Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Ghosteen One of the most challenging and most beautiful of Cave's career. Read More
Holy Hell! The Boatman’s Call Turns 20 Cave’s balance of weariness and longing fits seamlessly within his overall body of work and the somber timbre of his voice. Read More
Five Years Later: The Best Albums of 2008!! Five years is an eternity in the life of a record. When coming up with this feature, the question the Spectrum Culture staff pondered was this: “How well do these albums play NOW!” Not five years ago, but how have they aged in our memories. While some acclaimed albums of ’08 remain strong on our list, some critically-lauded ones didn’t … Read More
Top 25 Songs of 2013 25. Janelle Monáe – “Dance Apocalyptic” [Bad Boy/Wondaland] On her stellar sophomore album, The Electric Lady, Janelle Monáe calls in the musical royalty. The likes of Prince, Miguel, Solange, Esperanza Spalding and Erykah Badu lend their talents to an album that’s a start to finish listen and a triumphant breakthrough for Monáe—nowadays it’s difficult to buy a cup of coffee … Read More
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Live From KCRW [xrr rating=4.0/5]Romantic dread is a uniting trope in the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds oeuvre, but rarely have their live albums seen that concept so deftly realized into a palpable atmosphere as on Live From KCRW. Recorded in L.A.’s Apogee Studio, the intimate setting sees the Bad Seeds tone down some of the pomp and circumstance of their studio … Read More
Best Albums of 2013 (So Far) As we ease into the halfway point of 2013, it’s time to pause, light up the grill and enjoy the summer, bathing ourselves in the glorious new music that this year has yielded. We are pleased to present a list of albums that we feel have bubbled to the top of the heap. And while there are some significant absences … Read More
Monthly Mixtape: March 2013 BS – “Douchebag Aviators” (Tommy Boy) What separates a pair of “douchebag aviator” sunglasses from the standard ones? Doesn’t matter. Instead, what’s important is that Tommy Boy Entertainment is back to putting out rap music and leading the way is Brooklyn’s BS with “Douchebag Aviators.” While the song’s title and video do point to a sense of humor, what makes … Read More
