Opinz

Ray Davies – Kinks Choral Collection

It’s a concept so out there it has to work – Ray Davies leading the Crouch End Festival Chorus in versions of Kinks (and Davies solo) music arranged specifically for a choir, and it sounds exactly like that – a choir singing Kinks songs…but for those imagining a junior choir painfully and cluelessly hacking through “Ice Ice Baby” or a high school marching band butchering “Black Dog” beyond recognition, keep in mind that this is a choir with actual talent, and while it is inaccurate to call these “updated” versions of Kinks hits, it certainly is a fresh take on the band (and made even more of a curiosity  considering the Kinks contributions to punk and heavy metal).
More »

Little Boots – Hands

If Britney Spears was intelligent enough to try for an ounce of credibility she might turn out something like Hands, which is all over the map as far as style goes but still keeps the same “pop record trying really really hard for indie cred” theme throughout, which it accomplishes mainly by trying to emulate Depeche Mode – it succeeds with a small handful of catchy pop tracks but ultimately comes across as unremarkable.
More »

New York Dolls – Cause I Sez So

If Paul McCartney wrote some songs and recruited Ringo to play drums it would hardly be a Beatles album, and that’s kind of what is happening with the New York Dolls these days; with only 2 original members left and the punk movement they helped create long passed them by, a New York Dolls album these days isn’t the same as a New York Dolls album of 35 years ago…but that is not to say Cause I Sez So isn’t a good, solid album because it is – it’s the same pure rock n’ roll in a more polished package, and suggests that even if their ranks are dwindling the quality of their output is not.
More »

311 – Uplifter

Nobody is looking for anything resembling profound musical statements from 311, and no one is expecting them to create anything which challenges the boundaries of music, so if one keeps his expectations low while listening to Uplifter the lack of originality is much less glaring; it’s not that it’s bad music, it’s just utterly and completely unremarkable in every possible way.
More »

Dave Matthews Band – Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King

Dave Matthews Band is such a niche product that it’s difficult to review any of their work; either you “get it” and love sitting through hours of pointless jamming or you don’t “get it” and are a shallow Lady GaGa fan who can’t appreciate true musicianship…but we’ll give it a shot anyway: Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King is easily their best and most complete album to date, with radio-friendly hits like “Why I Am” and “Spaceman” playing nice with slow jams like “Lying in the Hands of God” and avoiding the uneven, jariness most albums of this depth might emit…for most casual fans, Big Whisky is a much easier listen than DMB’s past efforts.
More »

jj – jj n° 2

Hearing the music of the mysterious and suddenly hot artist/group/who knows jj (lower-case) after last week’s abysmal Discovery release strikes an interesting contrast: whoever these/this people/person are, they certainly understand how to properly and ear-catchingly cross musical borders and reappropriate the familiar into entirely unique sounds, as this half-hour collection of tracks serves up deliciously tropical grooves, acoustic strums, audacious samples (“ecstasy” is built atop a sample of “Lollipop”…no, seriously), and serene pop vocals from someone whose gender I still can’t identify – this is shaping up to be one of the most refreshing little records of the year and an almost willfully perfect summer soundtrack.

More »