Fitz and the Tantrums, More Than Just a Dream (Deluxe)

2013 | Label: Elektra (NEK)

By Barry Walters eMusic Contributor

05.09.13 The least authentic period-faithful of the recent soul revivalists — but also among the most spirited in performance — L.A.’s Fitz and the Tantrums, like their name implies, wholeheartedly embrace vintage R&B’s explosive energy. Lead vocalist Michael Fitzpatrick and similarly fiery background singer Noelle Scaggs achieve pop-soul alchemy, and for their second album, the group partners with fellow Los Angeleno Tony Hoffer for broader, more contemporary, studio-savvy strokes that suggest what fun.’s Some Nights might’ve sounded like had Janelle Monáe had sung on more than just “We Are Young.”

Although Hoffer… more »

Fitz and the Tantrums, More Than Just a Dream

2013 | Label: Elektra (NEK)

By Barry Walters eMusic Contributor

05.09.13 The least authentic period-faithful of the recent soul revivalists — but also among the most spirited in performance — L.A.’s Fitz and the Tantrums, like their name implies, wholeheartedly embrace vintage R&B’s explosive energy. Lead vocalist Michael Fitzpatrick and similarly fiery background singer Noelle Scaggs achieve pop-soul alchemy, and for their second album, the group partners with fellow Los Angeleno Tony Hoffer for broader, more contemporary, studio-savvy strokes that suggest what fun.’s Some Nights might’ve sounded like had Janelle Monáe had sung on more than just “We Are Young.”

Although Hoffer… more »

Public Service Broadcasting, Inform – Educate – Entertain

2013 | Label: Test Card Recordings / Believe Digital

By Victoria Segal eMusic Contributor

05.07.13 Bumping the idea of “retro” away from the over-mined ’60s and ’70s, London duo J. Willgoose Esq and Wrigglesworth, the quaintly named men behind Public Service Broadcasting, explore the time frame between the Blitz and the Coronation, evoking a world of ration books, camp coffee and black market silk stockings. Their make-do-and-mend approach to music comes from their victorious digging through the archives, salvaging scraps of public information films, news reel and propaganda and pairing them with some thoroughly modern music. There’s no smirking kitsch, here, however: These songs are… more »

Talib Kweli, Prisoner of Conscious

2013 | Label: Javotti Media

By Christina Lee eMusic Contributor

05.07.13 In 1998, Talib Kweli said, “Every day someone ask me, ‘Where all the real MCs at?’/ They underground.” He was proudly pinpointing a shift in hip-hop’s values, how mainstream rappers wanted to be Hugh Hefner while those primarily concerned with artistry were netting only cult appeal. In subsequent releases however, Kweli endured criticism as he tried catchier hooks and wove pop culture references into his lyrics. He epitomized “conscious rap,” but he also struggled to stay within its confines.

So on his fifth LP, Prisoner of Conscious, Kweli raps to music… more »