PopMatters
Even if it’s not an instant classic, Welcome to Goon Island is a lot of fun, with its big booming drum cadences and excitable, yelp-prone voices.
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All Music Guide
It's a hook to beat all hooks in the middle of a desolate recording: a desolate recording that demands several listens to truly penetrate but has worthwhile payoffs subtly placed throughout.
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Dot Music
Ultimately, it's not that XX Teens throw everything including the kitchen sink at it, but rather that they drink everything under the sink and wait to see what happens. Welcome To Good Island is that kind of experience.
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Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Monday, 29 September 2008
Alias - Resurgam - Reviews
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Resurgam is brimming with glacial, lucent, keys-driven beauty.
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All Music Guide
Alias has created his most welcoming and positive dream world on Resurgam, an album where the creaks comfort and the low cloud cover comes off as heavenly.
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PopMatters
Resurgam is pleasant and occasionally quite captivating ear candy from an artist who may nevertheless have to work harder in the future in order to remain distinct.
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Resurgam is brimming with glacial, lucent, keys-driven beauty.
Read rest
All Music Guide
Alias has created his most welcoming and positive dream world on Resurgam, an album where the creaks comfort and the low cloud cover comes off as heavenly.
Read rest
PopMatters
Resurgam is pleasant and occasionally quite captivating ear candy from an artist who may nevertheless have to work harder in the future in order to remain distinct.
Read rest
B.B. King - One Kind Favor - Reviews
Paste Magazine
Elegiac by intent, the record is awash in poignancy, radiating from the deeply felt guitar and vocal performances of the 83-year-old King and his supporting band (anchored by drummer Jim Keltner, bassist Nathan East and pianist Dr. John) and from the carefully chosen material.
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All Music Guide
Even if King winds up returning to his familiar slick, star-studded sound somewhere down the line, having an album as earthily elegant as One Kind Favor in his canon provides a fitting coda for one of the great musical careers of the 20th century.
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Rolling Stone
This isn't just B.B. King's best album in years, it's one of the strongest studio sets of his career, standing alongside classics such as "Singin' the Blues" and "Lucille."
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Elegiac by intent, the record is awash in poignancy, radiating from the deeply felt guitar and vocal performances of the 83-year-old King and his supporting band (anchored by drummer Jim Keltner, bassist Nathan East and pianist Dr. John) and from the carefully chosen material.
Read rest
All Music Guide
Even if King winds up returning to his familiar slick, star-studded sound somewhere down the line, having an album as earthily elegant as One Kind Favor in his canon provides a fitting coda for one of the great musical careers of the 20th century.
Read rest
Rolling Stone
This isn't just B.B. King's best album in years, it's one of the strongest studio sets of his career, standing alongside classics such as "Singin' the Blues" and "Lucille."
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Sunday, 28 September 2008
Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night - Reviews
Observer Music Monthly
The dreamy 'Cold Desert' is the perfect maudlin end to this short, sharp, 42-minute, no-filler album, revelling in every miserable blues-rocker cliché as Matthew's guitar goes all shoegazey and then briefly threatens to turn the whole thing into a 'Purple Rain' wig-out.
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Entertainment Weekly
Throughout Only by the Night, frontman Caleb Followill wails forlornly about cheap thrills and true love while his two brothers (and a cousin) bash out spooky, raw-edged riffs that rarely go where you expect them to.
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Sputnikmusic
As it is, it's a very fine record from a band who are seemingly growing in stature, confidence, and ability by the day.
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The dreamy 'Cold Desert' is the perfect maudlin end to this short, sharp, 42-minute, no-filler album, revelling in every miserable blues-rocker cliché as Matthew's guitar goes all shoegazey and then briefly threatens to turn the whole thing into a 'Purple Rain' wig-out.
Read rest
Entertainment Weekly
Throughout Only by the Night, frontman Caleb Followill wails forlornly about cheap thrills and true love while his two brothers (and a cousin) bash out spooky, raw-edged riffs that rarely go where you expect them to.
Read rest
Sputnikmusic
As it is, it's a very fine record from a band who are seemingly growing in stature, confidence, and ability by the day.
Read rest
Saturday, 27 September 2008
Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling - Reviews
Urb
The Hawk is Howling is Mogwai at its best.
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All Music Guide
At first, it's tempting to want all of The Hawk Is Howling to be as obviously powerful as its biggest tracks, but with time it reveals itself as one of Mogwai's most masterful blends of delicacy and strength.
