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by Rhapsody Editorial

The Mix: Album of the Day

Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Plantation Lullabies

By Rhapsody
June 04, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day A singer/songwriter/bassist known for her eclectic style and informed lyricism, Me'Shell Ndegeocello is one of the most hard-to-classify artists in the industry. Plantation Lullabies, her first LP, mixes funk, soul, hip-hop and jazz to great effect. It also scored her three Grammy nods, and sports the hit "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night). [Brolin Winning]

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Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, Rise and Shine

By Rhapsody
June 03, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Recorded in Freetown, Sierra Leone and New Orleans, Rise & Shine has all the sass and shine of a band that's seen its life restored. The members are back home, reunited with family and friends who survived a devastating civil war. The group wastes no time in turning its eyes outward, devoting songs to global warming, hunger and poverty, often couching them in inviting reggae. But they turn it to 11 when they strap on palm wine guitars on songs like the utterly addictive "Tamagbondorsu." This is African pop at its best -- raw, joyful and always rooted in place. [Sarah Bardeen]

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Willie Nelson, Heroes

By Rhapsody
June 02, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Made up of classic country and downright weird covers (Pearl Jam, Coldplay) and re-recordings of songs from his lengthy career, Willie Nelson's ten zillionth record is marked by high-powered guest appearances -- Merle Haggard, Billy Joe Shaver, Sheryl Crow ... Snoop Dogg -- and Willie's knack for folding a wide range of American music into his own idea of country. With "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die" released as a single on 4/20, and frequent references to marijuana, Heroes proves that, even at 79 years of age, Willie is still a straight-up outlaw. [Mike McGuirk]

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Dio, Holy Diver

By Rhapsody
June 01, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day On the heels of ditching Black Sabbath, Ronnie James Dio released this opening salvo with his new band in 1983. An instant heavy-metal benchmark, Holy Diver features the untrained (!) metal singer duplicating the top-to-bottom success of Sabbath's Mob Rules. He practically tops "Sign of the Southern Cross" with "Shame on the Night" and lays the blueprint for '80s metal with "Rainbow in the Dark." Then there's "Holy Diver," which is about as bedrock to metal as "Happy Birthday" is to standards. Song intros include baleful winds, creepy whispers and, best of all, howling wolves. [Mike McGuirk]

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Killer Mike, R.A.P. Music

By Rhapsody
May 31, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Killer Mike's R.A.P. Music is a curveball even by the standards of a career marked by numerous twists. But it's deeper than a blog-rap gimmick. El-P curbs his skronk/noise tendencies and adds bass bottom to his tracks, while Killer Mike spits rhymes with clarity and mostly without the dumb thug fantasies that sometimes cloud his vision. (The clever drug-dealer story "JoJo's Chillin'" is an exception.) The result is a satisfying blend of unique styles, Mike's drawling aggression to El's industrial funk, and songs like "Willie Burke Sherwood" and "Big Beast." [Mosi Reeves]

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Lower Dens, Nootropics

By Rhapsody
May 30, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Nootropics, aka "smart drugs," improve our most crucial mental functions -- but so can music, especially when it worms its way through your brain the way Lower Dens' slow-burning grooves do. The band utilizes more synths than usual here, and the jams are just as hypnotizing: "Lion in Winter Pt. 1" is pure ambient drone, while tracks like "Brains" and "Stem" move at a krautrock pace, and the 12-minute closer oozes Doors-esque mystique. Throughout, Jana Hunter smokily purrs like Victoria Legrand of Beach House, whose sultry dream pop also informs songs like "Propagation" and "Nova Anthem." [Stephanie Benson]

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Rihanna, A Girl Like Me

By Rhapsody
May 29, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day A Girl Like Me begins with a bang, squirting 808 breaks and handclaps while quoting Soft Cell's classic "Tainted Love." Rihanna emerges from the flurry of pop ecstasy, singing in euphoric pleads that only barely betray her Caribbean heritage. The album rarely relents -- effectively distilling the spirit of Jamaica's dancehall and reggae genres for an American pop audience. On the heartbreaking and guilt-ridden exception to the rule, "Unfaithful," the singer offers a unique perspective on a clichéd subject by assuming the point of view of a reluctant cheater. [Sam Chennault]

