GRAND OLE PARTY: HUMANIMALS (DH) *** Drummer Kristin Gundred's vocals are Grand Ole Party's immediate hook. She's got a strong and abrasive voice in the manner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O or The Gossip's Beth Ditto. ...more

February 14, 2008

SAUL WILLIAMS: THE INEVITABLE RISE AND LIBERATION OF NIGGY TARDUST (niggytardust.com) ***½ ...more

February 7, 2008

ERIC MATTHEWS: THE IMAGINATION STAGE (EMPYREAN) **½ Eric Matthews albums are frustrating affairs. His chamber-pop arrangements are never less than gorgeous but they tend to overwhelm his fragile melodies. His singing, a head-down whisper so low you suspect he doesn't wish to be overheard, doesn't help either. ...more

January 31, 2008

DION: SON OF SKIP JAMES (VERVE FORECAST) *** He's best known for doo-wop and streetwise, East Coast rock 'n' roll, but Dion DiMucci was brought up on blues, folk and country like all the early rockers. ...more

January 24, 2008

GHOSTFACE KILLAH: THE BIG DOE REHAB (DEF JAM) ** Ghostface Killah's 2006 release, "Fishscale," was rightly heralded as one of the great hip-hop albums of that year. The rhymes, beats and production combined to create an album with a cinematic flow; and if the story line covered familiar, drug-dealing territory, it was told with an attention to detail, honesty and, dare it be said, some sense of morality. ...more

January 17, 2008

JAMES TAYLOR: ONE MAN BAND (HEAR MUSIC) **½ In the realm of record releases, few things scream "sure shot" like a James Taylor live album. Really, you'd think he'd put these things out every other week, instead of just twice in a 40-year recording career. ...more

January 10, 2008

SERJ TANKIAN: ELECT THE DEAD (SERJICAL STRIKE /REPRISE) *** The voice is unmistakable, and the socio-political slant of the lyrics is present and accounted for. But System of a Down singer Serj Tankian's solo debut is no rehash of his band's signature sound. ...more

January 3, 2008

Curtis Ross's top 10 of 2007 ...more

December 27, 2007

THE HIVES: THE BLACK AND WHITE ALBUM (A&M/OCTONE) **½ Any garage-rock purists left in The Hives' audience will run scared and shrieking from "The Black and White Album," lashed by dance rhythms, drum loops, sequencers and all manner of concepts invented after 1966. ...more

December 27, 2007

THE FIERY FURNACES: WIDOW CITY (THRILL JOCKEY) ** Repeat an original idea enough times and it becomes formula. Formula becomes shtick, and even good shtick gets old after a while. Fiery Furnaces hit that particular wall on the duo's fifth album. ...more

December 20, 2007