EDITORIAL REVIEWS
Multi-platinum-selling alt-rock band AFI return with their highly anticipated new album, AFI (The Blood Album) . The quartet recorded the album at Megawatt Studios in LA. Produced by Jade Puget and co-produced by Matt Hyde (Deftones) . Since the release of 1995s debut album Answer That and Stay Fashionable, AFI has written and recorded five top ten hit singles, hit No. 1 on The Billboard 200 (for Decemberunderground) and amassed a fiercely loyal global following number in the millions.
Concord Records
|
888072017009
|
Audio CD
Gods Problem Child
By Nelson, Willie
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
2017 release from country music legend Willie Nelson. Gods Problem Child is Willie s first album to debut all-new songs since Band of Brothers in 2014. It includes 13 songs, including seven recently written by Willie and Buddy Cannon, his longtime collaborator and producer. The albums title track, penned by Jamey Johnson and Tony Joe White, includes vocals by both writers and the legendary Leon Russell (on what may be Russells very last recording) . Closing the album is "He Wont Ever Be Gone," a song written by Gary Nicholson that pays tribute to Willies outlaw country comrade, Merle Haggard.
Sony Legacy
|
889854157326
|
Audio CD
The Search for Everything
By Mayer, John
John Mayer first teased his seventh album, The Search for Everything, through a pair of EPs that contained eight of the record's 12 songs. It was a sly way for the singer/songwriter to ease back into his soulful side, a sound he largely abandoned during an extended dalliance with Laurel Canyon country-rock -- an infatuation that culminated in his position as a substitute Jerry Garcia in the Grateful Dead satellite group Dead & Company. Although it's ostensibly a breakup album, The Search for Everything doesn't feel haunted: Mayer glides through the record so smoothly, the supple sound seems almost insouciant. It is also quite alluring. Mayer may be reverting to the sound of Continuum, alternating between R&B workouts and soul-baring ballads, but forward movement is the unifying sentiment here. The nimble funk opener, "Moving on and Getting Over, " makes that plain, as does the plaintive "Changing, " which summarizes his plight simply: "I may be old and I may be young/But I am not done changing. " Some of Mayer's change can be charted in how he hangs onto his romantic past, burying some of his heartache on the deceptively exuberant opener, "Still Feel Like Your Man, " and offering a bittersweet denouement in the admission "You're Gonna Live Forever in Me. " Mirroring his emotional maturity is a sharpening of his songcraft. While he's always shown a knack for slow-burning soul, the progression and arrangement of the smoldering "Rosie" feel as sophisticated as the lithe grace of "Emoji of a Wave, " while "Roll It on Home, " an easy-rolling country-rocker that tips its hat to the Dead, shows how he absorbed the lessons of his Laurel Canyon detour of Born and Raised and Paradise Valley. Those two records, along with such earlier workouts as Try! John Mayer Trio Live in Concert, reveal the extent of Mayer's ambition, but The Search for Everything succeeds because he's not donning a new costume: instead, he's settling into a groove he can claim as his own, and it feels like he's at home.
COLUMBIA RECORDS GROUP
|
889854165925
|
Audio CD
Countdown
By Alexander, Joey
Joey Alexander's jaw-dropping ability and beyond-his-years artistry brought him to some of the grandest stages, from performing at the GRAMMYs and the White House, to appearing on the TODAY Show and 60 Minutes. Just over a year removed from his debut, the same maturity and dedication to his craft that made him a phenomenon is evident in his remarkable evolution on his sophomore release, COUNTDOWN. Now stepping forward as a composer, while still paying tribute to the jazz greats, Joey is poised to continue his ascent to becoming one of the biggest names in jazz.
Motema Music
|
181212002027
|
CD
A Deeper Understanding
By Drugs, The War On
For much of the three and a half year period since the release of Lost In The Dream, The War On Drugs' frontman, Adam Granduciel, led the charge for his Philadelphia-based sextet as he holed up in studios in New York and Los Angeles to write, record, edit, and tinker-but, above all, to busy himself in work. Teaming up with engineer Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, Weezer) , Granduciel challenged the notion of what it means to create a fully realized piece of music in today's modern landscape. Calling on his bandmates - bassist Dave Hartley, keyboarding Robbie Bennett, drummer Charlie Hall and multi-instrumentalists Anthony LaMarca and Jon Natchez -- continuously throughout the process, the result is a "band record" in the noblest sense, featuring collaboration, coordination, and confidence at every turn. Through those years of relocation, the revisiting and reexamining of endless hours of recordings, unbridled exploration and exuberance, Granduciel's gritty love of his craft succeeded in pushing the band to great heights.