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Cafe Tacvba, Cuatro Caminos

By Rhapsody
May 28, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Reviewers were falling all over Café Tacuba's 2003 release and for good reason: this sprawling achievement reaches into the nether-regions of rock 'n' roll and finds a sonic assurance only a veteran band can claim. By turns gritty, tender and raucous, you'll find more innovation with each listen. [Sarah Bardeen]

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Dilated Peoples, Expansion Team

By Rhapsody
May 27, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Dilated's second album on Capitol, Expansion Team finds the Los Angeles crew enlisting the help of various New York City all-stars. Juju, Premier, and the Beatminerz all contribute quality beats. Babu handles the decks and Rakka and Evidence continue to spew venom on the mic. Standouts include "Panic," "Pay Attention," and the lead single "Worst Comes To Worst." [Brolin Winning]

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Spiritualized, Sweet Heart Sweet Light

By Rhapsody
May 26, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day The music of Spiritualized often flirts with the edge -- the consequences of living on it and the results of falling over it. 2008's Songs in A&E saw an ailing Jason Pierce contemplating that plunge, but on this follow-up, he sounds rejuvenated, even grateful at times -- see rockers "I Am What I Am" and "Hey Jane," in which he sings the album's title with genuine satisfaction. He's still chronically obsessed with the end, though, and that means the music remains mostly bold, intense and unabashedly grand: Even the instruments themselves sound terrified, as if they know their cacophonous fate. [Stephanie Benson]

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Terri Clark, Greatest Hits

By Linda Ryan
May 25, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Why Terri Clark continuously gets compared to fellow Canadian Shania Twain is a real head-scratcher. Clark's Greatest Hits collection should put her gritty, twangy style in its proper context, as songs such as "You're Easy On...," "I Wanna Do It All" and "Girls Lie Too" prove this gal's gal is a true talent. [Linda Ryan]

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The Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed

By Rhapsody
May 24, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Brian Jones' death and the entry of Mick Taylor cast a shadow over this LP, making it as haunting as it is inspired. The wavering opening notes of "Gimme Shelter" and Keith's vocal on "You Got The Silver" are some of rock's finest moments. Part backwoods blues, part gospel epic, this is a dirty, life-saving record. [Jon Pruett]

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The Libertines, Time For Heroes - The Best Of The Libertines

By Rhapsody
May 23, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day The Libertines offered a brief and steamy tussle in the broom closet, releasing their first single in 2002 and falling apart in 2004, the over-sexed, doped-up caricature of Big-Time Rock Band. This oddly timed hits collection might well be the group's parting dispatch, reminding us of their big scores (overplayed singles like "Don't Look Back Into the Sun" and "Up the Bracket") and their often unrealized potential (in the relatively understated "What Became of the Likely Lads"). It's hard to say goodbye, but, given the pace of their career, a reunion is likely to be just around the corner. [Nate Cavalieri]

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Ike & Tina Turner, Proud Mary: The Best Of Ike And Tina Turner

By Rhapsody
May 22, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Because Ike and Tina recorded for so many labels, no "greatest hits" package is truly the greatest. That said, Proud Mary does a worthy job charting their evolution through the '60s and early '70s. "I Idolize You" and "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" are classics from the duo's earliest days as gritty innovators of Southern R&B and soul. "Come Together" and the title track date from the duo's middle period, when they were wowing longhairs on rock's ballroom circuit. And then there's "Nutbush City Limits": Recorded in '73, it's indicative of their final phase as psych-funk groove merchants. [Justin Farrar]

