Song of December: Patrick Wolf’s “Damaris”

What? You think it should be some holiday aria? F-that.  I can’t stand Xmas music.
“Damaris” as you know from my review of The Bachelor, is my favorite song off the cd and I was triple excited when Patrick announced it as the third single.  It is a string-ladden gorgeous ballads that swells up and tells the [...]

The Classics: Damien Rice

Damien Rice is without argument one of the most talented singer-songwriters to come along this decade.  Granted, his discography consist largely of live albums and only two proper studio albums but those records are sublime.
It would be completely unfair to neglect to mention Lisa Hannigan’s vocal work when discussing Damien’s music because she’s feature so prominently [...]

Videos of the Week: Ryan Adams’ “New York, New York” and Madonna’s “I Love New York”

I know, I know, you don’t have to say it: this New York obsession part honeymoon of mine is getting to the point that even I am gonna barf at how sickly and eye-rolling annoying is getting. It’s all I can seem to talk about! It’s even worse because I used to make fun of [...]

Quality Assessment: Patrick Wolf’s “The Bachelor”

I know, I know, I’ve been taking my sweet ass time with this one, but here it is at last.
Let me begin with the at once surprising and obvious: Is Patrick Wolf incapable of producing albums that are anything but great piece of art?  Yes, that sounds a bit pretentious but how else to describe [...]

Video of the Week: Damien Rice’s “9 Crimes”

In celebration of the news that Damien Rice is finally putting out some follow up music to 2006’s “9″ album (about bloody fucking time!) I’ve decided to pick one of his videos for this week.  The man has a penchant for odd videos and this isn’t a depart from it, but I find the video [...]

The Classics: Interpol’s “Turn On The Bright Lights”

As I said before on my Julian Plenti post, I’ve been revisiting my Intepol cds and I felt compelled to induct Turn On The Bright Lights into *The Classics.*

Sometimes you listen to a cd and *beautiful* may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but that’s exactly what Turn On the Bright Lights [...]

Quality Assessment: Julian Plenti is… Skyscraper

As huge fans of Interpol, the A.L. and I attended Paul Banks concert as a solo artist inside the Guggenheim Museum a week and a half ago.  I personally haven’t paid that much attention to Paul’s solo work under the name *Julian Plenti* but the A.L. had, and she’s been keeping me updated on it [...]

The Classics: PJ Harvey’s “Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea”

She’s done so much good stuff before and taken us through wild, riveting, gritty, even chaotic but always mesmerizing journeys, yet nothing could prepare us for the majestic beauty of what it’s in my opinion PJ Harvey’s Magnum Opus: Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea.

PJ Harvey was in love during the recording of the album [...]