Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE‘s eighth studio album, Kintsugi, will see the light of day March 31 and will be promoted by an extensive tour. The title comes from the Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics with precious metals, highlighting rather than hiding the cracks. Pretty metaphorical, right?
The first new concert video in seven years from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees DARYL HALL AND JOHN OATES comes out March 31. Live in Dublin includes 15 concert tracks plus and interview with Hall and Oates. Formats: Blu-ray, DVD+2CD, and digital.
Out this week: Comprehensive two-CD reissues of both studio albums by influential early-’90s power pop band JELLYFISH. Bellybutton and Spilt Milk have been remastered and bolstered with a total of 51 bonus tracks of demos, live versions, and miscellany.
Cello superduo 2CELLOS (Glee) will release a new album, Celloverse, on January 27, featuring their sizzling take on Avicii’s “Wake Me Up.”
Out this week in jazz: Swingin’ on the Korner, an archival, previously unissued 2 CD/3 LP release by legendary jazz pianist RED GARLAND from a December 1977 trio engagement with Philly Joe Jones and Leroy Vinnegar at San Francisco’s Keystone Korner. And next month, sax legend ART PEPPER‘s “Neon Art” LP series is coming to CD via Omnivore.
Out now: MARK RONSON‘s new album Uptown Special. The disc is much more than just the megahit “Uptown Funk” with Bruno Mars. For one thing, most of the album’s lyrics were written by bestselling novelist and Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon.
WIDESPREAD PANIC and SLIPKNOT have both announced tours. So has KATRINA LESKANICH of Katrina and the Waves (“Walking on Sunshine”) in support of her new solo album Blisland.
Also hitting the road in the coming months: NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS with a new album coming out March 3, SWANS, and HUGH MASEKELA AND VUSI MAHLASELA.
Marking the 150th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War, ANONYMOUS 4 has just released 1865, a collaboration with singer and multi-instrumentalist Bruce Molsky in which the legendary, (usually) a capella vocal group performs songs current in that year, including some still heard today, like “Shall We Gather at the River,” Stephen Foster’s “Hard Time Come Again No More,” and “Aura Lee” whose tune became Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender.”
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