Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Due to the magic of advance releases, I'm sitting here writing this in November 2001, a couple of months or so away from the release of the N*E*R*D CD, IN SEARCH OF N*E*R*D. There's a lot of buzz on this bad boy; there is a (confusing) rumor to the effect ...

I’m not buying it. A Set it Off jump off leaving me extended from a cliff in excitement while the rest of the album sends me on a mission trying to find that same initial high I had when I first put the album in, almost like a drug a ...

If you don't have an open mind, then this album is not for you. Nana's music style is so diverse and different that some people may not be secure enough with themselves to actually hear the music for what it is; music. I found it very comforting and interesting. Tracks ...

My friend once described the Postal Service as technemo. Well, if the Postal Service is technemo, then Narayan is altronica -- a mix of  alternative rock and electronica. Their debut album, A King Declares Strength, features tracks with angry, raw, edgy lyrics and synth-based music. Their influences range from rock ...

Everybody's got a soundtrack these days. The Sopranos, video games, every movie that's released straight to video. Sometimes, as in the case of the new show The Shield, this is a great idea. In the case of a soundtrack for NASCAR, the idea, tenuous at best, fails miserably in the ...

There are singers that just know how to make it happen. They make you feel like you are right in the song. Natalie Cole definitely has that talent. Her strong voice bursts with energy and feeling. There are also songs that just work. They are ...

Listening to Natalie Walker’s debut solo album, Urban Angel, is a bit like swimming underwater at midnight, floating through a liquid blue pool all tuned up on Prozac. As she sings to a low-humming techno-synth in her opening cut, Crush: “Sweet like a warm summer rain / I cannot deny ...

Chances are, if you own a radio you’ve probably heard of the London-native pop sensation, Natasha Bedingfield. Bedingfield first appeared on the scene in 2005 with her debut album, Unwritten, which was met with considerably good review. In Bedingfield’s sophomore album Pocketful of Sunshine, she has again found her ...

After any genre finds it niche, imitators flood in for a piece of the action. Happens regardless of what sound is at play, and progressive metal is no exception. Sometimes, the second wave of bands expand upon the originals and take the niche to a new place, and sometimes….well, let’s ...

Nawal—a native of the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean—infuses her latest album, Aman, with a rich mixture of Indo-African rhythms and Middle-Eastern tonalities. The result is relaxing, hypnotic, meditative, while challenging the spirit to find truth through simplicity and respect. She opens the album with Salama (Peace), sung with ...

King Crimson's Robert Fripp has proven himself to be a creative composer, immaculate technician and generous teacher. Yet, the latest versions of Crimso have dug themselves into a deep musical rut. Fripp's formulaic scales and repetitive runarounds have just about reached their critical mass -- a ...

I don't lay awake wondering about it or anything, but it's puzzled me for years --- maybe even for over a decade --- why Neil Finn isn't a lot bigger than he is. Don't tell me that it's because he's from Australia --- so were the Gibb Brothers. And he's ...

Chrome Dreams II might have been better called AFTER THE GOLDRUSH II. Or RAGGED GLORY II. Or…well, if I want to title a project I’ll go record one. Whatever you want to call Chrome Dreams II, however, call it great. One has to give Neil Young his due. ...

It's all about having a good time. That's their philosophy and damned if this ain't evident from the album cover alone. You got these three pale-skinned flat-topped figures, sinister scowls and cool shades and they just appear here and no one knows fromwhence they came. ...

For most doomers, the nuances of Brazilian death metal are like the contrasts in seeing a movie at a drive-in or in the comfort of your big screen/DVD/surround-sound living room. Same flick, just a change of scenery. Same punishment, different decapitation. While most of Florida's ...

When you're presented with the latest off the Fat Wreck's imprint, Honest Don's, you can already feel the smile cracking as you embark on another silly odyssey beyond the realms of common sense. And thusly, Nerf Herder, righteous rejects of classroom ridicule and detention drawn exploits, offer a delectable slice ...

When your opening line goes “I’m sick of smiling and so is my jaw,” you know you’re either in for a raucous rendition of grade school Punk or a doom drawn fender-dented FTW foible that’s about to ruin an already imperfect day.  We’ll go with the former and add a ...

Their name was synonymous with early eighties New Wave and Modern Rock and their "Blue Monday" hit was proudly displayed for all to hear a few years back, in full neon glitter by the likes of Orgy. At that point, for all anyone knew, New Order was an age-old ...

First time I heard 'em on 2000's "Do Things" I was blown away by the level of ease with which they conducted an otherwise confounding and inconclusive, almost unclassifiable record that lay somewhere between bedroom eyes, kissing bandits, and blaring sirens. And upon the earliest moments of their new "This ...

My Dear is your typical pop-punk break-up album from a relatively new OC/Anaheim band, New Years Day, which could easily gain popularity catering to the MySpace generation, having already performed their catchy, albeit poorly written, songs at this year’s SXSW and Warped Tour ’07.NYD’s first album is filled with lovelorn ...

I will forever associate the New York Dolls with what is undoubtedly the weirdest night of my life. It was July, 1973, in San Francisco, and the much-hyped Dolls played a nervous set to the armies of the night, a collection of transsexuals, queens, dopers, and me ...

One has to listen a couple of times to Salvation Station, the sophomore effort by New World Son, to get the right idea about the disc. Soul and gospel have common roots, but it’s a bit of a surprise to hear a quartet of white boys from ...

NEXT was an action/adventure/sci-fi movie dealing with a guy who knew what was about to happen, and what he does with his gift, or curse, depending on how you look at it. The great thing about the soundtrack for the movie is if you put the CD of it into ...

Niacin, an essential part of anyone's musical diet, puts all audible functions in equitable balance on this new "funkadelic" release. Made up of one part Sheehan, one part Novello, and one part Chambers, they comprising of bass, guitar, keyboards and drums, all in perfect working order if not necessarily in ...

Nick Cave is a musician of excess. His soundscapes make Phil Spector’s wall of sound seem like particle board. Through production, his compositions are rendered note perfect and near masterpieces. His songs are bigger than your stereo musically and lyrically. His lyrics tackle all of the heavy topics, life, love, ...