Apr 27
AndrewMusic
Why does every tween television star need to have a pop album in her wake? (Okay, I knew the answer before I asked the question. It’s cross marketing). So how does a producer like Dr. Luke, who co-wrote and produced Miranda Cosgrove’s new single Kissin’ U, decide which “artist” to give it to?
That’s not a rhetorical question. While nothing on Cosgrove’s new album is really bad, there’s nothing that distinguishes it from Hilary Duff’s So Yesterday or Keke Palmer’s Keep It Movin’. Any number of artists have come and gone on the same wavelength, from Duff to Miley Cyrus (both Disney Channel alum), to the queen Britney herself. Wouldn’t you sell your soul to have Britney Spears record your track BAM instead of settling for Miranda Cosgrove? At least you know Britney would never tarnish your craftsmanship by singing it live.
Today Miranda Cosgrove, actress and star of iCarly on Nickelodeon, releases her pop debut Sparks Fly. The eight track album is a perfectly serviceable pop record. BAM is a fun and freaky dance groove, suggestive and at the same time perfectly tween-safe. Disgusting is amusing, anchored by the sentiment “it’s disgusting how I love you.” And so it goes for a short while until the song Oh Oh in which the train falls off the tracks. All in good fun, I’m sure, but this moment is the only spark of personality on Sparks Fly. And sadly, I’m not sure it was intended that way (or whose personality it really represents, Cosgrove’s or the song’s writers?) Daydream, the album’s closing track, channels a lot of Avril Lavigne (she wrote it) but you won’t mind that either.
So while it’s good, it’s not clear that it’s anything more than a chance to cross market Cosgrove for that inevitable day when she’s too old for Nickelodeon. Sparks Fly won’t get you out of your seat to dance, but you will bob your head along to every song. Maybe you will even wish you had purchased the deluxe edition for the bonus tracks. All the while you’re listening, you’ll be wondering, couldn’t they have gotten someone else to record these songs?
The answer is definitely yes.
Apr 15
AndrewMusic
There are a few bands that are medically necessary to see in live in concert and Concrete Blonde is near the top of the list. Johnette Napolitano and Jim Mankey are strange bedfellows (I’m guessing even they would admit it). Alone, they are exceptional musicians. Together, you witness the birth of a new universe. Your eyes will never leave Napolitano during the entire show.
For the 20th anniversary of their “breakthrough” album Bloodletting, the duo are touring again. The last tour was in support of their 2004 studio release Mojave and both have gone on to other projects since. The point: it’s a rarity to see them together at all, so take advantage of it. Tour dates are below, accurate at the time of publication. Tickets for a number of tour dates, including Boston and Chicago, go on sale this weekend.
Concrete Blonde 20 Years of Bloodletting Tour
Jun 8 Boston, MA Royal Boston
Jun 10 New York, NY Webster Hall
Jun 11 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall
Jun 12 Chicago, IL The Vic
Jun 15 Washington D.C. 9:30 Club
Jun 16 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
Jun 18 Dallas, TX Granada Theatre
Jun 19 Austin, TX Emo’s
Jun 21 Arvada, CO Arvada Center for the Arts
Jun 22 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot
Jun 24 Seattle WA Showbox
Jun 26 San Francisco, CA Grand Ballroom-Regency
Jun 28 Hollywood, CA Henry Fonda Theatre
Apr 08
AndrewMusic
Anna Dagmar has an unique voice for pop music. The indie singer-songwriter stylistic vocals definitely set her apart from what you are hearing on the radio these days. But with the rising popularity of Regina Spektor and Amanda Palmer (the former’s staccato is from another planet; the latter has the prettiest cavernous tone you ever did hear), there is definitely a place in the mainstream for Dagmar.
On her 2009 release Let the Waves Come in Threes
, Dagmar flirts with a pop sound but there isn’t a full commitment. The title track opens the album with a satisfying burst and there are sprinkled moments of wholly embraceable pop music throughout the disc. She’s Got It in Her Soul is radio ready. The track simmers like a pot of water about to boil, enhanced by a sizzling guitar interlude. On the uplifting Smile for Free, Dagmar pounds the piano with a joyous abandon.
