Tenacious D, Rize of the Fenix (Clean Version)

2012 | Label: Columbia

05.15.12 The album art for Tenacious D's latest is disgustingly appropriate — a veiny penis in the shape of a phoenix. So the theme here is that the Jack Black and Kyle Gass will rise from the ashes and do so with too many dick jokes. And that's what you should expect from a Tenacious D album — dick jokes, meta jokes about the band's career to date ("When The Pick of Destiny was released, it was a bomb/ and all the critics said that the D was done"), Dave Grohl on the drums, and of course, lots of acoustic metal. So while the content should be expected for a joke band's third album, for Tenacious D fans, this thing is… more »

Tenacious D, Rize of the Fenix

2012 | Label: Columbia

05.15.12 The album art for Tenacious D's latest is disgustingly appropriate — a veiny penis in the shape of a phoenix. So the theme here is that the Jack Black and Kyle Gass will rise from the ashes and do so with too many dick jokes. And that's what you should expect from a Tenacious D album — dick jokes, meta jokes about the band's career to date ("When The Pick of Destiny was released, it was a bomb/ and all the critics said that the D was done"), Dave Grohl on the drums, and of course, lots of acoustic metal. So while the content should be expected for a joke band's third album, for Tenacious D fans, this thing is… more »

Best Coast, The Only Place

2012 | Label: Mexican Summer

05.15.12 They can't all be California Gurls, but Bethany Cosentino has embodied the role as proudly as anyone this side of Katy Perry. Following a stint in New York, the Los Angeles native's debut album with multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno as Best Coast, 2010's Crazy for You, poured reverb on the Byrds' guitar jangle, the early Beach Boys' lovesickness, and '90s-indie-rock's frankness, resulting in dispensary-grade West Coast pop. The duo's equally brilliant follow-up, The Only Place, lies back on the same beach blanket, but moves to vastly more inclusive shores.

Quintessential L.A. musician-about-town Jon Brion imbues Best Coast's former fuzz with Fleetwood Mac's crystalline sheen, though the celebrated film composer's touch is lighter here than on his productions for Fiona Apple and Kanye West. The album is… more »

Willie Nelson, Heroes

2012 | Label: Legacy Recordings

05.15.12 With his 79th birthday behind him, Willie Nelson is pondering his mortality on Heroes. A duet with fellow septuagenarian Merle Haggard on ruminative opener "A Horse Called Music" examines memory and loss. And then follows a meditation on death, "Roll Me Up & Smoke Me When I Die," sung with Kris Kristofferson, Jamey Johnson and uh…Snoop Dogg?! OK, OK, so somber isn't Willie's way and Heroes shows he still has plenty of crackling guitar playing and cackling lyrical play left in him. "I ain't leaving, so don't sit around and cry," he says on this spry boot-scooter, as he and Snoop pass the chorus back and forth between them like a joi — uh…microphone. Two songs on, Willie notes "I… more »