Kelsey went with the female-lead theme on this playlist. Some new, some old, but all the ladies run the show!
Pitched somewhere between the retro-purist vibe of Sharon Jonesand the nervy revivalism of Jack White, Alabama Shakes possesses a curious character: they’re rooted in the past but it’s clear they’ve learned their moves musicians removed some three or four generations from the source. Instead of playing like refractions from a hall of mirrors, Alabama Shakes’ 2012 debut Boys & Girls emphasizes how American roots music is now grounded in the ’60s notion of blues & soul, all filtered through the prism of ’70s classic rock. And it’s not just that Heath Fogg tears great, gnarled riffs out of his guitar while the rhythm section of Zac Cockrell and Steve Johnson hit the downbeat with a brutal force — lead singer Brittany Howard phrases like a rock singer, playing up vocal affections with glee, ratcheting up the drama by laying hard into her elongated phrases.- All Music Guide
Be Easy/Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Sharon Jones, the big-voiced lead singer of the Dap-Kings — a band that recently began making its name known outside those enthusiasts of the Daptone label and the reaches of the soul community thanks to appearances with Amy Winehouse and work for Mark Ronson, including a version of Dylan’s “Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)” — is no music-world neophyte. 100 Days, 100 Nights is just her third full-length with the Dap-Kings, but Jones has been singing on and off since the 1970s, without much of a break until she began working with her current label. Meaning, she’s certainly paid her dues, and she has enough life experience behind her voice to make the words she sings sound that much truer. – All Music Guide
The album is a continuation of Bush’s multi-layered and multiple musical pursuits and interests. If not her strongest work — a number of songs sound okay without being particularly stellar, especially given Bush’s past heights — Red Shoes is still an enjoyable listen with a number of diversions. Opening song “Rubberband Girl” is actually one of her strongest singles in years, a big and punchy song served well with a horn section, though slightly let down by the stiff percussion. “Eat the Music,” another smart choice for a single, mixes calypso and other Caribbean musical touches with a great, classically Kate Bush lyric mixing up sexuality, romance, and various earthy food-based metaphors. – All Music Guide
Dirty Paws/ Of Monsters and Men
Of Monsters and Men’s 2012 full-length debut, My Head is an Animal, features more of the Icelandic band’s acoustic-driven alt-rock featured on their 2011 EP Into the Woods. Showcasing the dual singer/guitarist/songwriters Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttirand and Ragnar Pórhalsson, the album also displays the six-piece ensemble’s grand and anthemic style with a bent toward passionate folk-rock uplift and more layered, introspective moments. In that sense, the band brings to mind the work of such similarly inclined contemporaries as Arcade Fire, Angus & Julia Stone and Mumford & Sons. – All Music Guide
The Re-Arranger/ Mates of State
Giving a record a title like Re-Arrange Us might imply some kind of shift in sound or approach but on Mates of State album of that title, there is nothing of the sort taking place. In fact, the album continues along the path the band has plotted out over their last couple releases with more piano and less organ, a glossy, slick feel that’s radio ready and super-hooky tunes that are both sing-along friendly and emotionally powerful. “Help Help,” with its ’80s synths and fuzzed organ; “My Only Offer,” with a majestic piano part and beautiful vocals from Kori Gardner; and the positively exuberant “Jigsaw” are the kind of songs indie rock bands would kill for. Gardnerand Jason Hammelare becoming adept at creating big, shiny records with a real-life heart beating beneath. -All Music Guide
Maybe it’s just the preponderance of piano in her music, but Regina Spektor sounds more like a traditional singer/songwriter (in the best sense of that phrase) than her anti-folk contemporaries. A few of Soviet Kitsch’s songs, like “Poor Little Rich Boy,” concentrate on the childlike, mischievous side of Spektor’s sound that puts her in the love-it-or-hate-it category for some listeners. Still, Spektor is an engaging performer throughout the album, and despite her arty quirks, she’s never pretentious. She originally self-released Soviet Kitsch nearly two years before Sire released it, so it’ll be interesting to hear what she does next. -All Music Guide
That Phone/ Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