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Scissor Sisters, Ta-Dah

By Rhapsody
May 21, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Not just a gaggle of Giorgio Moroder disciples, the Scissor Sisters are so '70s they rip off the Muppets (check "I Can't Decide" and imagine Fozzie singing backups). And yet, this follow-up to '04's Scissor Sisters is far less frivolous. That debut sounded like a few hipsters had stumbled across the right loops and stage names to birth a one-off goof. On Ta-Dah they attempt to turn that goof into something lasting. How lasting can slap-bass workouts inspired by '80s movies about skiing be? Like it or not, we're about to find out. [Garrett Kamps]

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Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP

By Rhapsody
May 20, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Though the template of laying irreverent societal critique over bouncy Dr. Dre beats is left essentially intact, Marshall Mathers is darker and meaner. It mixes homophobia and misogyny with murder fantasies. The epic narrative "Stan" was Eminem's attempt to reconcile his responsibility as an influential public figure with his role as an entertainer and artist. But the distance between art and reality wasn't as clear as the song would lead us to believe, and the violent fantasy "Kim" reportedly led his wife, the song's subject, to attempt suicide. This is volatile, obscene and great art. [Sam Chennault]

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Death Cab for Cutie, Transatlanticism

By Rhapsody
May 19, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Death Cab have done some great work on their major-label albums, but it was their swan song for indie Barsuk where the band best balanced indie rock heart-on-sleeve earnestness with unmistakably precise songcraft. "Transatlanticism" is one long epic crescendo, a song about oceans that doubles as a wave you never want to break. "Lightness" is gorgeous in its concision, and "A Lack of Color" may be one of the saddest songs ever, no joke. The only way to improve this album would be to sell it with a box of Kleenex. [Garrett Kamps]

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Joe Nichols, Revelation

By Rhapsody
May 18, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Hear Joe Nichols sound like a younger, more rootsy version of Alan Jackson. Stripped-down instrumentation, endearing small town wistfulness, and gear-shifting, rambling roadhouse rockers emphasize the "traditional" in Nichols' torch-carrying New Traditional sound. [Eric Shea]

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Son Volt, Straightaways

By Rhapsody
May 17, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Straightaways was Son Volt's middle child. There were no standout tracks such as "Drown" or "Windfall" (as heard on the band's first album). But like Jan Brady Straightaways is endearing. The album's moody, alt country-folk songs grow on the listener after repeated listening. There may be no hits, but isn't that what made Exile On Main Street so good? [Nick Dedina]

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Otis Redding, In Person at the Whisky A Go Go

By Rhapsody
May 16, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day The mythology surrounding Redding's prowess as a stage performer is for the most part based on his appearance in the concert film Monterey Pop and the Live in Europe album. Yet neither is representative of the soul legend's typical live show in the mid-'60s. This is why In Person at the Whisky A Go Go is such a vital document. Rather than Booker T. & the MG's, Redding is backed by his own band, with whom he possessed a unique chemistry. The balladry is, of course, heart-wrenching. But the high point just might be the ferocious rendition of "Satisfaction." The Stones surely loved it. [Justin Farrar]

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Janis Joplin, Pearl

By Rhapsody
May 15, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Released just four months after her death, Pearl is Joplin's only album recorded with The Full Tilt Boogie Band and features her biggest hit, "Me and Bobby McGee," and her a cappella ditty often played on classic rock radio, "Mercedes Benz." She wrote opener "Move Over" herself, and her takes on "Cry Baby" and "Get It While You Can" are definitive. Joplin was actually due in the studio to continue sessions for Pearl when she was found dead of a heroin overdose in her hotel room on October 4, 1970. One song, "Buried Alive in the Blues," is included without vocals. [Mike McGuirk]

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Stevie Wonder, At The Close Of A Century

By Rhapsody
May 14, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day An indispensable tour through the work of one of America's greatest artists. Wonder's transformation into a one-man version of the Beatles (like them, he matched supple pop songcraft with breathtaking avant-garde experimentation) is well accounted for but this also shows how FREAKING amazing he was as a child prodigy and teenage R&B belter. [Nick Dedina]

