Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

The group is L.A. Symphony, the album called Unleashed (a mixtape of new & unreleased tracks, rarities, demos and more!). Call me crazy but I actually thought this album was going to be a recording of the L.A. Philharmonic remixed. Something along those lines might be odd but ...

Lacy Younger’s tracks embrace a fresh twist between country and the sound of pop music. Therefore, if you are looking for some modern country, Younger’s sound is perfect for you. She does not drown you in the country sound. In fact she claims she doesn’t like to choose just one ...

When I received this album in the mail the first thing I did was listen to it from start to finish, next I surfed the net to find more information about the group. What I found were endless pages about the history and culture behind this soulful singing group ...

Lana Lane fronts a three piece band consisting of her husband, Erik Norlander on keyboards and bass, Peter Verschuren guitars and Ernst Van Ee on drums. Either she or Erik penned all the songs on the album. The more epic cuts come from Eric, including Into the Fire, Capture the ...

Not quite like an Avril, Amy Lee, or Haley Williams, singer songwriter Landon Dunning shows us a glimpse of her talent in Defying the Stereotype. All the songs on the album were written or co-written by Landon herself.  The album is packed full of compelling lyrics, addictive melodies and Landon ...

Anyone whose interest in music extends beyond the radio cereal one obtains from listening to the local FM powerhouse is aware that some labels have a genre identity. Elektra, in the early 1960s, was known for its folk music. Blue Note has been a flagship jazz label ...

This is what I call good Country! Larry Bagby’s album On the Radio deserves to be just that, played over the radio for everyone to hear. You are missing out if you don’t give this country singer a moment of your time. His tunes contain a wholesome quality and the ...

We’ve heard what can be done when you mix members from Guns N’Roses (Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum) with a member from Stone Temple Pilots (Scott Weiland) and drummer Dave Kushner, but what do you get when you take Reach the Sky’s and Rise Against’s Chris Chasse, Ignite’s Brett ...

Lau is a three man traditional Scottish folk band featuring the likes of Kris Drever on guitars and vocals, Martin Green on piano and accordion and Aidan O’Rourke on the fiddle.  As their sophomore endeavor, Lau released live versions of their upbeat Scottish folk tunes in their appropriately titled record, ...

Laura Aidanblaise’s second album, Get Thee to the World, is a frustrating mix of acoustic innovation and droning insistence. Frustrating, because there is definitely some good stuff here; almost every song has something to invite you in. But Aidanblaise, who wrote all the songs on the CD, seems so set ...

Ever since the 1970's, Laurie Anderson has personified the avant-garde Performance Art medium.  Unlike her peers however, Anderson has used the last thirty-odd years to blur the lines between kitsch coffee house stuff and the generally-accepted mainstream.  She has honed her singing skills and turned her unusual multimedia performances into ...

The number of jazz CDs released each year is amazing. The state of the genre for years has been one in which more and more players chase a shrinking pool of dollars. Yet, the music persists. Actually, it does more than persist. As the music industry collapses ...

First off, before I get to anything else, I want to tell you a few things: TJ Lavin is a professional BMX rider. You may have seen him winning gold at the X Games. You may have seen him hosting several Real World/Road Rules challenges. And, ...

Dr. Stephen W. Becker, aka Le Concorde, is an unique artist. He has a very interesting style of music, combining a John Mayer-like voice with Killers-like lyrics, but he needs some type of exposure to gain mainstream attention. This is one of those artists who will hit it big if ...

Lee "Scratch" Perry is raving bonkers. He is also possibly the most influential force in modern music. The guy arguably created reggae music, certainly created dub, and inarguably, through his influence on toaster and dancehall music, created rap as we know it. Marley may be a household word, but it's ...

It is inarguable, I believe, that rock 'n' roll would not exist as it exists today without Bill Monroe. While musicologists are quick to point out the influence of black southern musicians and music upon Elvis Presley, the influence of what was once best known as hillbilly music is often ...

The first listen, that one time an artist gets to make that first impression, the one that often makes or breaks a listener’s reaction to an artist, that’s a critical spin of a CD. In the case of the pretentiously titled, Giant World Knowledge Bliss Control from multi-instrumentalist Lek, the ...

Leonard Cohen is probably the most famous man most of you have ever heard of – especially within the demographic that makes up the largest percentage of the readership of music-reviewer.com.  Even among people like myself who cut their teeth on the music of the late 70’s and early 80’s, ...

I often forget that most people aren’t as obsessive as I am about music.  I nearly began this review by deeming anybody unfamiliar with Levon Helm as, “musically ignorant.”    But, admittedly, it’s preposterous to think that everyone should know the names and musical roles of every member of every great ...

“Stanley Climbfall” comes away as more seasoned than sophomoric for the talented Pop/Rock trio, still experiencing life’s early going.  With a rather quick follow up to 2000’s “No Name Face,” the bands vibrant as ever, rarely retracing and cleverly resounding in the wake of a successful selling debut.   Rarely does ...

Music with a message is something I typically avoid. If an artist attempts to push an agenda, I tend to push the off button. With their history of religious undertones, I was skeptical upon first listen… However, Lifehouse has managed to put together an album that communicates without alienating the ...

Seldom does a band make it so easy to rip on them. Sure, watch MTV and you'll see musicians making utter fools of themselves all the time, but to title a song, "Boring" on an album that invites exactly that description? Who am I to resist that kind of temptation? ...

Venom spewed is venom lost. and they ain't about saving any for future use.  Light is the Language are out there pretty far, dancing through the minefields, firing at will, ducking for cover, contemplating an uncertain future and past gone mad on this apocalyptic new release.  A five-some, Light is ...

Lights Over Roswell tries to play their music off as alien. The album cover of "Exposed," the group's first effort, features what is presumably a deceased and soon to be autopsied alien on an operating table. Inside the booklet, we find diagrams of various flying saucers. On the band's website ...

...so I'm multitasking, talking on the phone, answering e-mail, and listening to VOID, a new CD by a band named Lightyear, when I open an e-mail from a friend of mine who is in her mid-30s and really into hard rock, and she's bemoaning the fact that she just bought ...