Michael Jackson memorial
Balancing the delicate choices about entertainment vs. eulogy, the Michael Jackson memorial worked incredibly well as both without bowing to the expectations of either.
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Rising from tiny Manhattan clubs where aspiring singer/ songwriters refused to drink folk-music syrup, Regina Spektor found her voice as a compelling and whimsical storyteller who uses experience and observation to craft indelible songs.
Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs)
This long-in-coming sophomore set from the prolific Drive-By Truckers frontman hopscotches across time in a way that would make J.J. Abrams happy.
Act III: Life and Death
The Boston-based Dear Hunter shares any number of parallels with the similarly named groups deerhunter and Deerhoof, most notably an animal namesake and a penchant for dramatic, dissonant, style-shifting rock.
Rare Elements
The Turkish-born musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek is also a composer, and his music is the inspiration for this remix disc, the second installment in 5 Points Records' remix series.
Don't Turn Your Back
With a stunningly beautiful voice, Dale Ann Bradley has won the International Bluegrass Music Assn.'s female vocalist of the year honor in 2007 and 2008.
Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman
Kurt Elling has never shied away from a challenge—the nimble singer has carved a unique place for himself in the jazz pantheon, with a signature sound that cunningly combines blues, ballads and beat-inspired poetry.
Cradlesong
Rob Thomas is a musical chameleon.
John Fogerty and the Los Angeles Philharmonic -- Concert Review
The Los Angeles Philharmonic paid typically expert tribute to great American composers Thursday during the opening night of its annual 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular at the Hollywood Bowl. And conductor-ringmaster John Morris Russell said they decided it was apropos to "salute one of America's greatest performers."
Love Struck
The rhythmic dance track includes production elements similar to the latest New Kids on the Block album but with a melodic bridge that sounds like five Justin Timberlakes.
Let the Dominoes Fall
Seven albums in, not much has changed for Rancid, and that's a good thing.
Who's Got Your Money
Though a challenging song title for a debut single in these tough times, it may be advantageous to 21-year-old New Yorker Tina Parol.
Street Sweeper Social Club
Angry, pitchforks-in-the-streets populism has few busier cheerleaders than Tom Morello and Boots Riley, who have reigned as some of the left's most visible, visceral voices.
Ain't No Rest for the Wicked
The song is a pop narrative of how people wind up choosing the wrong road in life. Appropriately, it's a slice of greasy, slide-guitar rock, with a hook that manages to penetrate upon first listen.
Like a Bird, Like a Plan
Charlie Mars has some pretty familiar ideas about how to chill out with a friend: "If you wanna come over and get high, we can listen to 'Dark Side of the Moon,' " he sings.
Obsessed
On the debut single from Carey's 12th studio album ("Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel," due Aug. 25 on Island Def Jam), the singer who needs no vocal manipulation uses AutoTune with startling success.
Destination Life
Last year's "Good Thing Going" featured a laundry list of big-name country guests, but there aren't any star turns on Rhonda Vincent's "Destination Life."
Bobby Broom Plays for Monk
On Broom's latest release as a leader, he tackles the nearly sacrosanct works of renowned pianist/composer Thelonious Monk with an artful mix of grit and grace.
Tell No Lies
World music explorer Justin Adams and Gambian griot Juldeh Camara have combined their considerable talents to devise an electrifying fusion of rock and West Africa.
The Excitement Plan
This cult-fave roots-rock veteran has never sounded more like a down-home Randy Newman than he does on "The Excitement Plan."
Grace Around the World
Fearless, uninhibited and utterly free, Jeff Buckley was that rare performer able to cast a spell on a generation. As such, it's no surprise that the two DVDs of "Grace Around the World" are spellbinding themselves.
Here With Me
Holly Williams, the daughter of Hank Williams Jr. and granddaughter of Hank Williams, follows her own musical path to deliver one of the best singer/songwriter albums to come out of Nashville in the last year.
Cope
When Adam Freeland surfaced in 1999, at the tail end of the drum'n'bass movement, he was a DJ/producer championing a funny little subgenre called nu skool breaks.
Uplifter
Working with former Metallica confidant Bob Rock, the veteran Omaha, Neb., rap-rockers serve up their usual blend of laid-back rhymes and hard-edged riffs on "Uplifter," 311's ninth studio disc and its first since 2005's "Don't Tread on Me."
Stone Temple Pilots -- Concert Review
For a reunited band bent on having a future, Stone Temple Pilots spent most of its House of Blues show Wednesday visiting the past -- the distant past.
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood -- Concert Review
They began with "Had to Cry Today," Cut 1 from Side 1 of the only album they recorded together. And Steve Winwood, one of rock's singular voices, and Eric Clapton, among its most revered guitar gods, played it as if they simply wanted to.
