Album name: Rolling Papers Artist name: Wiz Khalifa Genre: Rap Released: March 29, 2011 Label: Atlantic/Rostrum ZME Rating: 6/10 Website: wizkhalifa.com I’m about to defend a Wiz Khalifa album. Well, kinda. For the few of you who haven’t navigated away, hear me out. WK is a an average rapper at best, no one – myself included – is going to argue that. But the key to appreciating any song by him is to understand that…
Album name: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Artist name: Kanye West Genre: Rap Released: November 22, 2010 Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def-Jam ZME Rating: 9.5/10 Website: kanyewest.com I remember when OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below came out. It was the album that convinced me OutKast could fucking do anything. They were incapable of committing mistakes. OK, the album was too long (mainly The Love Below, of course), but “Hey Ya!” is, like, the greatest thing ever. Then something happened:…
Album name: Recovery Artist name: Eminem Genre: Rap Released: June 18, 2010 Label: Shady/Aftermath/Interscope ZME Rating: 6/10 Website: eminem.com ——————— Generally speaking, Eminem doesn’t play well with others. Aside from the crew he runs with (or, used to…) – Dre, the Bass Brothers, D12 et al – he just doesn’t jive with too many other artists. If you discount the fact that Dre is the one that discovered him, and has basically served as…
Album name: Belle & Sebastian Artist name: Bell & Sebastian Write About Love Genre: Indie Pop Released: October 12, 2010 Label: Rough Trade ZME Rating: 7.3/10 Website: belleandsebastian.com Belle & Sebastian have been making pop music for sad people since the ’90s, but on their eighth studio album there isn’t much of and end or a sense of rehashing insight. They stick to what they know and move forward with it. Principal writer, Stuart Murdoch…
Album name: The Suburbs Artist name: Arcade Fire Genre: Indie Rock Released: August 2, 2010 Label: Merge/Mercury ZME Rating: 9/10 Website: arcadefire.com A tremendous amount of hype has surrounded Arcade Fire since they released their self-titled EP back in 2004. By fusing bits of the Polyphonic Spree and Talking Heads and interweaving the more jaunty songs from Pavement’s back collection, Arcade Fire has been able to create a rather interesting, albeit exciting sound that jumps…
Album name: It’s All Up To You Artist name: Deborah Crooks Genre: Folk Rock Released: 11 March 2010 Label: Deborah Crooks ZME Rating: 6/10 Website: deborahcrooks.com/ It’s probably my own fault for not having a wide enough frame of reference for this kind of thing, but still: the first comparison that came to mind when listening to Deborah Crooks’ It’s All Up To You EP was the relatively obscure 1992 solo album Izzy Stradlin made…
Album name: Heaven is Whenever Artist name: The Hold Steady Genre: Rock Released: 3 May 2010 Label: Vagrant/Rough Trade ZME Rating: 9/10 Website: theholdsteady.net A while back, I tweeted something to this effect: “If Craig Finn was a better singer, The Hold Steady would be a worse band.” In that respect, it would appear that Heaven is Whenever exists only to mock me. But more on that later. Here, for the hither-to uninitiated, is a…
Album name: The Parallels Amongst Ourselves Artist name: Sugar Army Genre: Rock Released: July 2009 Label: Shock ZME Rating: 5/10 Website: sugararmy.com/au In The Style Of… Mock The Week! SCENE: A RATHER BARE STUDIO. A CENTRAL DESK IS FLANKED BY TWO LARGE CURVED ONES. A LARGE VIDEO SCREEN IS EMBEDDED IN A SIDE WALL. DRAMATIS PERSONAE BRIAN O’HARA – Good-natured Irish host HANK E. FOIL – Caustic Glaswegian ne’er-do-well MUSCLED COWARD – Cheeky chappy Q….
Album name: Ocean, Meet The Valley Artist name: The Literary Greats Genre: Country Rock Released: October 2009 Label: ERROR ERROR ERROR ZME Rating: 7/10 Website: theliterarygreats.com An intro: My inbox appears to have become some sort of primitive, text-based time machine. No less than two – TWO – separate e-mails have arrived recently, directing my bespectacled eyes towards albums that were released in the latter half of last year. Naturally, my hip-to-the-jive neophile tendencies led…
Album name: Memories Are Hunting Horns Artist name: Saredren Wells Genre: Folk-indie Released: 11 May 2010 Label: Rinehart Records ZME Rating: 6/10 Website: Myspace SCENE: A post-post-apocalyptic Earth – burgeoning cities arise next to arid wastelands, the human race who had for centuries abandoned this place having returned mere decades ago. As rugged off-road vehicles race along the desert trails, a passenger-carrying space cruiser glides past the screen, a child waving to camera from behind…
Steve Lampiris
DeForrest Brown
Al Byrne