“I think I’ve always tried to live at the intersection between accessibility and lunatic-fringe,” says Annie Clark, otherwise known as St. Vincent, on a recent interview on the Colbert Report. On her fourth album, “St. Vincent,” Clark — the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens touring band alum — finds herself doing just that. Clark dives headfirst into the intersection,...
Expected to be dropped in early to mid-2013, Schoolboy Q officially released “Oxymoron” on Feb. 25 to eager ears. Many expectations weighed on this project: a growing career, a high bar set by “Habits and Contradictions” and the competition from fellow labelmate Kendrick Lamar after “Good Kid.” The hype is answered with a loosely conceptual toned-down album as Q...
I first heard NO about two years ago — roughly late 2011 or early 2012 — on a car ride home late at night listening to a KROQ local music show. It had been a late night finishing production at the newspaper when the song “Stay With Me” came on the radio and almost immediately struck me. After arriving...
For all you punk and garage rock junkies out there living in an age dominated by pop, rap and hip-hop music, there is still hope for getting your garage rock fix from new releases. The Fleshtones’ latest album, “Wheel of Talent” is a refreshing blast from the past that features the head-pounding, sweat-inducing, mosh-friendly, 1960s and 1970s style of...
After two EPs and a ton of anticipation from fans of Chino Moreno — lead singer of the immensely popular nu-metal band, Deftones — Crosses’ dark and atmospheric full-length album is a hit. Combining electronic, 80s new wave and rock influences, “Crosses” is the perfect choice to blast while driving down the freeway at midnight, or while in an...
I initially felt pretty relaxed as I sat down to listen to Katy B’s sophomore album “Little Red,” but halfway through, I was energized and feeling the groove. The British-born, Mercury Prize-nominated artist brought forth an excellent, synth-heavy house album that is bound to hit dance floors everywhere (if it hasn’t already). Not only were the beats extremely catchy,...
In 2010, James Mercer of the Shins and acclaimed producer Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton, who has produced albums for the likes of the Black Keys, Gorillaz, Beck and Portugal. The Man) put out a collaborative album under the band name of Broken Bells. The album took Mercer’s 60s-pop-folk songwriting and voice and combined them with Danger Mouse’s eerie...
After 20 years without releasing an album, the legendary David Crosby has finally returned with his new release, “Croz.” For those unfamiliar with the man, Crosby is the founding band member of two legendary bands — The Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash — that have contributed greatly to the world of music. Not only have both bands been...
Raw. Emotional. Real. Based. These are truths used to describe Lil B the Based God and thus his newest mixtape, “05 Fuck Em.” Months in the making, its release was stalled so much that it was becoming the stuff of legends, on par with Dr. Dre’s “Detox.” People around the world began to question the Based God and whether...
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Young the Giant’s lead vocalist Sameer Gadhia sums up the difficulty of finding their voice in their second album “Mind Over Matter.” The different mixes of music in the album — ranging from their standard alternative rock sound to 80s-tinged synth pop — sometimes don’t match, but otherwise provide a definitive example...