Archive for the 'New Releases' Category
KANYE: 808′S and HEARTBREAK
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
The songs that are not about heartbreak are your classic Kanye self-swagger tributes: powerful tracks with stylistically well-done use of an auto-tune that showcases Kanye’s impressive vocal range and control. Ranging from the resolved, empowerment-anthem: “Welcome to Heartbreak,” to the unexpected throwback early 90s beat “Paranoid:” Kanye knows what he does best, and he delivers it once again. Read the rest of this entry »
read comments (0)VALENCIA NEW VIDEO POSTED
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
Valencia’s brand new video for “Where Did You Go?” is available now on their MySpace:
-leigh silbernagel
Anthony Hamilton: The Point of It all
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
anthony hamitlon/The Point of It All/ So So Def/ Zombra Label Group
The six-time Grammy-nominated R&B-soul balladeer croons a melodic picture of life using straightforward lyrics as his mellifluous paintbrush on his junior effort The Point of It All: “Talking about relationships again… everything from making love to building love; having arguments, just life!”
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. Enough said from Byrne/Eno.
Author: Jeff Boule
It seems that life is so high pressure these days. Economic crisis, housing crisis, Middle East crisis, everything in crisis. Sometimes you need something to bring your stress level down. The new album from David Byrne and Brian Eno is something that can keep your toes tapping while reducing heart rate and blood pressure levels. But the music is far too lively to be as coma inducing as some of the earlier Eno ambient albums. But it is far more cerebral than Talking Heads.
Heads Up
Author: Anthony Medici
I’ve been spinning two recent CD releases this week, Bobby Hutcherson’s “Head On” (Blue Note Connoisseur Series) and Charles Lloyd Quartet, “Rabo de Nube” (ECM) and enjoying them both, particularly the Hutcherson release, or more accurately, CD re-release, as four of the tracks were originally released on a Blue Note LP in 1971. The CD adds three lengthy (and excellent, not just filler) tracks to the original release. Interestingly, these releases are both from artists who made their mark during the 1960s and 1970s and who are still performing and recording regularly. The Hutcherson is more than 30 years old but could be an original contemporary work, it is so vibrant and challenging. The Lloyd is a contemporary work, recorded in concert in 2007, but if I were told it was the work of 30 years ago, I would not find it hard to believe, as it is, for better or worse, so distinctly “Lloydian” in concept and expression. Read the rest of this entry »
New Arrivals
Author: Brett
Early September, 2008
Greetings from Princeton Record Exchange,
Recently arrived: Soul, Latin and Gospel records; Indian Soundtrack records; and Classical CDs
The recent flood of quality record and CD collections continues. This week we have a wide variety to report, but we’re pressed for time (trying to get everything out!), so we’ll just touch on the highlights.
We have just put out over 1,500 very nice 70’s Soul, Latin, and Gospel LPs. These records are in beautiful condition; it’s a real pleasure to see these 30+ year old titles looking so good. Most of the classic-era soul artists are here including Funkadelic, Isaac Hayes, The Spinners, Al Green, etc. The Latin titles include dozens on the Tico, Fania, and Alegre labels of artists like Ray Barrettto, Willie Colon, Eddie Palmieri, and Joe Cuba among many others. This collection also features a great assortment of 70’s Gospel.
Most are priced from $4.99 to $14.99 with some rarities higher. We are very out of room, so you’ll have to dig through the regular new arrival section, but if you’re looking for this type of music, we’re sure you’ll find it worthwhile
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Also of note is a very interesting collection of original, mostly 70’s, Indian soundtracks. At around 200 titles, it’s not a huge collection, but it certainly is one of the more unusual we have seen in a while. These came over from India with some nice folks who sold them to us. They are mostly in very good shape and are priced around $9.99 each. As with the collection above, they are mixed in our regular new arrival section.
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And finally, we have purchased a collection of over 1,000 Classical CDs. These do not have a specific dominant theme, but are heavy on Baroque and Renaissance titles, with some “historical” recordings as well. Around 70% are under $5.00 and are in our cheap CD bins. The rest are in the classical new arrival section and are priced slightly higher.
