Could you plot that on a graph please, Katherine? [Video][Website] [5.75] Katherine St Asaph: Let x = Circus.[5] Alfred Soto: Not a shock so much as a mild jolt in one of those therapeutic hot tubs. [4] Will Adams: I Can’t Believe It’s Not RedOne![6] Iain Forrester: It starts off as a decent version of [...]
Let’s not, and say we did… [Video][Website] [4.43] Brad Shoup: I mean, good Lord, is Bocephus done yet? His catalog is starting to resemble the Telemachy, only this boy still ain’t grown up. From the Don Helms soundalike on steel to the cheatin’ heart to the lovesick blues to the wedding bells, the whole production’s [...]
You can put the riot into the grrrl… [Video][Website] [5.78] Anthony Easton: Sort of like the Slits, sort of like early Courtney; it’s lovely with the spitting sarcasm, and the accent is kind of amazing to hear in between that thicket of unruly guitars. [7] Alfred Soto: The slow churn of the guitars, tempo changes, and [...]
Penny for your thoughts, Chuck… [Video][Website] [5.50] Anthony Easton: “Copyright law will leave you a sloppy right jaw.” I have no idea what that idea means. Is it in favour of an open system, or does it think that an open system is part of the history of stealing African American intellectual/cultural history? And does [...]
This is why we need instant replay… [Video][Website] [5.12] Iain Forrester: I can’t think of any other X Factor contestant whose first single has been released a year later and still felt so much like a continuation of the audition process. Look, it says, Misha can do tough and can do fun, can sing and [...]
The fact that she isn’t painted plaid is the definition of restraint. [Video][Website] [6.56] Brad Shoup: A song so assured — so rockin’ — that even Terry Richardson can’t screw it up.[7] Iain Forrester: The rewrite of the “Cherry Lips” chorus is presumably what Shirley Manson provided; the verses sound like The Ramones via The [...]
Who needs metaphors when you can offer the real thing? [Video][Website] [5.33] Pete Baran: “Pontoon” is both a card game and a kind of jetty, but this isn’t the subsection of country about gambling. Nope — this is a daytime party song, an odd subsection of summer jam. It declares its purpose and goes about [...]
She’s the one, alright. [Video][Website] [8.40] Will Adams: I tend to not merge the worlds of different songs together; for me, each song exists in its own space. That said, I can’t help hearing this as anything but a sequel to “Stay Away.” “You’re the One” opens the same, with buzzing bassline and cavernous reverb. [...]
Angling for Earth Wind & Fire cred… [Video][Website] [6.56] Patrick St. Michel: “Pyramids” doubles as its own extravagant music video treatment. It begins in what we assume is ancient Egypt, and after some scene setting it segues into an electro-funk dance scene inside a palace of some sort centered around our protagonist trying to woo [...]
Okay, we’ve had D and G, now where’s APY?