Word: rock
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...with monosyllabic names—each the “Next Big Thing” according to NME—flooding the music scene? Remember how the Libertines, fronted by Pete Doherty, set themselves apart from the Strokes and the Vines and the Hives with an exquisite sense of rock history, harmonic sophistication, and fantastically nihilistic lyrics? Remember how both the Libertines’ albums—first “Up the Bracket” and then their eponymous “The Libertines”—offered Americans a raw, exciting view into a drug-addled...
...prominence at the same time a group of young New York musicians was getting ready to redefine the jazz idiom. Rosenwinkel earned his stripes by gigging with other young lions such as pianist Brad Mehldau and bassist Larry Grenadier, who would both go on to explore pop and rock compositions through jazz. Rosenwinkel hasn’t been as overtly subversive, but he has certainly expanded his genre’s outer limits. On each of his six albums as a leader, he has proved himself a more than capable composer, and his arrangements of standards shine as some...
...group legitimizes the project in part with their impressive underground cred. The songs on the album range from spazzed-out level select ditties to "Kraid's Lair," a haunting boss theme from the classic NES game "Metroid." Regardless of origin, all the tracks burst out of the tightly-wound rock quartet with a depth only hinted at in their previous, synthesized iterations. The concept, while undoubtedly gimmicky, is far from innovative; suburban nerds with Nintendos and guitars have been combining their twin passions even before the anthemic "F-Zero" theme blazed out of early-90's rec room speakers...
...heights, but the exotic musical hybrid that is Bic Runga. In 2002, a year before Westenra hit her high notes, this Maori-Chinese singer-songwriter took the simple guitar hooks of Drive to a new level with Beautiful Collision, an album in which she exploded genres - from folk to rock to country - with the glassy resonance of her voice. So it's strange to find her latest release, Birds, darker and scuzzier sounding, as if it were an original '60s session tape rediscovered in an old suitcase...
...resulting concert film, Neil Young: Heart of Gold, is a portrait of the folk-rock artist as an aging man, in which Demme amps up Prairie Wind's intimacy by several notches. The film makes you feel that an artist who always seemed to be standing on the other side of a milewide canyon is suddenly in your living room. Demme keeps things cozy the old-fashioned way with long close-ups, slow pans (using a Steadicam) and editing cuts that are as sure and steady as the music and musicianship. Some sequences create such an ambiance of immediacy that...