Hope to see you soon.
Princeton Record Exchange
20 S. Tulane St.
Princeton, NJ, 08542
609-921-0881
www.prex.com
Two albums that are Miles ahead
Author: Dan Gephart
Within a few minutes of the On the Corner’s opening song On the Corner/New York Girl/Thinking One Thing and Doing Another, many of Miles Davis’ fans finally had enough. It was the most controversial of a very controversial period for an uncompromising Miles. Read the rest of this entry »
Scars On Broadway Leave Marks on System, Serj.
Author: Jeff Boule
Once upon a time there were four Armenian boys who formed one of modern rock’s heaviest bands. I am recalcitrant to say heavy metal, as, especially with Scars On Broadway, all these artists can play soft as well as heavy. But back to our four Armenian friends, they formed a band. One considerably older gentleman (Serj Tankian), and the very unusual bass playing style and sound of Shavo Odajian, and two childhood friends Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan.
Now the childhood buddies had very distinct ideas on how the music should sound. But so too did the older gentleman and the unusual player. Four opinions in one small band is toxic.
At the absolute pinnacle of their career, nothing could go better, they decide now is the time to split up and do solo things. So the older Serj went and did his the fastest. His came out first to modest fan/critical response. Next came the project of the buddies Malakian and Dolmayan.
It is easy to see that Shavo will have a tough act to follow.
The heavy dissonances, speedy beats, time/tempo changes, humorous lyrics, inventive keyboards, all belong to the Malakian/Dolmayan connection.
Because as Scars on Broadway, these guys got it dead to rights!!!
Review of Invaders – Kemado Records
Author: John Linden
Something strange has been happening in a certain subgenre of metal in the past few years. It started, depending on who you ask, either with the release of Wolfmother’s self-titled album or The Sword’s debut Age of Winters. The subgenre was stoner rock, and the strange thing was it was becoming…hip. Yes, hip. Well, about as hip as any sort of metal can get, which is not very. Still, Austin’s The Sword getting signed to indie label Kemado was an eyebrow-raising move, to say the least. And yet it worked. Positive reviews came steamrolling in, and the quest to make stoner rock mainstream began. And that brings us to this compilation, which feels influential already. Read the rest of this entry »
Conor Oberst making a new name for himself
Author: Dan Gephart
It’s time to drop the emo label, gang. Conor Oberst is no longer the indie wunderkid. He’s dropped the Bright Eye’s moniker, for now that is. And at 28 years old now, he’s one of the best folk-rock singer/songwriters we have. Oberst’s self-titled album is clearly one of the standout releases in this musical year so far — one whose lyrics will keep you coming back for more. Read the rest of this entry »
Rose Hill Drive – Moon is the New Earth
Author: John Linden
In this Boulder, Colorado trio we have a strange case. They are a band who has radio-ready songs but is on an indie label. They are a band who are steeped in classic rock tradition but not bound by it. They are a band who, unlike most of their peers–if these boys even have true contemporaries–craft original, thoughtful songs and then play them like the bastard children of Cream and Led Zeppelin. Sign me up. Read the rest of this entry »
Power of Music
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
4 Aug 2008– The paradox which fascinates me the most is that of music. Music is the only thing worth fighting for, living for, and dying for because of the power it has over the human soul, but never has music started a war (with the exceptions of the social revolution of the 1960s and the pop-revolution of the 1980s which then spawned the Religious Right’s overzealous counterrevolution). To the cynics among is, music is constantly delegated to the sidelines, constantly minimized as nothing more than a catalyst for pretentious attention whores’ way of drawing attention to themselves and fulfilling their obsessive compulsive need to be different and express themselves *insert sarcasm here.* I pity those cynics, for not being able to be a part of something larger than themselves. Rather than write a post about a new band that I like, or a concert that has already passed, this week I pose that we reflect on the songs that have mattered most to us throughout our lives. For myself, it is Guns N Roses, Sweet Child o Mine, among others of course. Here’s why that song means so much to mean, and no, it is not because it is on Guitar Hero. Read the rest of this entry »
Album Review Samantha Crain: The Confiscation
Author: Rose Taglieri
21-year-old singer-songwriter Samantha Crain, jumps into the Folk Rock world with her debut EP “The Confiscation.” The EP was released by indie label Ramseur Records on July 22nd. It’s already gaining praise for its literate story telling and whimsical sound.
