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September 2008
- New Kids Score Block Party
  
  Newsday | Sep 2, 08 10:46 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Critics applaud the comeback album from reunited boy band New Kids on the Block, which, while it “may not break any ground musically,” is in fact “the best album of their multi-platinum career,” writes Glenn Gamboa in Newsday . “The best cuts” on The Block “exude an understated confidence the old New Kids never had,” Mikael Wood adds in the Los Angeles Times . More »
August 2008
- Tokio Hotel Rocks Screaming Tweens
  
  San Francisco Chronicle | Aug 24, 08 10:53 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Having dominated Europe, German rockers Tokio Hotel are threatening to go mainstream in the US, if the reception their riff-heavy pop metal earned among screaming preteens in San Francisco this week is any indication. "The best way to describe the glam-metal-emo-pop-tween group," Aidin Vaziri writes in the Chronicle , "is like the Jonas Brothers for girls who prefer chipped black nail polish and fishnet stockings to unicorn puffy stickers and purity rings." More »
- 7 Songs That Scream Summer
  
  Salon | Aug 18, 08 1:12 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Salon’s critics pick the songs that sizzle in summer 2008—from Estelle and Kanye West's sartorial lust to Tilly and the Wall's bubble gum New Wave: Estelle with Kanye West, “American Boy”: Elegant English beats blend with in-your-face American lyrics. Jonas Brothers, “Burning Up”: Saccharine silliness that fills a hole in our inner 13-year-old, boy-band-loving hearts. Ida Corr, “Let Me Think About It”: Sexy beats that have kept us dancing (and Corr in the Top 10) for 40 weeks. More »
July 2008
- Bubble-Grunge? Cyrus Oddly Downbeat on Breakout
  
  Los Angeles Times | Jul 22, 08 12:20 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - As Miley Cyrus’ second album under her own name hits stores today, the 15-year-old admitted on Good Morning America that her now-infamous Vanity Fair photos were a “mistake.” But just like those racy pics, the tougher tunes and “feel-bad downers” on Breakout are anathema to her bubbly Disney alter ego, Hannah Montana, the Los Angeles Times reports. More »
- Country Fans to Crossover Simpson: Cross Back
  
  Kenosha News | Jul 21, 08 11:08 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Struggling pop star Jessica Simpson’s country crossover got off to a rocky start Saturday when her debut performance at Wisconsin’s Country Thunder Festival drew a decidedly mixed reaction from the crowd, the Kenosha News reports. "I just don't hear the country in her; I don't hear the twang. She's not good enough to be here," said a country fan. More »
- Rage Frontman's New Band Sounds Familiar
  
  Mother Jones | Jul 20, 08 6:05 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Rage Against the Machine fans probably won’t be disappointed with One Day As A Lion , the new project from frontman Zach de la Rocha: It sounds, well, "pretty much kinda-sorta exactly like Rage Against the Machine," writes Gary Moskowitz in Mother Jones . The first song, online this week, “could easily be mistaken for a middle-of-the-set song performed by Rage at Lollapalooza in the early 90s.” More »
- Indie Heroes the Vaselines (Finally) Play the States
  
  Radar | Jul 11, 08 6:16 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Known stateside as Kurt Cobain’s favorite band, Scottish rockers the Vaselines finally made their US debut Wednesday—18 years after their only release. To a small, adoring, and cultish crowd, the show was “the second coming of Jesus, John Lennon, and Ian Curtis, all at once," writes Marlow Riley in a Radar review of one of the group's three US club dates. More »
June 2008
- My Morning Jacket Spreads Rock Gospel
  
  New York Times | Jun 23, 08 4:33 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - My Morning Jacket is officially an arena-rock force, Nate Chinen raves in the New York Times . The Southern-rock darlings walked the line between spiritual and sanguine before a sold-out Radio City Music Hall on Friday, playing the majority of new album Evil Urges , which "features some of its strongest songs alongside some of its strangest." More »
- Dion's AC/DC Tribute 'Worst Cover Ever'
  
  Total Guitar | Jun 23, 08 11:59 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Celine Dion's rendition of AC/DC's Y ou Shook Me All Night Long has been voted the worst cover ever, according to Total Guitar magazine. The UK mag called the duet Dion performed with Anastacia in Las Vegas 6 years ago an "offense" against music. "The No. 1 worst cover song—Celine Dion covering AC/DC—is sacrilege," said magazine editor Stephen Lawson. More »
May 2008
- Kassin+2 Lets Sun Shine In
  
  Spin | May 26, 08 6:52 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Kassin+2's Futurismo is a superb summer album, writes Chandler Levack in Spin . The trend-setting Brazilian trio mixes "samba, airy folk, and sheer mysticism" to wrap up their album trilogy in fine fashion. Notable tracks include "Pra Lembrar," which "floats on soft keys," and "Samba Machine," with a blazing electric guitar. The Tropicália band—Alexandre Kassin, plus Moreno Veloso and Domenico Lancellotti—hails from Rio de Janeiro. More »
- 50 Top Pop Brainiacs
  