Publisher: n/a
|
75678660634
|
Audio CD
Dunkirk [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
By Zimmer, Hans
Soundtrack to acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan's epic action thriller Dunkirk. The album features an original score by Academy-, Golden Globe-, and Grammy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer, who previously collaborated with Nolan on the director's Interstellar, Inception, and The Dark Knight Trilogy. It features a powerful and unique score unlike anything before produced by this formidable and inspired artistic pairing. "Dunkirk is one of the greatest suspense stories of all time, and our film needed a score to reflect that and to propel the audience through a telling of this story that is more thriller than war film," explained Christopher Nolan. "Hans's unique score drives the visceral sense of action the film needs to put the audience right into the story, using images, sound and music."
WaterTower Music
|
794043193064
|
CD
Near To The Wild Heart Of Life
By Japandroids,
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
2017 release from the Canadian duo. Japandroids consists of Brian King and David Prowse. Their third album, Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, was written clandestinely throughout 2014 and 2015 in Vancouver, Toronto, New Orleans, and Mexico City. It was (mostly) recorded at Rain City Recorders in Vancouver, BC with one song, "True Love And A Free Life Of Free Will", recorded at Golden Ratio in Montreal, QC. The title, Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, comes from a passage in the novel A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man by James Joyce: "He was alone. He was unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart of life." Like their prior albums Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock, the album features eight songs. This is because eight songs is the standard template for a great rock n roll album. Like Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock, the album was sequenced specifically for the LP. On Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, side A (songs 1-4) and side B (songs 5-7) each follow their own loose narrative. Taken together as one, they form an even looser narrative, with the final song on side B (song 8) acting as an epilogue. If Celebration Rock was the culmination of something, then Near To The Wild Heart Of Life can be considered the beginning of something else.
Anti/Epitaph
|
45778745524
|
Audio CD
Just the beginning
By Vanderwaal, Grace
Syco Music/Columbia Records
|
889854895921
|
Rogue One
By Giacchino, Michael
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empires ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves. Score by Michael Giacchino.
Walt Disney Records
|
50087348175
|
Audio CD
Life Love Flesh Blood
By May, Imelda
Imelda May has found a new groove, exploring blues, soul, gospel, folk, rock, acoustic, cinematic drama and explosive balladry. She is setting a new course with a collection of the boldest, most personal and intimately autobiographical songs she has ever written. May has long been admired by her peers in the music community, including Bono, who says of May, I love the girl she used to be but I think I love even more the woman she s become. Still mischievous and playful, still a siren, but there s an ache in her voice now that has me with a glass at my ear to the wall of her world where trouble has entered the room. There s an erotic power here that's not just feminine power. She makes truth telling an invitation to intimacy.Imelda May has finally made the album she s always wanted to make.
AFI The Blood Album
By Afi,
EDITORIAL REVIEWS Multi-platinum-selling alt-rock band AFI return with their highly anticipated new album, AFI (The Blood Album) . The quartet recorded the album at Megawatt Studios in LA. Produced by Jade Puget and co-produced by Matt Hyde (Deftones) . Since the release of 1995s debut album Answer That and Stay Fashionable, AFI has written and recorded five top ten hit singles, hit No. 1 on The Billboard 200 (for Decemberunderground) and amassed a fiercely loyal global following number in the millions.
Gods Problem Child
By Nelson, Willie
EDITORIAL REVIEWS 2017 release from country music legend Willie Nelson. Gods Problem Child is Willie s first album to debut all-new songs since Band of Brothers in 2014. It includes 13 songs, including seven recently written by Willie and Buddy Cannon, his longtime collaborator and producer. The albums title track, penned by Jamey Johnson and Tony Joe White, includes vocals by both writers and the legendary Leon Russell (on what may be Russells very last recording) . Closing the album is "He Wont Ever Be Gone," a song written by Gary Nicholson that pays tribute to Willies outlaw country comrade, Merle Haggard.
The Search for Everything
By Mayer, John
John Mayer first teased his seventh album, The Search for Everything, through a pair of EPs that contained eight of the record's 12 songs. It was a sly way for the singer/songwriter to ease back into his soulful side, a sound he largely abandoned during an extended dalliance with Laurel Canyon country-rock -- an infatuation that culminated in his position as a substitute Jerry Garcia in the Grateful Dead satellite group Dead & Company. Although it's ostensibly a breakup album, The Search for Everything doesn't feel haunted: Mayer glides through the record so smoothly, the supple sound seems almost insouciant. It is also quite alluring. Mayer may be reverting to the sound of Continuum, alternating between R&B workouts and soul-baring ballads, but forward movement is the unifying sentiment here. The nimble funk opener, "Moving on and Getting Over, " makes that plain, as does the plaintive "Changing, " which summarizes his plight simply: "I may be old and I may be young/But I am not done changing. " Some of Mayer's change can be charted in how he hangs onto his romantic past, burying some of his heartache on the deceptively exuberant opener, "Still Feel Like Your Man, " and offering a bittersweet denouement in the admission "You're Gonna Live Forever in Me. " Mirroring his emotional maturity is a sharpening of his songcraft. While he's always shown a knack for slow-burning soul, the progression and arrangement of the smoldering "Rosie" feel as sophisticated as the lithe grace of "Emoji of a Wave, " while "Roll It on Home, " an easy-rolling country-rocker that tips its hat to the Dead, shows how he absorbed the lessons of his Laurel Canyon detour of Born and Raised and Paradise Valley. Those two records, along with such earlier workouts as Try! John Mayer Trio Live in Concert, reveal the extent of Mayer's ambition, but The Search for Everything succeeds because he's not donning a new costume: instead, he's settling into a groove he can claim as his own, and it feels like he's at home.