This self-titled set is very polished — from cover photo to last note, it’s designed to scale the Billboard charts — yet it offers a representative showcase of the band’s strengths. And while it doesn’t come off as spontaneously as their live gigs, it’s not supposed to. The glammed-up Nocturnals are still a tough, few-frills rock band, and despite his pedigree, Batson — who co-wrote six of 13 songs with Potter here — gets that. The mid-tempo numbers — the soul-drenched “That Phone” and the blazing “Only Love,” with its infectious bass line and distorted guitars — work to fine effect. In sum, this the most representative outing from Grace Potter & the Nocturnals to date, and displays, however slickly, a heady quotient of strut, crackle, and groove. – All Music Guide
With Metals , Feist responds to the surprise success of 2007’s The Reminder with a whisper, not a bang. She treads lightly through a series of disjointed torch songs and smoky pop/rock numbers, singing most of the songs in a soft, gauzy alto, as though she’s afraid of waking some sort of slumbering beast. Whenever the tempo picks up, so does Feist’s desire to keep things weird, with songs like “A Commotion” pitting pizzicato strings against a half-chanted, half-shouted refrain performed by an army of male singers. But Metals does its best work at a slower speed, where Feist can stretch her vocals across finger plucked guitar arpeggios and piano chords like cotton. – All Music Guide
Having consolidated their strengths with All Hands on the Bad One, Sleater Kinney revived the ambition of The Hot Rockon their sixth album, One Beat. John Goodmanson gives the group its cleanest-sounding production to date, which brings out all the new trappings in the ever more sophisticated arrangements. Carrie Brownstein’s vocals can be a bit precious at times, and the pointed 9/11 observations make the occasional feminist sloganeering sound like nothing the group hasn’t done better elsewhere. But if you’re already on board with their idiosyncrasies, One Beat is another triumph from a band that seems to produce them with startling regularity. -All Music Guide
King of the World/ First Aid Kit
Described as the Swedish answer to the Pieces, sisters Johanna and Klara Soderberg,aka First Aid Kit,blend autumnal folk and wistful ’60s Americana, and have gathered a pretty illustrious following since their cover version of Fleet Foxes’ “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” became a YouTube hit back in 2008. The medieval-tinged opening title track and the infectious hand claps and mariachi horns on “King of the World,” the latter of which features guest appearances from Conor Oberstand the Felice Brothers, are convincing forays into rousing nu-folk, while it’s impossible not to be charmed by the low-key dreaminess of “In the Hearts of Men” and the campfire singalong of “This Old Routine,” both of which bear the hallmarks of the long Scandinavian dark winters.-All Music Guide
Never content to stay in one musical place for very long, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs take their restlessness to the limit on It’s Blitz!– and wind up making some of their most contented-sounding songs. As if to prove one more time that they’re not just the architects of New York’s early-2000s rock renaissance, Karen O, Nick Zinner and Brian Chase strip away the guitars and explosive dynamics of their early work even more thoroughly here than they did on Show Your Bones. The serenity in It’s Blitz’s ballads feels worlds apart from Show Your Bones in a much less obvious way than the album’s outbursts. But between the violently happy songs and the softer ones, this is some of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ most balanced and cohesive music.-All Music Guide
Only if for a night/ Florence + the Machine
2011’s Ceremonials, which found Florence + the Machine expanding on their already expansive sound, helped to further propel the ghostly Brit into the spotlight, and on MTV Unplugged, she’s come full circle, allowing fans a peek into the bombast while providing the aging, acoustic show with a little defibrillation. Mid-tempo tracks like “Only If for a Night,” “No Light, No Light,” and “What the Water Gave Me,” the latter of which finds Florence Welch in full control of the room by the song’s second half, are soulful, spooky, and bold, allowing room for both Welch and her machine to strut their stuff without sounding like a murder of caged crows.-All Music Guide
Under the Blacklight, Rilo Kiley’s 2007 major-label debut, is surely designed as the Los Angeles quartet’s entry into the big leagues, the album that makes them cross over to a mass audience — or perhaps it’s just meant to make their now de facto leader, Jenny Lewis, cross over, since it plays as a sequel to her 2006 solo stab, Rabbit Fur Coat, as much as it plays as the successor to 2004’s More Adventurous, putting the former child right out front, bathing in the spotlight. Lewis, sings lead, confirming that he’s now firmly in a subservient role to his former paramour, who dominates this record the way Natalie Merchant used to rule 10,000 Maniacs, leaving the impression that the band is now merely her support group. -All Music Guide
Posted by arts 
BiblioPod 