Tag Archives: Neil Young

Kurt Vile Review: Wakin On A Pretty Daze

17 Apr

Kurt Vile
Wakin On A Pretty Daze

kurt vile, walkin on a pretty daze, album, cover art, new

Kurt Vile left the band The War on Drugs back in 2008 after the release of his self-recorded debut album Constant Hitmaker garnered a fair amount of critical success. Since then, he has not turned back to his past band and instead fully embraced his solo career with his backing band the Violators. I for one am glad he did so. Vile has a knack of slipping in bits and pieces of Americana folk into grungy psychedelic pop tunes, all with a modern twist to it so it seems current, yet somewhat timeless. His styles have changed slightly from album to album, and with his newest release, Walkin On A Pretty Daze he has found a way to chill out more than ever. The album title is a proper summation for the feel of the album, which it perfectly encapsulates a very dreamy daze-like ambience floating through entire +60 minutes. His pop-grunge vibe is still there, but in a longer and more relaxed fashion. This makes for one of my favorite efforts from Kurt thus far.

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Top Ten Thursday: Best Solo Careers

28 Mar

Han Solo, solo career

After dropping our Review Royale of the new Justin Timberlake album this week, we thought it would be a good idea to tackle artists that have gone solo for our list this week.  We already broke down the best albums released by an artist after going solo in honor of Jack White releasing his first solo record.  So we thought, “Why not just look at solo artists career as a whole, after leaving their band/group.”  Easy enough to find plenty to pick from, but exceedingly difficult to pick just ten for this particular list.  We had to axe a couple that simply didn’t have enough solo material to justify putting them above more established solo musicians (Dan Auerbach and Jack White).  We just can’t be sure which direction people with just one solo album will go.  Back to the band or keep going on their own.  Either way, there were some very tough cuts, but we think we came away with a list worthy of your attention.  Enjoy, and let us know who we missed, left off, or shouldn’t have included at all.

10. Justin Timberlake

jt

Following the “hiatus” of ‘N Sync in 2002, JT quickly released his solo debut Justified.  I know of at least a few sophomores and juniors in high school who couldn’t resist the former boy-bander’s cool pop sound.  Little did we all know, Justified would serve as merely a bridge to even more progressive and layered pop sounds.  FutureSex/LoveSounds and The 20/20 Experience have done more than show off JT’s love of the backslash, affirming Timberlake as pop icon.
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Top Ten Thursday: Best Winter Songs

24 Jan

Top 10 Best Winter Songs

Not sure where your neck of the woods is, but where I am (the Chicago area), it got mighty frigid this week. So in honor of our prickly cold weather, we give you the best songs for this time of year, our favorite winter songs. In evaluating these songs, much like how we evaluated  our top ten albums of winter last year, we tried to find the ten songs that best encapsulate the look, feel, and sound of the season; not just our ten favorite songs that just so happened to mention winter. So without further ado, the ten best songs for this frisky weather.
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Top Ten Neil Young Albums

8 Nov

The Top Ten Best Neil Young Albums

This week, our Top Ten Thursday is an ode to LxL’s favorite Canadian, and no it’s not Alan Thicke. In honor of Neil Young’s latest release, the epic Psychedelic Pill, we give you our ten favorite Neil Young records. Neil was no doubt one of the three or four most important artists of the 70’s, but has still released his share of good-to-great albums in the past three plus decades as well. Young’s 40+ studio albums plus even more live albums comes second in productivity only to Bobby Dylan. We also made the decision to just include solo Neil Young records to clean things up a bit, but it goes without saying that Neil has released some classics with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Buffalo Springfield. So without further ado: the best of Mister Young.
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Neil Young & Crazy Horse Review: Psychedelic Pill

30 Oct

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Psychedelic Pill

neil young and crazy horse, psychedelic pill, album, cover, art

I was a little nervous tackling Psychedelic Pill after the dump Neil Young & Crazy Horse laid with Americana earlier this year.  The covers collection of American standards made me question whether Uncle Neil had succumbed to another aneurysm and was ready to be put out to pasture.  So painful was reviewing Americana that I think I went a month without listening to On a Beach (or any Neil Young for that matter) for the first time since high school.  But you know what they say about abusive relationships, and like the guy who ran into the doorknob, I went back for more.  Because I really love Neil, and he won’t do me like that again, he’s changed.
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