Countdown
By Alexander, Joey
Joey Alexander's jaw-dropping ability and beyond-his-years artistry brought him to some of the grandest stages, from performing at the GRAMMYs and the White House, to appearing on the TODAY Show and 60 Minutes. Just over a year removed from his debut, the same maturity and dedication to his craft that made him a phenomenon is evident in his remarkable evolution on his sophomore release, COUNTDOWN. Now stepping forward as a composer, while still paying tribute to the jazz greats, Joey is poised to continue his ascent to becoming one of the biggest names in jazz.
A Deeper Understanding
By Drugs, The War On
For much of the three and a half year period since the release of Lost In The Dream, The War On Drugs' frontman, Adam Granduciel, led the charge for his Philadelphia-based sextet as he holed up in studios in New York and Los Angeles to write, record, edit, and tinker-but, above all, to busy himself in work. Teaming up with engineer Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, Weezer) , Granduciel challenged the notion of what it means to create a fully realized piece of music in today's modern landscape. Calling on his bandmates - bassist Dave Hartley, keyboarding Robbie Bennett, drummer Charlie Hall and multi-instrumentalists Anthony LaMarca and Jon Natchez -- continuously throughout the process, the result is a "band record" in the noblest sense, featuring collaboration, coordination, and confidence at every turn. Through those years of relocation, the revisiting and reexamining of endless hours of recordings, unbridled exploration and exuberance, Granduciel's gritty love of his craft succeeded in pushing the band to great heights.
Dunkirk [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
By Zimmer, Hans
Soundtrack to acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan's epic action thriller Dunkirk. The album features an original score by Academy-, Golden Globe-, and Grammy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer, who previously collaborated with Nolan on the director's Interstellar, Inception, and The Dark Knight Trilogy. It features a powerful and unique score unlike anything before produced by this formidable and inspired artistic pairing. "Dunkirk is one of the greatest suspense stories of all time, and our film needed a score to reflect that and to propel the audience through a telling of this story that is more thriller than war film," explained Christopher Nolan. "Hans's unique score drives the visceral sense of action the film needs to put the audience right into the story, using images, sound and music."
Near To The Wild Heart Of Life
By Japandroids,
EDITORIAL REVIEWS 2017 release from the Canadian duo. Japandroids consists of Brian King and David Prowse. Their third album, Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, was written clandestinely throughout 2014 and 2015 in Vancouver, Toronto, New Orleans, and Mexico City. It was (mostly) recorded at Rain City Recorders in Vancouver, BC with one song, "True Love And A Free Life Of Free Will", recorded at Golden Ratio in Montreal, QC. The title, Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, comes from a passage in the novel A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man by James Joyce: "He was alone. He was unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart of life." Like their prior albums Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock, the album features eight songs. This is because eight songs is the standard template for a great rock n roll album. Like Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock, the album was sequenced specifically for the LP. On Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, side A (songs 1-4) and side B (songs 5-7) each follow their own loose narrative. Taken together as one, they form an even looser narrative, with the final song on side B (song 8) acting as an epilogue. If Celebration Rock was the culmination of something, then Near To The Wild Heart Of Life can be considered the beginning of something else.
Just the beginning
By Vanderwaal, Grace
Rogue One
By Giacchino, Michael
EDITORIAL REVIEWS From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empires ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves. Score by Michael Giacchino.
Life Love Flesh Blood
By May, Imelda
Imelda May has found a new groove, exploring blues, soul, gospel, folk, rock, acoustic, cinematic drama and explosive balladry. She is setting a new course with a collection of the boldest, most personal and intimately autobiographical songs she has ever written. May has long been admired by her peers in the music community, including Bono, who says of May, I love the girl she used to be but I think I love even more the woman she s become. Still mischievous and playful, still a siren, but there s an ache in her voice now that has me with a glass at my ear to the wall of her world where trouble has entered the room. There s an erotic power here that's not just feminine power. She makes truth telling an invitation to intimacy.Imelda May has finally made the album she s always wanted to make.