Though much of the album has more of a folk music feel to it, that’s not to suggest that any focus away from a pop soundscape isn’t deliberate. If nothing else, there is a definite sense that the musical direction on the album is carefully navigated. You can hear the influences of Joni Mitchell on tracks like Brick by Brick and a graceful jazzy elegance on We’re All Right Now. The best of the bunch, the track Amazed flirts with pop and folk leanings, and really highlights that voice.
Let the Waves Come in Threes is as much a story as it is a collection of songs, adding a complex layer underneath the music. This is a story of a girl taking an engrossing journey to search for herself (the last track leaves the conclusion ambiguous, but isn’t that just like life?)
Dagmar continues to sporadically tour behind Let the Waves. She has upcoming gigs spread out over April, May and June including a May 6 show at Banjo Jim’s in New York City. The live track So I Chased the Setting Sun surfaced in February as a free download. You can follow her on Twitter and visit her website.
Mar 31
AndrewMusic album review
It was fitting that while listening to Gavin DeGraw’s third album Free, my media player kept lagging, creating gaps of silence during the songs. Sometimes, it was hard to tell where the gaps where created by the equipment and where they were engineered by DeGraw himself (the soft spoken Mountains to Move starts off with a full half-minute of virtual silence). While DeGraw’s musical presence is firmly intact on the new album, the album is as boring as all get out.
Free starts off like a weak cup of coffee and doesn’t improve much through the run of tracks. Thematically and stylistically, this is the Gaving DeGraw we know and love. It just lacks any energy. Free misses the force of his impassioned vocals and pounding piano chords that made his debut album transcendent. His second album was a dud, except for In Love With a Girl and We Belong Together (which was actually a better mix on the album than the Tristan & Isolde soundtrack); it came off like so much piano-bar fodder.
There’s no arguing that DeGraw can write a power ballad. But give me a break, how many times can you write songs about a broken heart? Stay stays the course, but it’s so mellow, it’s hard to believe this is a guy pleading for the love of his love to stick around. Glass is like a power ballad-lite. Lover Be Strong picks up the pace a little (barely) but it’s not a song you’ll remember later. Dancing Shoes and Waterfall return to the soft spoken formula that finally declare the album good for background noise and not much more.
I really like DeGraw’s musical sensibility (even though he comes off a goofy frat boy) but I found his last album barely tolerable as a whole, and this one not at all.
Mar 17
AndrewMusic Album Reviews, country music
I have always had a soft spot for Willie Nelson, who knows his way around a tune. And dude can sing.
His voice is showcased front and center on his latest collection of tracks, Naked Willie, 17 stripped down songs that he originally performed in the 60′s. Most, like Following Me Around and The Local Memory, are just brief, two-minute drills through folk rock. But there are some surprises. The opening track Bring Me Sunshine will put a bright smile on your face. Happiness Lives Next Door, with a piano-heavy arrangement, has been transformed into a track worthy of Frank Sinatra.
Yet Nelson manages to avoid sounding like a nostalgia act despite the long years on all of these tunes. Somehow, stripped down doesn’t mean washed out, just simple. The arrangements work to great effect on tracks like When We Live Again showing the artist’s connection to these classic tunes, several of which were culled from his 1970 album Laying My Burdens Down. And just when the album almost grinds to a halt, Nelson infuses it with new life in a big way with two energetic tracks, the spiritual Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down and the closing track Laying My Burdens Down.
Mar 12
AndrewMusic Album Reviews
BHB, the debut album by the Ballas Hough Band, is actually thoroughly entertaining pop confection. I don’t have the faintest clue who Mark Ballas and Derek Hough are, though their bio puts them on Dancing with the Stars. So dancers are making a record, but in this case it works.
Don’t mistake BHB for anything other than another mindless boy band pop album, but for all that, it’s fun in way mainstream radio just isn’t these days. There are enough guitar grooves and playful harmonies to keep it interesting and the boys steal from every pop star of the last thirty years, but it’s done well. Devastated, the album’s best track, has the faint hints of Maroon 5 and New Kids on the Block (old school NKOTB that is) and the line “look what God created, she leaves me devastated.” Birthday has elements of King of Pop (old school Michael Jackson that is).
BHB is light on the ballads, and you’ll probably want to skip them anyway (Longing For is just okay). It’s a tight set, mostly energetic pop fodder that ends quickly but is fully satisfying. Though the last track, Underwater, is just another unmemorable dreary ballad. But you know, if you’re planning a breakthrough into pop music from dancing, you could do a lot worse than this for a debut.
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