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Lee Brice, Hard 2 Love

By Rhapsody
May 13, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Lee Brice is an affable, well-rounded Nashville upstart who combines Toby Keith-style playful-rapscallion tunes with Bon Iver's ear for pretty sonic detail -- both the wordplay and the slightly arty studio flourishes are sharply tuned on Hard 2 Love. Aw-shucks hit "A Woman Like You" sets the tone; he drunkenly revels on "Parking Lot Party," convincingly mourns on "I Drive Your Truck" and sings the hell out of the strings-laden ballad "That Way Again." By track 11 it's probably redundant to be touting his love for "Beer," but ah, forget it, he's enjoying himself, and so are you. [Rob Harvilla]

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Missy Elliott, Under Construction

By Rhapsody
May 12, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Under Construction is a testament to Missy Elliott's skill as a pop star. Yes, you read that right. Not to downplay her considerable abilities as an emcee -- the woman's got flow, and it's very much on display. But she also knows how to channel that flow into some conduits of serious pop genius. Almost every track here is steeped in Elliott's particular brand of pop brilliance: fierce, exciting, hopping with creative beats and, most of all, fun. Even less musically thrilling cuts like "P***ycat" are saved by Elliott's incorrigible wit. Forget construction. This is a finished product. [Rachel Devitt]

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Boards of Canada, Music Has the Right to Children

By Rhapsody
May 11, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day If Pink Floyd were to collaborate with DJ Shadow and the cast of Sesame Street, this might have been the result. Bringing together obscure samples of children playing alongside Minimal Techno leaves an eerie yet comfortable impression. This 1998 release was a breakthrough album for listeners of both Downtempo and IDM. [Nicholas Baker]

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Kip Moore, Up All Night

By Rhapsody
May 10, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day There's a warm, exuberant, distinctly Bon Jovian rasp to Georgia troubadour Kip Moore's voice on this debut, led by the raucous, bluesy radio hit "Somethin' 'Bout a Truck" (which commemorates how excited the ladies got when a young Kip traded up from an Isuzu). The rest of Up All Night prefers gentle pop-country grace to grit: Mostly it's lost love, not hedonism, keeping him awake, so soft-lit jams hailing romances both doomed ("Crazy One More Time") and successfully consummated ("Hey Pretty Girl") dominate. If "Tunnel of Love" is your favorite Springsteen song, here's your jam. [Rob Harvilla]

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Sleep Maps, Fiction Makes The Future

By Rhapsody
May 09, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day This New York space-metal act tours as a quartet, but the five mind-expanding tracks on its private-press debut were made entirely by Ben Kaplan. He sets up momentously shifting walls of guitars and synths, propelling toward Mars over an incessant drum pulse. The density thickens from Hawkwind to heavy doom, but in tradition of early '90s Swiss visionaries Bloodstar, the swooshing minor-key beauty somehow yields a sense of hope. Good thing, given the generally pessimistic spoken predictions sampled from decades of uncredited sci-fi futurists, such as Arthur C. Clarke in "The Eternal Wanderer." [Chuck Eddy]

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2Pac, All Eyez On Me

By Rhapsody
May 08, 2012 05:45PM
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Album of the Day 2Pac is at his most boastful on All Eyez on Me, a two-disc set that's remarkably consistent, if unvarying, and wholly committed to a G-funk ethos. The first disc is packed with hits, including "California Love," "How Do U Want It" and "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted." Disc 2 strikes hard, too, but it sticks to ominous thug material like "When We Ride" as his trusty Outlawz crew eggs him on. "N*ggas is paranoid/ Trust a no-no," he raps on "Holla at Me," and he would soon indulge that paranoia as the vengeful Makaveli. But on All Eyez on Me, it's nuthin' but a gangsta party. [Mosi Reeves]

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Digable Planets, Reachin'

By Rhapsody
May 07, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Super jazzy and undeniably hip, the DP's first record is best known for the breakout hit "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)." The album's lesser-known jams are just as crucial, however. Breezy and mellow flows ride easygoing melodies, offering smooth, lyrical odes to bebop legends and Brooklyn pride. Outstanding hip-hop circa 1993. [Brolin Winning]

