The Nevada Sagebrush » Album Reviews

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| Dec. 9, 2008

The end of another year is upon us, and it’s time to say goodbye to 2008. It’s been a rough year for sure, but I think we need to take a moment to reflect. I want to highlight some of the good things that went down this year: I want to talk about awesome records. We’ve had a bunch of them, and a lot of them came out of nowhere.

Belated album very weird

By: Casey O'Lear

Beyoncé reveals alter-ego in ‘Sasha Fierce’

| Dec. 2, 2008

Guns N’ Roses fans — provided they didn’t lose consciousness years ago — can stop holding their breath. The band, which has only one remaining original member (lead singer Axl Rose), finally released its monumentally anticipated album “Chinese Democracy” Nov. 23, silencing a worldwide running joke once and for all.

Breaking hearts and blowing minds

By: Julian Rhodes

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| Dec. 2, 2008

With “808s & Heartbreak,” West channels the spirit of 80s new wave with pop synths and 12 songs about nothing but love. Along with abandoning his soul grooves of the past, West also left rapping in the dust on this one. Borrowing a trick from past collaborator T-Pain, West sings all of his lyrics with a vocoder, for an otherworldly, robotic voice effect. And what a strange world it is, for with only a single sample, West pulled all the stops out on this one.

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| Nov. 25, 2008

There’s something about Beyoncé’s powerful voice that grabs you and gives you chills from head to toe. She has grown as an artist since her days singing with her girl group Destiny’s Child. Now, her songs show her maturity as an artist. Her recently-released album “I Am…Sasha Fierce” is a two disc set with six heartfelt ballads on the first disc and five upbeat, sassy tracks on the second.

Angsty EP fails to break bland boundary

Rock gods must be conspiring against this band

| Nov. 25, 2008

Sometimes life just isn’t fair. Sometimes you find yourself wondering what could have been. Sometimes you hear a band like The King Left and you think, “Man, these dudes really should have been on the ‘Twilight’ soundtrack. They’d fit right in with all of the other angsty tween alt-rock on there. They could have been huge!”

T-Pain’s ‘Thr33 Ringz’ gets two thumbs up

| Nov. 18, 2008

The (International) Noise Conspiracy is a bar band, the kind of thing you’d try to ignore while making your way to the diner in a locals-only casino at two in the morning.

This band is terrible and they never would have made it this far if singer Dennis Lyxzen hadn’t been in one of the best hardcore bands ever: The Refused.

| Nov. 18, 2008

T-Pain’s synthesized trance-like voice can be heard as an accent to almost any hip-hop artist’s song on the radio. But with T-Pain’s album “THR33 RINGZ,” he proves that he is more than a sideshow used to put a little “ooh la la” in another artist’s song.

‘Heart Burns’ worth a listen

By: Casey O'Lear

Gabel sacrifices too much in search for new sound

| Nov. 11, 2008

Ever the political activist, Against Me! frontman Tom Gabel was able to release his first solo EP, “Heart Burns,” just in time to make a few derisive final comments about the presidential election.
Alas, it seems as though this solo project will be about as well-received by Against Me! fans as was the commercial success of 2007’s “New Wave”— not very. This is unfortunate because it’s actually pretty good.

| Nov. 11, 2008

Tom Gabel bummed out a lot of people with Against Me!’s last record, “New Wave.” The shiny production, the arena-sized choruses and the major label money just took a lot out of the band’s anarchistic ethos. It’s true that things change as people get older and that even seasoned punks need to make a little cash, but it was hard for long-time fans not to scream “sell-out” as they took that one in.

A different kind of ‘Gang’-sta rap

| Nov. 4, 2008

I’ll be honest, when I first heard about Gang Gang Dance a few years back, I wrote them off as some hip NYC dance/ punk band a la CHK CHK CHK. I’d never actually heard them, but there was a rash of those bands at the time and their name seemed suspect enough so I passed. Holy crap, was I wrong.

Should have kept ‘The Vault’ shut

Local hip-hop act impresses with a throwback feel

| Oct. 20, 2008

The newest album from Ashanti contains a few gems, but fails to outshine her previous albums. “The Vault” has 12 unreleased songs she recorded in 2001.

| Sep. 30, 2008

Bringing liberation to the underground hip-hop scene, Canto I’s album “While You Were Sleeping” showcases lyrical flare while discussing real life issues. Canto I offers a break from the mainstream hip-hop beats and messages.

Music and politics

By: Janet Lee

| Sep. 30, 2008

The first thing you notice when you sit down to unwrap “Radio Retaliation” is the organic casing. The CD is wrapped in primitive paper covered with bold artwork that will have you reading the lyrics the entire time the music is playing.

Deerhoof tread softly

By: Van Pham