Blitzen Trapper: “Furr”

It’s difficult to imagine a better record label home for Blitzen Trapper than Sub Pop, a label known for taking indie rockers and giving them the platform they need to reach a bigger, wider audience– which seems to be exactly what the band is shooting for on their Sub Pop debut, Furr, an album that’s [...]

Tallest Man-ia

Gavin Breeden, friend of The Hurst Review, has added his voice to the chorus of praise for The Tallest Man on Earth and his tremendous full-length debut, Shallow Grave. The album is only available on American soil via iTunes download, so many critics have not yet discovered it, but those who have are uniform in [...]

On Repeat: Jolie Holland

Jolie Holland’s last album, Springtime Can Kill You, was one of the real gems of 2006, a bluesy and deeply moving set of parlor songs that blurred the lines between country, folk, and jazz, and, with lyrics littered with broken hearts and dreams, revealed itself over time to be a sophisticated and smart song cycle [...]

TV on the Radio Does Letterman

Put on those dancing choose:

Who’s the best actor turned singer of 2008?

Off the top of my head, I can think of three candidates.
The most obvious, of course, is Scarlett Johansson, who, if nothing else, shows impeccable taste on her debut record, Anywhere I Lay My Head, borrowing her material from the rich, deep Tom Waits canon and recruiting TV on the Radio’s David Sitek to produce. [...]

Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson: “Rattlin’ Bones”

Broken hearts, rattlin’ bones, the Devil on the prowl and demons dragging you down into Hell… listening to the songs on their first album together, one might be tempted to conclude that Kasey Chambers and husband Shane Nicholson have a pretty lousy home life. Then again, as sweetly as their voices compliment each other, it’s [...]

Out Today: TV on the Radio

Non-TVotR blogging will resume tomorrow. But today, a celebration is in order. With their latest record, Dear Science, TV on the Radio has created what is without question a major work, a landmark recording, and anyone who hears it will find it hard to deny that TV on the Radio has become– if they weren’t [...]

From the Hurst Vault: TV on the Radio, “Return to Cookie Mountain”

In honor of tomorrow’s release of TV on the Radio’s Dear Science, The Hurst Review is pleased to re-publish the review of the band’s last album, Return to Cookie Mountain, written and posted shortly after the record released in 2006. By all means, take this as an exhortation to familiarize yourself with the back catalog [...]

Wayne Brady: “A Long Time Coming”

It’s hard not to think of A Long Time Coming as both a culmination and a  brand new direction of Wayne Brady, TV comedian, singer, and all-around renaissance man. No, it isn’t a comedy album, though that may be the capacity in which most people know Brady, based on his work on the improv comedy [...]

Lindsey Buckingham: “Gift of Screws”

Not many artists deserve comparison to Brian Wilson, but, if ever there was one, surely it’s Lindsey Buckingham. Both mean, after all, as undisputed pop geniuses, channeling their own eccentricities and tortured madness into wonderfully melodic, accessible, and creative music. And, of course, both men eventually succumbed to the pressures of their own demanding muses; [...]