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Moonface, With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery

By Rhapsody
May 06, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Prolific and unpredictable, Spencer Krug may be modern indie music's most interesting figure. After experimenting with organ on Moonface's debut album, here he collaborates with Finnish post-rockers Siinai for a truly mesmerizing experience. Krug's shaky Bowie-like howls and piercing, cryptic images of heartbreak are nurtured in slow-burning, ominous drones. But the dire tone is often lifted by dynamic motorik rhythms, woozy synths and screeching guitars -- just listen to those meticulous builds in "Yesterday's Fire," "I'm Not the Phoenix Yet" and "Faraway Lightning." Weird and epic at once. [Stephanie Benson]

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Brad, Shame

By Rhapsody
May 05, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Brad will go down as a footnote in the Pearl Jam/Mother Love Bone story, but that doesn't take away from the group's intriguing debut album. A choice blend of funk, psychedelic rock and moody confessionals, Shame exudes a blurry-eyed and decidedly insular feel, as if it was born in a thick haze of smoke around 3 a.m. Imagine Solid Air-era John Martyn, or even Stevie Wonder, fronting Jane's Addiction, and you're not far off. Though Brad features PJ's Stone Gossard on guitar, the real star of the show is singer-songwriter Shawn Smith, who also served time in proto-grunge warriors Malfunkshun. [Justin Farrar]

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Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, With Full Force

By Rhapsody
May 04, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day A 1980s dance-pop group in the tradition of Shannon and Midnight Star, Brooklyn's Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam go all out on this excellent debut. Produced by Full Force (who also worked with U.T.F.O.), the album's loaded with strong vocals, punchy drum machine beats, and heavily layered keyboards. Features the timeless hit "I Wonder If I Take You Home." [Brolin Winning]

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Pulp, This Is Hardcore

By Rhapsody
May 03, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day This criminally neglected album contains many of Pulp's best songs. "Dishes" is true kitchen sink drama, while "Help the Aged" uses '70s Glam Rock to illustrate our hopeless obsession with fleeting youth. Best of all is "A Little Soul," a heartfelt narrative from a failed father and husband to a son entering adulthood. [Nick Dedina]

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Battles, Dross Glop

By Rhapsody
May 02, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day There's lots of latent energy in Battles' music: All that snap and twang soaks up force like a coiled spring, which makes remixing them an interesting proposition. How do you re-animate music that's already so alive? Several of the remixers here practice a kind of reverse alchemy, taking Battles' brilliant baubles and melting them down into sullen gray lumps of techno. Others lead Battles stylistically far afield, as with Kode9's bright, bumpy U.K. funky, while Qluster turn the carnivalesque "Dominican Fade" into a lilting ballad somewhere between Kraftwerk and Jon Hassell. [Philip Sherburne]

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The Band, Music from Big Pink

By Rhapsody
May 01, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Music From Big Pink bumps and bounces with all that came before it and nothing that was to come after it -- because nothing like it ever did. A tragic, hilarious trip through the history of American music, this record positively breathes. In one motion the Band created and sealed forever a genre all their own. [Mike McGuirk]

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Minnie Riperton, Perfect Angel

By Rhapsody
April 30, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Minnie Riperton's first major hit followed years of commercially ignored work, from leading '60s sunshine-pop group Rotary Connection to singing backup for Stevie Wonder. Wonder repaid the favor by producing Perfect Angel, and "Reasons" and "Perfect Angel" bear his easy funk sound. But Riperton's soaring five-octave range is the key. Her idealistic views on love and life give "Take a Little Trip" and "The Edge of a Dream" a comfy, fireside vibe reminiscent of '70s folk pop. Even the sickly-sweet '70s chestnut "Lovin' You" sounds beautiful within the context of this remarkable breakthrough. [Mosi Reeves]