  Blender | May 25, 08 11:43 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - "Towering natural abilities" and "exceptional creative powers" infuse the most memorable music of generations, forged by Blender's top 50 pop-music geniuses. The top 10: Bob Dylan: Each of his brave self-reinventions is "an authentic American original." John Lennon: "His drive pushed the Beatles from a covers band to the world’s best-loved and most influential pop act." Chuck Berry: His guitar riffs are still the "bedrock" of rock and roll five decades on. Bob Marley: "No one did more to define and popularize a musical genre." Mick Jagger and Keith Richards: Duo created "decade of classics." More »
- Scarlett's Waits Tribute: Unnecessary, But Not Bad
  
  Village Voice | May 14, 08 1:15 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - “Even the most sympathetic critics,” writes Tom Breihan for the Village Voice , have to grant that Anywhere I Lay My Head, Scarlett Johansson’s Tom Waits tribute album, “is a fundamentally ridiculous enterprise, almost stunning in its total lack of need to exist.” That said, Breihan thinks the record is actually pretty good, made stronger by the fact that it sounds absolutely nothing like Tom Waits. More »
April 2008
- Madonna's Candy Not So Sweet
  
  Baltimore Sun | Apr 30, 08 12:16 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - There is something noticeably absent in Madonna’s new record, writes Rashod Ollison in The Baltimore Sun : Madonna. Her 11th studio album, Hard Candy, “is a mostly stale piece of self-consciously fluffy pop” in which the superstar “plays it safe.” Enlisting younger hit makers like Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, and Timberland adds a coat of gloss that Madonna fails to shine through. More »
- Portishead Better with Age
  
  New Yorker | Apr 16, 08 2:53 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - If Portishead’s new album comes off as cheesy, it’s only because it’s easily digestible, Sasha Frere-Jones writes in the New Yorker . While the album, Third , is “delightfully abrasive,” the Brits have “accepted that being soothing, despite their perverse streak, is part of what they do,” crafting tracks that will appeal to “young Radiohead fans” and “those who like some heft in their gloom.” More »
- Mariah Carey Passes Elvis in Chart Toppers
  
  Los Angeles Times | Apr 2, 08 7:46 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Mariah Carey unseated Elvis for the No. 2 spot in chart-topping songs this week. Her single "Touch My Body" became her 18th No. 1 and pushed Elvis into third place, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Beatles' all-time record of 20 remains, but Carey could eclipse the Fab Four by the end of summer. More »
- Keys' Attack Releases Old Rut
  
  Pitchfork Media | Apr 2, 08 10:33 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Black Keys had hoped collaborating with Ike Turner would finally push the band out of its tired “garage minimalism,” writes Pitchfork’s Roque Strew. Though Ike died in December, the band already had material that expanded its sound. Attack & Release is its “most adventurous album to date,” mixing the expected “crossroads-blues” style with the “futuristic accents” of producer (and Gnarls Barkley-ite) Danger Mouse. More »
March 2008
- Dudamel Dazzles in LA Debut
  
  Los Angeles Times | Mar 31, 08 10:07 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Gustavo Dudamel lived up to all the hype last Friday, when he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the first time since Esa-Pekka Salonen announced that the 27-year old maestro would be replacing him as the orchestra's music director in 2009. Dudamel paid homage to Salonen by opening with one of the Finn's scores. But the night had Dudamel written all over it, the Los Angeles Times reports. More »
- Winehouse More Than a 'Genius Junkie'
  
  New Yorker | Mar 2, 08 5:09 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - It's tempting to chalk up the popularity of singer Amy Winehouse to her headline-grabbing bent for self-destruction, writes Sasha Frere-Jones in the New Yorker . But that would be a mistake. He takes a closer look at Back to Black , with its "perfect" single "Rehab," and finds much to treasure. What might initially come off as mere imitation of classic soul and R&B is actually a novel evolution, he argues. More »
February 2008
- Black Crowes Squawk at Sham Maxim Review
  
  San Francisco Chronicle | Feb 27, 08 2:42 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Pick a number, any number: Maxim 's 2.5-star rating—out of 5—for the Black Crowes' latest album was little more than a guess, the magazine admitted yesterday. No advanced copies were released, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, but that didn't stop Maxim's critic from decreeing in the March issue that Warpaint "hasn't left Chris Robinson and the gang much room for growth." More »
- Thriller Revives 'Prettiest Star'
  
  Rolling Stone | Feb 12, 08 4:32 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Thriller 's 25th anniversary reissue shows why Michael Jackson was once "the coolest, slinkiest, prettiest pop star alive,” Rob Sheffield writes in Rolling Stone . Six “lame” remixes by stars like Fergie, Akon, and Kanye West apparently indicate the best-selling album of all time "cowed" the cover artists, who "know nobody will ever play their versions twice," he adds. More »