection, mixing spaghetti-Western guitars, Astrud Gilberto-like vocals, and twee pop ballads to clean and simple effect. And recently, Campbell ditched all of that in favor of American folk.
But the key to Cambell is that she's always excelled at approximating other people's music rather than writing great songs.
And that's not a bad thing.
Continue Reading "Approximately Fab: Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, 'Sunday at Devil Dirt'" »
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