Buddy Guy: Skin Deep
Author: Nubyaan Scott
He’s the best damn fool you’ll ever know, with too many tears, from lyin’ like a dog. The seventy-one-year-old Rock and Blues legend, who influenced the likes of Hendrix, Clapton, and Vaughan, has released his latest album, “Skin Deep.” The twelve track LP consists of songs like, “Hammer And A Nail,” “Lyin’ Like A Dog,” and “Smell The Funk,” and features Susan Tedeschi, guitar greats, Derek Trucks, Eric Clapton, and Robert Randolph, and nine-year-old guitar prodigy, Quinn Sullivan. Read the rest of this entry »
Lykke Li (SCANDIMANIA!)
Author: Jake Hyman
Fifty years after the “British Invasion,” America is being bombarded from foreign invaders once again. This time, they’re coming by the boatful out of Scandinavia. I’m From Barcelona (but actually from Sweden), Sigur Rós, múm, Mugison, and of course Björk – which all run the genre gamut – have all come out of the collective lands of the midnight sun to grace the global indie scene with their experimental electronic sounds, unique vocal abilities, and vast instrumentation. Read the rest of this entry »
Fate-haters barking up the wrong tree
Author: Dan Gephart
It seems kind of odd to use the word ramshackle to describe a band as solid musically as this Philly-based group. But it’s really the only adjective that fits.
Hold Steady deliver again.
Author: Dan Gephart
What’s this? Talk-box guitar? A theremin? A banjo? Yes, that’s the new Hold Steady. But don’t believe what you’ve read elsewhere. The new Hold Steady is the same as the old Hold Steady. They’ve just added a few new instruments and a couple guest appearances.
Read the rest of this entry »
A Hapless Solo Bear Watches Man And Sighs
Author: Jeff Boule
Chris Arduser is not now, nor will he ever be a household name. But I would rather keep this Chris Arduser in tact as opposed to some record label machination. I have come to know and love Deathy (as he is known in the inner circles of the Bear’s cave) through his work with Adrian Belew and the Bears, the Psychodots and later Raisins, Graveblankets and his own solo albums.
Read the rest of this entry »
Just about everyone I know has a “You haven’t seen” movie. You know, the movie you haven’t seen that is considered a classic – the one when you SAY you haven’t seen it, someone remarks “Wait, you haven’t seen (whatever movie)?” This is usually followed by some sort of action plan requiring you to see the movie immediately, even if you’re in the middle of mowing your lawn or something (though why you’d be discussing movies while mowing your lawn is kind of lost on me. But hey whatever, it’s your life). Anyway, many genres of music have the same type of thing. And if you’re down with the Metal and HAVEN’T heard ‘Reign in Blood’ by Slayer…. why haven’t you? Damn, stop mowing the lawn and listen to the record!
There’s a reason that you can go anywhere now and hear people randomly shout ‘Slayerrrrr!‘ every time something comes up that rocks (I heard someone say it at DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist’s ‘The Hard Sell’ tour!)…. and that reason goes back to Reign in Blood. It’s my favorite record ever, 29 minutes of thrash metal perfection.
And now, there’s a book about it.
Montreal Jazz Festival – part two
Author: Andy Sosnowski
In this post I wanted to include a link to still more reviews from the Montreal Gazette of concerts I was unable to attend:
http://communities.canada.com/MONTREALGAZETTE/blogs/wordsandmusic/default.aspx
Also there are 2 local noteworthy bands that we saw:Gadji-Gadjo who play East European tunes. I endured the first blazing sun of the festival to watch them and they played a long set of stirring music to celebrate the sun. Read the rest of this entry »