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Written by Jason Crawford
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Monday, 08 June 2009 10:11 |
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There are few popular recording artists that have their very own genre of music. I mean, you can probably count them on one hand. Tom Waits comes to mind. That's about it, really. There are probably others, but even someone like Neil Young can't be said to have his own genre. His music is instantly recognizable, and derivative of no one's work, but it's still rock and roll at the end of the day. Junior Kimbrough played the blues. But he didn't play the blues like anyone else played the blues. He played his own style of Hill Country Blues, and it varied so severely from his neighbors' styles that you could almost say he created something new. He created something new that sounds like it pre-dates time. It's a sound that's as complex as the region that spawned the artist. It's a place and a sound that time seems to have forgotten in a lot of ways.
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Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
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Tuesday, 02 June 2009 00:00 |
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (Blu-ray), Direct Contact (Blu-ray), Ronin (Blu-ray), Defiance (Blu-ray), Confessions of a Shopaholic (Blu-ray), The Code (Blu-ray)
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Written by Jason Serinus
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Thursday, 21 May 2009 00:00 |
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In 2004, Grammy winning producer/engineer Mark Johnson was strolling down the streets of Santa Monica when he heard musician Roger Ridley singing “Stand by Me” from afar. Six years after he and a small, dedicated team of videographers began traveling the world to find ways to connect the world through music, Johnson heard the voice whose passion and conviction transformed his vision. He soon combined Ridley’s rendition with others from around the world, creating the extraordinary YouTube world journey video of “Stand by Me” that has generated over seven million hits.
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Written by Jason Crawford
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Wednesday, 13 May 2009 00:00 |
Now, Blitzen Trapper is a little more my speed. From the first note of their newest album, "Furr," you know that these guys are most assuredly not traveling minstrels. These guys like to rock and have a good time. They have song titles like "Fire and Fast Bullets," and "Black River Killer." They sing about shaking it on a Saturday night and their guitars are loud and appropriately distorted. They infuse elements of folk, country, soul, and more to form an original sound that never veers too far from the rock, and keeps the listener alert and on their toes until the last acoustic notes of "Lady On The Water."
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Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
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Friday, 01 May 2009 09:10 |
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Seven Pounds (Blu-ray), Doubt (Blu-ray), Incendiary (Blu-ray), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Blu-ray), Taken (Blu-ray), The Matrix 10th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray), Driven to Kill (Blu-ray), The Uninvited (Blu-ray)
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Written by Jason Crawford
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Wednesday, 22 April 2009 00:00 |
Janelle Monae doesn't lack for ambition. That much is for certain after just a cursory listen to her debut E.P. "Metropolis: The Chase Suite." Monae has some heavy hitters in her corner, and they bring a lot to the production side of the recording. It's Monae's voice, however, that carries the day on this concept record. It gives the listener the impression that she can handle any style of vocal delivery that the job calls for, and many of those styles are accounted for during this brief first offering.
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Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
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Thursday, 02 April 2009 00:00 |
The Wrestler (Blu-ray), Slumdog Millionaire (Blu-ray), Marley & Me (Blu-ray), The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) (Blu-ray), Valkyrie (SD DVD), Frost/Nixon (Blu-ray), Punisher: War Zone (Blu-ray), Sin City (Blu-ray), What Doesn't Kill You (Blu-ray)
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Written by Jason Crawford
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Wednesday, 18 March 2009 00:00 |
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Dan Auerbach's new album is called "Keep It Hid." It starts out quietly enough, but anyone that is familiar with Auerbach's work with the Black Keys should know that this wouldn't last. The man is capable of beautiful melody and quiet interludes, but he can groove too and this is best done loudly. All of his most obvious talents are on full display on "Keep It Hid," and the results are intoxicating.
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Written by Jason Victor Serinus
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Wednesday, 11 March 2009 00:00 |
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This is fantastic stuff. Play the first track, Horace Silver’s “Strollin’,” and you’re immediately catapulted into the bebop past, where movies are as black and white as the album cover. Mostly recorded on April 30, 2001, during the Jarrett/Peacock/DeJohnette Trio’s historic gig in Metropolitan Festival Hall in Tokyo, pianist Keith Jarrett, double bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Jack DeJohnette are in swinging form. Listen to them cut loose for nine minutes on Charlie Parker’s “Scrapple from the Apple.” The occasional verbal exclamations are hardly gratuitous – these boys are flying. Presumably they were just high on life.
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Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
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Sunday, 01 March 2009 16:00 |
The Midnight Meat Train (Blu-ray), Donnie Darko (Blu-ray), Milk (Blu-ray), What Just Happened (Blu-ray), Australia (Blu-ray), JCVD (Blu-ray), In the Electric Mist (Blu-ray), The Robe (Blu-ray), Transporter 3 (Blu-ray), Quantum of Solace (Blu-ray)
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