Sharon Jones – Give The People What They Want
Most of the songs on Give the People What They Want clock in at a brisk three minutes, and album standout, “Now I See,” is no exception. The song is introduced with Memphis-style horns and a wickedly sly blues-based riff that slowly snakes along just long enough for Jones’ bruised lyrics to convert the track from lamentation to personal transformation. When Jones sings, “Now I see what you want to be / You Want to Take it All Away From Me,” her realization is buoyed by the band’s driving rhythm. She continues, “Once a friend, now an enemy,” in an act of declaration. Read the full review on Pretty Much Amazing
Bruce Springsteen – High Hopes
High Hopes is not going to shock anyone, but it is Springsteen’s most vital-sounding set since The Seeger Sessions. And it’s probably not a coincidence that it marks the biggest departure from his standard modus operandi since that record – it’s substantially free of regular producer Brendan O’Brian; with three covers, it’s even partially free of Bruce’s own songwriting; it introduces the (very) erstwhile Rage Against the Machine axeman Tom Morello as a collaborator to surprisingly strong effect (a bunch of the songs were recorded during a week off on last year’s Wrecking Ball tour, when Morello was standing in as lead E Street Band guitarist); and conversely it gains a populist, fan friendly edge by revisiting a clutch of Springsteen’s most beloved ‘recent’ songs. Read the full review on Drowned In Sound
Stephen Malkmus – Wig out at Jagbags
The title is quintessentially Stephen Malkmus — a conflation of two slang terms, one dating back to the hazed-out ’60s, the other a vulgar remnant of modernity — and, as it happens, Wig Out at Jagbags also sounds quintessentially Malkmusian. It’s elastic guitar rock constructed partially out of cannabis guitar jams and partially out of punk rock squalls, both sides distinguished by wry melodicism and dexterous wordplay, not to mention Malkmus’ lingering tendency to hide his accessible inclinations under sheets of six-strings. Read the full review on AllMusic