Master collaborator James Lavelle has arisen again as UNKLE, releasing UNKLE’s third album, War Stories, after a four-year hiatus since Never, Never, Land. Unsurprisingly, given that UNKLE is the work of a multi-person collaborative effort, War Stories is a mixed bag of quality tracks and songs that will be gone from your recollection as soon as they end.
Though guitarist Jack Antonoff may be best known for his (former) relationship with sultry actress Scarlett Johansson, his band, Steel Train—which he formed as a duo with singer Scott Irby-Ranniar in New York City in 1999—evinces enough indie-pop power to make him famous in his own right.
Listening to this record will result in immediate obsession and audiences should prepare to be both fascinated and aurally wooed.
Prize Country have rightly focused on anger and emotion, allowing focus to fall upon their art as a whole, not its component parts in isolation. Like so many great rock n roll albums before it, Lottery of Recognition doesn't hold anything back. It's pure visceral, angry energy
Producer Aaron Levinson and Ropeadope Records founder Andy Hurwitz return with another genre-bending musical tribute to a specific cultural breeding ground. But unlike Philadelphia Experiment and Detroit Experiment, this one spotlights a single neighborhood, Harlem, one of the most artistically fertile areas in the country. Structured as an imaginary AM radio transmission, “hosted” by Harlem DJ muMs—and featuring a talented house band—Harlem Experiment weaves an aural tapestry of funk, blues, jazz, salsa, hip-hop and beyond.
As leader of Mott the Hoople, Ian Hunter was as vulnerable as he was acerbic, seeing rock and roll as a metaphor for all facets of the human condition. The perpetually-shaded iconoclast has continued this work through a dozen post-Mott solo albums, the success of which has depended, as is the case with most literate songwriters, on the balance between musicianship/production and the material as means to a message.
Lollipops is the latest offering from alt.comedian Patton Oswalt. Hopefully you know Oswalt as the mastermind behind the brilliant Comedians of Comedy – it’s the antithesis of Dane Cook and Blue Collar Comedy, meaning smart and funny. Odds are though you recognize him from his stint on The King of Queens or from this past summer’s Ratatouille – so you may need to forget your G-rated perception of him before settling into stand-up act.
With a little more direction, Spirit If.. has the makings of a winner, instead it has too many B-sides mixed with the good stuff to award Drew higher status on the Broken Social Scene name chain.
Along with the changes in the Hanson brothers’ personal and professional lives, The Walk goes beyond the difficult first step into an introspective, worldly journey. Whether or not one likes mostly upbeat familial pop music has no bearing on the fact that these young gentlemen have their act together and possess tremendous songwriting and performing talent.
Dev Haynes has broke away from the worst named band in indie-pop’s history, Test Icicles, to come up with a new codename Lightspeed Champion. The dancey/pop/punk he recently played is also no more, replaced with operatic strings, acoustic guitars and a focus on Haynes voice. This teaser EP (the full length due to be released in February) contains one album track, a few b-sides and covers, ending up as a mixed bag.
