Sep17

Colonel Red – Keep Walkin (Review)

Colonel Red

Keep Walkin

Released by Tokyo Dawn Records


On his new album Keep Walkin, London-based Colonel Red decided to make a departure from the electronic production of his earlier albums and turn back to his musical roots. But don’t worry; his sound is still the same on his third album, just more analog. As on his 2005 debut Blue Eye Blak, you can still hear traces of broken beat through his modern take on jazz, soul, funk and fusion. He is backed by organic horns, subtle guitar, deep bass lines and jazzy keyboard melodies that ...
Sep17

Ben Westbeech – There’s More To Life Than This (Review)

Ben Westbeech

There’s More To Life Than This

Released by Strictly Rhythm


Ben Westbeech, born in trip hop mecca Bristol, has been a jack of all trades the last few years, getting noticed as a singer, songwriter, DJ and producer. His soulful 2007 debut Welcome To The Best Years Of Your Life, released on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings introduced him as a Jamiroquai/The Streets hybrid. But this time around legendary house label Strictly Rhythm releases There’s More To Life Than This - Ben’s long-overdue second album. It’s a soulful and jazzy house music-influenced late summer gem. The album was cut in ...
Sep09

Bon Iver – Bon Iver (Review)

Bon Iver

Bon Iver

Released by Jagjaguwar


Skyrocketed by raw sincerity and a string of recent kingmaking appearances on Jimmy Fallon and the Colbert Report, the high-powered machine that is Justin Vernon’s Bon Iver shows no signs of letting up. Coming on the heels of For Emma, Forever Ago, the cabin-crafted monument to a dead dream, the band’s self-titled second full-length explores themes of isolation and longing under surging swells of dripping guitars and absorbing keys. While still yielding to the thousand yard stare mentality of its predecessor, the new album is a much warmer affair aurally if not content-wise.
Sep07

Rival Sons – Pressure and Time (Review)

Rival Sons

Pressure and Time

Released by Earache Records


Over the decades many a band has come and gone attempting to bottle the essence of Led Zeppelin and sell it back to the public as something original. Wolfmother came pretty close to hitting the mark a few years back and boasted a couple radio hits, but were largely derivative at the end of the day. Enter Rival Sons, a gritty four-piece out of Southern California. As the rollicking title track from Pressure and Time indicates, these gentleman definitely carry the Led Zep formula in their veins, but are making classic rock for 2011. Jay Buchanan’s voice, equally capable of a punishing snarl and Robert Plantian melodic fluidity, is the perfect complement to the blues rock foundation laid down by his Angeleno cohorts.
Sep05

Grieves – Together/Apart (Review)

Grieves

Together/Apart

Released by Rhymesayers


Operating in the same lane Atmosphere has been paving and maintaining for the past 15 years, Seattle-based emcee Grieves has begun to tap into his vast potential with his third album Together/Apart. Though the record doesn’t boast as many standouts as his last full-length, it is his most fully-realized project on a whole. The lush keys and horns of producer Budo crash precisely against Grieves’ stark narratives on love and addiction.