Pop

Interscope Surely no one could’ve predicted the force with which ska-pop sprite Gwen Stefani’s 2004’s solo debut, “Love.Angel.Music.Baby.” would hit, loaded as it was with Eighties-shaded tunes, a devastating sense of style and a chart-smashing monster known as “Hollaback Girl.” Two years later, Stefani is already dropping “The Sweet Escape,” her erratic sophomore effort. Whereas […]

Bloodshot Records If Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver were mean drunks, they would be The Meat Purveyors. When last I saw them six years ago in Dallas, Jo Stanli Walston was ripping through roots songs about pain and resentment as if she was confronting the audience for doing her wrong. Though the band has tempered that […]

Capitol I’d imagine being of Beatles stock is both a blessing and a burden’ on one hand, you’ve got an impeccable pedigree; on the other, there’s not much margin for error, which would explain why John Lennon’s sons have stepped cautiously into creative arenas.   Sean Lennon, whose debut record, “Into the Sun,” dropped way […]

Universal Smashing UK success notwithstanding, it was entirely possible that Scissor Sisters could’ve been nothing more than a pop musical footnote after the New York-based collective scored a pair of minor hits with its discofied cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” and “Take Your Mama.” Not that this cheeky lot reinvented the wheel: Jake Shears […]

Columbia . Those who continue to dismiss John Mayer as an acoustic heartthrob are missing the bigger picture’ he’s still capable of penning a wrenching ballad, but his scope of vision encompasses so much more than making high school girls cry. “Continuum,” Mayer’s third and most accomplished effort to date, is a superb artistic statement […]

Astralwerks If you’ve never heard the Sleepy Jackson before, your initial reaction is likely to be a long, slow shake of the head while wondering, “What the hell is this?”   This is because the band’ Luke Steele and a circus of supporting musicians’ sounds like a collaboration between Brian Wilson and ABBA or a […]

No Comment Stolen Babies is a four-piece art school outfit from sunny Los Angeles, where a lot of it happens. Stolen Babies’ debut CD is a fantastic combo platter of circus music, old school horror movie jams, pop, goth, new wave, funk-rock, hardcore, screamcore, show-hall jazz and fierce rock ‘n’ roll.   Lead singer Dominique […]