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Bathory, Blood Fire Death

By Rhapsody
April 29, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day The Swedish inventors of multiple genres let loose the first arrows of the Viking metal wars here, opening this 1988 album with a distant rumble of horses galloping beneath a mournful chorus, called "Odens Ride Over Nordland." From there, "Fine Day to Die" emerges from solemnly plucked guitars before the screaming/crushing churn begins. Blood Fire Death represents the bridge between Bathory's black and Viking metal years, with elements of both genres touching the songs -- namely, a more deliberate pace, purely epic structures and growling wraith vocals. [Mike McGuirk]

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Accept, Stalingrad

By Rhapsody
April 28, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Even with balls-to-the-wall Udo long gone, when metal's most homoerotic band open with "Hung, Drawn and Quartered," mentally inserting "like a horse" is a given -- especially since such an animal presumably assists the "crowd-pleasing dissection" for "sins of the flesh." That one and the subsequent Luftwaffe-soaring Eastern Front-battle title cut have rousing power melodies, too. Also wunderbar: "Revolution," a rant against the rich getting richer, rhymed fast as a shark; and "The Galley," where rugged thugs paddle a big boat, shout "row!" together, get chained up, and encounter mermaids. [Chuck Eddy]

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Motörhead, No Remorse

By Rhapsody
April 27, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day For many, this topped-out, jam-packed compilation is all you need from Motörhead (at least as far as their early days are concerned). With the best-metal-guitar-solo-ever "Ace of Spades" opening things up (and the unbelievable "Motörhead" and unstoppably, unspeakably great "Killed by Death" soon following), No Remorse is a timeless document of Lemmy Kilmister's one-of-a-kind genius, as well as the band's simple power. Did we mention that this has "Killed by Death" on it? [Mike McGuirk]

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Meshuggah, Koloss

By Rhapsody
April 26, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Sweden's amelodic maestros of extreme graph-paper metal are still obsessed with getting convoluted in a claustrophobic room. Most calculus equations are barely discernible to untrained ears, but it's instructive that this set starts with its most difficult track: the cold, staccato, defiantly unchanging "I Am Colossus." From there, a window lets in some light, and guitars spurt in the crevices. The bone-cavity textures of "Marrow" beget the vertebrae-cracking "Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion," which begets the raging beehive "Swarm." By "The Last Vigil," calm has set in. [Chuck Eddy]

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Spinal Tap, This Is Spinal Tap

By Rhapsody
April 25, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Technically, This Is Spinal Tap is the soundtrack to the riotous 1984 spoof-documentary, but because of how well the line between satire and reality blurred, it's rarely referred to as such. This CD chronicles the 'Tap from the '60s to the '80s, cheekily poking fun at a number of music trends along the way. [Linda Ryan]

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Angel Witch, As Above, So Below

By Rhapsody
April 24, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day These OGs of NWOBHM make their first studio slab in a quarter-century giddily inviting: just eight songs, all over five minutes, each with a low-income but open-hearted tune structure like old times. "Dead Sea Scrolls" and the filthy-riffed "Guillotine" (great titles!) ride an early-Sabbath undertow; "Witching Hour" and "Brainwashed" are built on the same Zep progression Heart swiped in "Barracuda." Add sweet changes, gothic moods, a singer who can actually sing and stuff about "genocide to the ozone layer," and you just might decide metal's past couple decades were only a bad dream you had. [Chuck Eddy]

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Slayer, Reign in Blood

By Rhapsody
April 23, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day This is it: the single most important metal record of the past few decades. Brutality, ferocity, wholesale mayhem -- the English language fails Reign in Blood. The real way to experience this high-speed rallying cry for all that's metal in this world is to listen to it wearing a suit made from the skin of your enemies. [Mike McGuirk]

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Tom Petty, Wildflowers

By Rhapsody
April 22, 2012 12:00PM

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Album of the Day With producer Rick Rubin behind the dials and a studio crowded with L.A. ringers, Wildflowers -- Tom Petty's second record without the Heartbreakers -- is the most sophisticated, subtle presentation of his songs. "Don't Fade on Me" and "Only a Broken Heart" are delicate and reflective without being overly so, and tunes like "Honey Bee" and "You Wreck Me" prove that he can still kick out an aggressive, hook-heavy rocker. But the stuff between those two extremes -- mid-tempo gems like "It's Good To Be King" and "You Don't Know How It Feels" -- is as comfortable as well-worn denim. [Nate Cavalieri]

