A recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Russell made a Billboard splash in the ’70s with songs like “If I Were a Carpenter,” “Tight Rope” and “Lady Blue,” all represented on Capitol Records’ new compilation. —Rod Lott
Music Features
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Thursday — No Devolución
As one of the most critically and publicly beloved bands of the early ‘00s emo movement, they could have kept cranking out the noise forever and been given a pass (see 2009’s “Common Existence,” which was met with no praise or criticism). But they decided to work themselves, and “No Devolución” is the result. “No […]
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Tiny Animals — Our Own Time
Tyson Ritter and company put the gas to the floor on the first track and don’t really let up until the end. The guitars roar, the vocal melodies soar, the drums pound, the bass thrums and various keyboards twinkle. Everything is done for high drama, and it’s great. Tiny Animals’ “Our Own Time” is exactly […]
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Of God and Science — Black Rabbit
I’m not old enough to have actually experienced AM radio in its prime (I would have to be 50 or older to have been a part of the mythical era), but I suppose that if it really had to be recreated, Of God and Science has done the best job I’ve ever heard of appropriating […]
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Generationals — Actor-Caster
Old cars don’t have MP3 hookups, and those radio receivers always dissolve into static. Trusty steeds take CDs, and yours needs summer music. Short of burning yourself a copy of this mixtape, you need a new love. Here it is: “Actor-Caster” by Generationals. Generationals plays the sort of perky, bouncy indie pop that’s only applicable […]
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Hafdis Huld — Synchronised Swimmers
“Synchronised Swimmers” is the effervescent acoustic pop of The Weepies, only swapping Americans for Icelandic people and introducing banjo into the mix. There is no possible way to dislike this music, unless you’re opposed to things that sound pretty and make you want to sing. Iceland’s almost-to-be-expected plucky soprano vocals apply here, as Huld’s almost-too-cute […]
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L’Altra — Telepathic
L’Altra’s lushly orchestrated “Telepathic” has a stately quality that impresses until it doesn’t, which is somewhere around track four or five. Then the pop tunes become mush in the brain. There’s nothing bad here, but it all just becomes one big jumble of haunting vocals, dusky piano and hazy atmospheres. The single, “Nothing Can Tear […]
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GDP — Useless Eaters
Example rap: “What kind of person could I possibly become when my personality is dependent on a drug / And usually more than one, ’cause too much of anything is never enough.” In short, GDP hates modern rap. That’s enough to make me recommend it to you. But before you think this is an “ABC […]
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Rocky Business — A Rebel’s Roar
If you’re really good or really lucky (coughKanyeWestcough), you can get both at once. Rocky Business’ seven-song EP, “A Rebel’s Roar,” skews toward the art, with a few pit stops in the nonsense. I mention it because the rap/pop duo is really good at club-thumpin’ nonsense when it wants to be. Non-EP single “Kim Kardashian” […]
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Steven Boone — Rockabye Baby!: Lullaby Renditions of The Flaming Lips
New to the former is Steven Boone’s “Lullaby Renditions of the Flaming Lips.” It is just that: instrumental covers of the Lips catalogue, but played largely on a calming, tinkling vibraphone, and slowed to a soothing pace that’ll relax even those of us who have mastered the art of not peeing our pants. As someone […]