tunequest

Jukebox is the second record in Cat Power's career that mostly features her renditions of songs written by "noted elder statesmen" of the pop music pantheon, including Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, and James Brown, among others. Not being all that familiar with large portions of the source material, I can't say how well it compares to the originals, but as a ...

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I don't know much about Booka Shade, other than that the duo hails from Frankfurt and that they create electronic music. But I do know that their electronic music is pretty good electronic music. I'm going to be honest though and say that while, overall, it's good, it just can't quite hit the spot. Movements, the group's second full-length album, was generally well received in electronic circles ...

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Jump to Review Halo 26, Ghosts I-IV has just been announced at the nine inch nails website. It's a collection of 36 instrumental tracks created with no clear agenda, with the entire process being driven by impulse and improvisation. Of it, Trent says: We began improvising and let the music decide the direction. Eyes were closed, hands played instruments and it began. Within a matter of days ...

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Richard Dorfmeister of iconic Austrian mix-up outfit Kruder and Dorfmeister, and his partner-in-crime Richard Rupert Huber form a duo they call Tosca, and together they work some of the meanest grooves in my collection. Their 2003 album, Delhi 9, ranks as one of my favorite releases this decade, based on its enslaving basslines and percolated rhythms. It's some of the most forceful downtempo music I've run ...

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B-side from the single Isobel (1995) I've never been in love with Bjork's music. To be sure, Bjork is a consummate artist and I do enjoy and have much respect for the majority of her work; I've just never been part of the "Bjork-is-untouchable" group. But if I were to become part of that club, it would be because of this song. I Go Humble never fails to ...

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From the album Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating through space (1997). Composed in "round" format, where each sung line overlaps another in a recursive way, Spiritualized's Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating through space is a science and technology-era mantra, a chant to the lords of pharmaceutically-inspired altered states and a wistful, strung-out love song. This is seriously space out, and transcendental, trance-inducing music, but it trades ...

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From the album Bring it On (1998) The highly regarded and Mercury Prize-winning debut album by Gomez mixes a down-home sensibility with slick production values. With three husky vocalists interchanging on the lyrics, these guys can blend together some mind-bending harmonies. Put those on top of some smooth bluesy-roots-rock-with-an-English-twist and you've got some pretty compelling music. Whippin' Piccadilly is a standout track on an album of standout tracks. ...

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From the album Sarah Shannon (2002) It's been more than a decade since the rock band Velocity Girl broke up, putting an end to one of my favorite high school-era ensembles and effectively ending my exposure to the group's vocalist, Sarah Shannon. Her post-VG work, a band called Starry Eyes, was short-lived and VG's online fan base wasn't large or cohesive enough to adequately maintain updates of ...

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From the album Dial M for Monkey (2003) Bonobo, the simian pseudonym of UK producer Simon Green has been a downtempo-lounge favorite for a while around these parts. In addition to his excellent production values, he's notable for his distinctive infusion (though not pervasively) of eastern (mostly Indian) influences into what could be called "intelligent chill-out music." With a danceably faster tempo usual, Flutter is actually a bit ...

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