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Prince Royce, Prince Royce

By Rhapsody
April 21, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day With Aventura releasing their last album (supposedly) in 2009, room has opened up for the next Bronx-born bachata heartthrobs. Enter Prince Royce, young and lovely and as romantic as any 13-year-old girl could wish. For the most part, he sticks to the script, singing softly and with a few bilingual touches to the dreamy trickle of bachata guitar. But then he flips the script with the perhaps unintentionally funny and extremely catchy "Rock the Pants." You have to love a guy who sings, "Watch me as my jeans sag low/ When I walk out the door" to a throbbing club beat. [Sarah Bardeen]

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Faith No More, Angel Dust

By Rhapsody
April 20, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day Two years after the freak anthem "Epic" made Faith No More an MTV sensation, they returned with an album that was anything but anthemic. Angel Dust is one of the more challenging albums to ever climb the Billboard charts. Filtering jagged funk-metal through a neo-Zappa sense of absurdism, FNM produced an album that is dark, menacing and aggressively eccentric. Three tracks in particular -- "Caffeine," "Jizzlobber" and "Malpractice" -- are downright insane. That said, this never devolves into cheap-thrills buffoonery -- quite the opposite, actually. It's a truly cerebral masterpiece. [Justin Farrar]

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Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf, Big Shots

By Rhapsody
April 19, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day "This is my design/ To make my n*ggas rewind," rhymes Charizma on "Methods." It's only one of several quotables the Milpitas rapper dropped on this legendary album over Peanut Butter Wolf's dusty Prince Paul-inspired beats. Packed with standout cuts like "Devotion" and "Red Light Green Light," Big Shots should have made the duo alt-rap stars. Instead, Charizma was tragically murdered in 1993 before the album could be released. Heartbroken, Peanut Butter Wolf spent the next few years negotiating with Hollywood BASIC for the master tapes. After reinventing himself as CEO of fan favorite Stones Throw Records, he gave Big Shots a proper release in 2003, and the album finally earned the acclaim it deserved. [Mosi Reeves]

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Evanescence, Evanescence

By Rhapsody
April 18, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day With their third album, a self-titled affair, Evanescence have shed much of the post-grunge crunch marking previous efforts (particularly Fallen). This isn't to imply the record is lacking in rock riffage. Just check out "The Other Side" and "What You Want"; it's there for sure. But ultimately, the music's most spotlighted qualities are Amy Lee's diva-worthy vocal gymnastics and the orchestral flourishes now woven into nearly every track. Also present are subtle touches of piano and electronica. The end result is easily the most melodic and pop-driven album the band has released to date. [Justin Farrar]

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The White Stripes, Get Behind Me Satan

By Rhapsody
April 17, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day So long, guitar solos; hello, piano and marimba! Not that it makes a difference to Jack White: His role as spastic preacher man is no less explosive. The hard-hitting, piano-driven soul of tracks like "The Denial Twist" and "My Doorbell" propels this album, along with some desolate pop and Zeppelin-style blowouts. [Jon Pruett]

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Rascal Flatts, Changed

By Rhapsody
April 16, 2012 12:00PM
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Album of the Day After switching management, watching their label fold, and welcoming Jay DeMarcus' baby daughter, the title Changed makes sense, though it still boasts the harmony-laden country pop fans love to the tune of 21 million albums sold. The lyrics are deeper and more poignant: The title track, a joyful testament to the power of saying sorry and starting over, packs a powerful, uplifting punch. The anthemic "Great Big Love" celebrates a love so strong it gets you through the bad times -- corny on paper, but the harmony-kissed chorus erases any doubts. Try "Let It Hurt," "Banjo" and "Friday," too. [Linda Ryan]

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