Page Text: AllMusic (Posts tagged allmusic staff picks)
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A truly enchanting compilation of solo piano pieces by Ethiopian nun and composer Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou. Captured in the 1960s and ‘70s, her peculiar amalgam of blues, jazz, and classical is deeply poignant, yet effortlessly breezy.
- Timothy Monger
Synthetica
Following their star-making breakthrough Fantasies, the Canadian indie crew delivered another near-perfect set for the masses. With even more polish and depth, the band shines with catchy nuggets like the glam-stomper “Youth Without Youth,” the frantic “Speed the Collapse,” and the buzzing, Strokes-y “Synthetica.” Lou Reed even pops up on “The Wanderlust.” Yet it’s the gorgeous, U2-sized “Breathing Underwater” that steals the show and reveals their massive ambitions.
- Neil Z. Yeung
You Turn Me On!/Mod, Mod Music Hall
Ian Whitcomb was briefly a rock star after scoring a Top Ten hit with 1965’s engagingly silly “You Turn Me On,” before he devoted most of his career to documenting ragtime, vaudeville, and music hall tunes of the past. This two-fer reissue of his first two albums captures both sides of his musical persona, and it’s a fun introduction of one of the most unusual one-hit-wonders of the 1960s.
- Mark Deming
Go Insane
A wild ride of vivid, nervy pop, Lindsey Buckingham’s second solo outing could almost be seen as a lab demonstration for the then-cutting edge Fairlight CMI synthesizer; its kooky sounds and samples are liberally slathered across nearly every track. But, for those who love his intensity, the sound of Linsdey being Lindsey in a lab sells itself.
- Timothy Monger
Glee: The Music, Vol. 1
Sometimes, covers are just as good as or even better than the original, as proven by the musical comedy-drama series Glee. The first album from a sequence of soundtracks documenting songs sung by the cast, Glee: The Music, Vol. 1 journeys through multiple defining musical eras by fusing nearly four decades of music into one. The show’s high school setting adds a youthful, revitalizing dimension to each number, making “songs for old people” more appealing for young'uns.
- Lucy Mao
Dressed to Kill
Though Kiss finally broke through to mainstream success by replicating the excitement of their live show on 1975’s Alive!, their songwriting chops began coming into their own on Dressed to Kill. Still overflowing with hard rock sleaze and puffed up tales of debauchery, the production was better than their first two hastily-made albums, and the pop edge that would eventually land them platinum sales was coming into view.
- Fred Thomas
Mosquito
Their highest-charting release without the sales to match, this might be the “forgotten” YYYs album. Packed with deep cuts, this sometimes uneven mood piece is as creepy as the title suggests, a subterranean exploration through lo-fi atmospherics, haunting grooves, and a killer Dr. Octagon verse. While it might not have made as big an impact in 2013, it has aged extremely well and pairs nicely with Show Your Bones.
- Neil Z. Yeung
To Hell With It
PinkPantheress writes brief, heartfelt songs somewhere in between bedroom pop and alt-R&B, set to beats which draw heavily from turn-of-the-century drum'n'bass and U.K. garage. Her debut mixtape is all of 18 minutes (and that’s including a bonus track, which samples Adam F’s classic “Circles”), and while it seems like a set of preview clips on first listen, the songs quickly prove to be highly addictive, and before long listening to it five times in a row isn’t enough. Hey!
- Paul Simpson