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Observer Music Monthly
Masters at building tension upon tension then gently letting it go, their cyclical instrumentals are both sorrowful and consoling.
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The Hawk is Howling is Mogwai at its best.
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All Music Guide
At first, it's tempting to want all of The Hawk Is Howling to be as obviously powerful as its biggest tracks, but with time it reveals itself as one of Mogwai's most masterful blends of delicacy and strength.
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Observer Music Monthly
Masters at building tension upon tension then gently letting it go, their cyclical instrumentals are both sorrowful and consoling.
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Thursday, 25 September 2008
Pussycat Dolls - Doll Domination - Reviews
Billboard
The Dolls' bark is as big as their bite.
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The New York Times
Ms. Scherzinger’s small, flexible voice thrives in the programmed, computer-tuned R&B tracks.
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Slant Magazine
Like the Dolls's debut, "PCD," the new album could use a little more of that cabaret style and a little less of the anonymous, by-the-numbers R&B and dance formulas that have become the modern girl-group convention
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The Dolls' bark is as big as their bite.
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The New York Times
Ms. Scherzinger’s small, flexible voice thrives in the programmed, computer-tuned R&B tracks.
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Slant Magazine
Like the Dolls's debut, "PCD," the new album could use a little more of that cabaret style and a little less of the anonymous, by-the-numbers R&B and dance formulas that have become the modern girl-group convention
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Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Glasvegas - Glasvegas - Teviews
Observer Music Monthly
Praise indeed but then these hard-nosed softies are unique and this, make no mistake, is their "Definitely Maybe," the quintessential noise-pop set of the modern age.
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Dot Music
It's a gut punch of a debut, and one that makes you believe Glasvegas are one of those rare, rare bands who might just have that perfect record in them.
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New Musical Express
So believe it: this is the real thing, no-one’s crying wolf, not even Alan McGee.
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Praise indeed but then these hard-nosed softies are unique and this, make no mistake, is their "Definitely Maybe," the quintessential noise-pop set of the modern age.
Read rest
Dot Music
It's a gut punch of a debut, and one that makes you believe Glasvegas are one of those rare, rare bands who might just have that perfect record in them.
Read rest
New Musical Express
So believe it: this is the real thing, no-one’s crying wolf, not even Alan McGee.
Read rest
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
LL Cool J - Exit 13 - Reviews
RapReviews.com
Even if this isn't a Grammy-winning album, it is actually better than most of the bullshit Def Jam has released this year, and if LL Cool J had a point to prove on Exit 13, he has made it in acerbic style.
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NOW Magazine
This reinvigorated 40-year-old (!) Queens loudmouth makes a somewhat fleshy final Def Jam album, but it’s well-chiselled compared to his last ugly, irrelevant albums.
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Dot Music
Though he falls short of wholly convincing, the heart is almost always in the right place: a refreshing change from 99 per cent of those more interested in the image, not the message.
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Even if this isn't a Grammy-winning album, it is actually better than most of the bullshit Def Jam has released this year, and if LL Cool J had a point to prove on Exit 13, he has made it in acerbic style.
Read rest
NOW Magazine
This reinvigorated 40-year-old (!) Queens loudmouth makes a somewhat fleshy final Def Jam album, but it’s well-chiselled compared to his last ugly, irrelevant albums.
Read rest
Dot Music
Though he falls short of wholly convincing, the heart is almost always in the right place: a refreshing change from 99 per cent of those more interested in the image, not the message.
Read rest
Monday, 22 September 2008
Nelly - Brass Knuckles - Reviews
Boston Globe
Brass Knuckles is 14 songs long. All of them could be singles. None of them could be hits.
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Vibe
Brass Knuckles is standard Nelly fare.
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Rolling Stone
On his fifth album, he mostly sticks to that pop-rap formula, cranking his distinctly melodic flow to hyper-speeds and playing the good-natured hedonist on cuts like 'Party People.' But when he tries to come off hard on a handful of Dirty South brawlers, he ends up sounding generic
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Brass Knuckles is 14 songs long. All of them could be singles. None of them could be hits.
Read rest
Vibe
Brass Knuckles is standard Nelly fare.
Read rest
Rolling Stone
On his fifth album, he mostly sticks to that pop-rap formula, cranking his distinctly melodic flow to hyper-speeds and playing the good-natured hedonist on cuts like 'Party People.' But when he tries to come off hard on a handful of Dirty South brawlers, he ends up sounding generic
Read rest
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