http://www.carnapple.com Music Reviews Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:54:16 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Following in the wake of singer-songwriter successes with the likes of John Mayer, Howie Day and Jason Mraz, (and seminal successes of Josh Kelley and Matt Nathanson), Columbia Records signed journeyman Ari Hest to a record deal.   Columbia immediately went into production to transform this talented singer into radio friendly ... http://www.carnapple.com/cd-reviews/ari-hest-someone-to-tell.html The Alchemist first made some serious noise and gained critical acclaim as a producer with his work on Mobb Deep albums. “The Realest” featuring Kool G Rap on Mobb Deep’s Murda Muzik was a classic beat that became a classic song. The Alchemist soon began doing production for Infamous Mobb, ... http://www.carnapple.com/cd-reviews/the-alchemist-1st-infantry.html After the release of Brian Wilson's Smile (for which fans had to endure a near thirty-year wait) one might think all musical Holy Grail had finally been reissued, that the vaults had finally been cleared of all hidden treasures. Wrong. The music fans at Columbia Records have gone ahead and ... http://www.carnapple.com/cd-reviews/little-richard-get-down-with-it-the-okeh-sessions.html With a name that generates more porn site hits than legitimate musical information in your favorite search engine, Brazilian Girls are definitely not what you’d expect.  For starters, they’re not Brazilian, and only one of them is a girl.  Their music is not easily classifiable and tends to borrow from ... http://www.carnapple.com/cd-reviews/brazilian-girls-self-titled.html Unfortunately for Scott ‘Prefuse73’ Herren, although his latest opus Surrounded By Silence is released on Warp – one of my favourite labels and one that I usually could fill pages and pages of review space with information on – I approach this review with knowledge of his work being slim-to-none; ... http://www.carnapple.com/cd-reviews/prefuse-73-surrounded-by-silence.html Do you know any people like this?  “I hate synthesizers.  I only like music played by real instruments.”  "Real" instruments indeed.  You should forgive such people.  After all, in high school, I used to have this “I only listen to classic rock” attitude too.  Then I heard Aphex Twin, and ... http://www.carnapple.com/cd-reviews/laurent-garnier-the-cloud-making-machine.html I’m not sure whether to smile or tremble in fear while listening to Keren Ann’s Not Going Anywhere.  Somewhere out of a Grimm’s fairytale comes this creepy, yet foreignly beautiful illustration as this bewitching singer/songwriter composes her dreamy collection of French pop pinched with a dash of ballroom folk for ... http://www.carnapple.com/cd-reviews/keren-ann-not-going-anywhere.html All of the writers that join CDReviews.com eventually experience the roller coaster ride that comes from the highs and lows of receiving promotional albums.  At the beginning, you invariably latch on to the first few decent albums that come your way.  After you listen for weeks and carefully create the ... http://www.carnapple.com/cd-reviews/jen-woodhouse-this-honest-age.html Stephanie Says is an appropriate moniker for English born, Minneapolis based singer-songwriter Stephanie Winter, formerly of the Legendary Jim Ruiz Group. It’s not just because of the obvious inclusion of her first name, but it’s also the title of a song by the Velvet Underground who had a close affiliation ... http://www.carnapple.com/cd-reviews/stephanie-says-sex-socialism-seaside.html The aspect of Audiobulb Records that instantly manifests in my mind upon thinking of the label is the fact that they refused to release my humble attempt at electronica. Helpfully, they pointed out that ‘I didn’t feature in the direction they wanted to take the label’ – of course, I ... http://www.carnapple.com/cd-reviews/intricate-maximals-va.html