All week long we’ve been counting down our staff’s picks for the best albums of 2012. Today, on one of the last workdays of the year, we reveal the top of our list. When Hidden Track was started in 2006 there were plenty of sites dedicated to indie rock and a slew of sites devoted to improvisational and classic rock bands, but few blogs (and bands for that matter) bridged the gap between the forms. That’s where we came in and five years later the results of our [...]
I know I waxed philosophical about the value of an album as a whole earlier this week but don't get me wrong- I treasure my iPod and it is jam packed with playlists with every theme under the sun. Including a "Best of..." for 2012. Here is the ten I've chosen from that ...pretty extensive list that has soundtracked my year. Melanie and Barlow contributed ten of their carefully cultivated choices each to help round it out and here's our official Best Tracks of 2012 . [Tiffiny] Apologies, I Have None - The [...]
Now that I've run down my 50 favorite songs of the year, it's time to move onto my Top 25 Albums of 2012 . I easily could have listed 50 here, too, but I realized that half of those would have been albums that I only listen to when I'm in a particular mood. In other words, they're not immediately accessible, and that to me knocks them down a notch. So, if you're looking for 25 releases that you can immediately dive into and love, this is the place to be. Enjoy. [...]
It was past 10 o’clock once Alabama Shakes hit the stage. The crowd had been waiting for over half an hour, bobbing around to what seemed like the entire Zeppelin discography, and getting a little restless, wondering if Brittany was about to pull a Madonna and show up two hours late. But once the band took to the stage, all of that was forgotten and forgiven. The Alabama Shakes started out their set with songs from Boys & Girls , their first album released last April. Their two arguably most popular [...]
Alabama Shakes are fresh off their release of their debut album Boys and Girls, and are continuing to deliver from the album. The band recently debut their newest video for single "I Ain't The Same' which can be seen below. The video was directed by Jane Pollard, and features the band playing in London's Konk Studios.
One of the best parts of a live show is hearing the ways a band rearranges their songs for the stage. Slight kinks in the guitars and alterations to the rhythms can enhance the experience as well as give new life to a recorded track that's been played countless times on repeat. The Alabama Shakes took that approach with their first video, using an alternate arrangement for "Hold On" that stemmed from a prior appearance on KEXP, and have continued this trend with "I Ain't The Same." The Alabama Shakes are phenomenal live, and have [...]
Four weeks from tomorrow, the summer’s best music festival kicks off in Chicago’s Grant Park, the home of Lollapalooza since 2005. Over the course of the weekend, 139 artists are scheduled to perform on 7 stages for an expected 90,000 music lovers per day. I will be among the sweaty masses, and in preparation I’ve been combing through the line-up. Here’s an early look at 10 of the artists I’m excited about, some of whom are on major labels, some who aren't; some who have been around for decades, others who weren't alive when the veterans first picked [...]
Alabama Shakes is potentially one of the coolest bands making a very splashy debut in 2012. They channel the dirty, gritty South, the vocals are charged and raw, and their sound itself is simple but intensely memorable. Reminiscent of The Walkmen’s album EVERYONE WHO PRETENDED TO LIKE US IS GONE, but simultaneously their very own special sound, Alabama Shakes is a foursome to keep your ears pricked for. Here is the official video for their single “Hold On” which is the premiere track on their debut album BOYS & GIRLS.
Alabama Shakes Boys & Girls ATO Records 10/Abr/2012 "Una joya atemporal" Alabama Shakes se ha convertido en todo una revelación este 2012, amados y al mismo tiempo odiados por sus detractores quienes los critican fuertemente por robar el estilo antiguo que los hace merecedores de su atención. Sin embargo, no se puede negar que irónicamente [...]
Learn who the Alabama Shakes are now; you'll only be hearing more about them in the coming months. Read more »
Posted in General Clickable Something For The Weekend Just under 3 weeks 'til these Alabama cats shake The Academy 2, and I can't wait! Singer Brittany Howard's voice is solid soul, but also shifting soul, from Aretha to James Brown to Janis Joplin. Their just released debut Boys and Girls is going down a storm and their live shows are among the most talked [...]
I'm From Barcelona , Of Montreal , and Beirut are all named after places, but none of them are actually from those places. The Alabama Shakes, on the other hand, are from Alabama and they've been making some pretty big splashes in the music world the last couple of months. Much like the Black Keys , this band seems to be paying homage to a genre that is slowly becoming forgotten in the mainstream - god damn, plain n' simple rock n' roll. For their latest single, "Hold On", lead singer, Brittany Howard and [...]
Alabama Shakes Boys and Girls ATO Records Don't you hate it when you're reading a review of a hot new band, like let's say, this one by the throwback, soul-shaking rock band, Alabama Shakes, for example, and the reviewer does that classic reviewer dick move and instead of dealing with the album at hand says something along the lines of, "Why bother with Alabama Shakes when you could be listening to other better bands like Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, The Dirtbombs, The Detroit Cobras or Heartless Bastards? Have you [...]
We featured Alabama Shakes as “Ones To Watch” back in January of this year, and really we were hardly pioneers for doing so: Alabama Shakes have been on a blistering run of live shows, starting with a breakout performance at CMJ last year and carrying on right up to SXSW last month, that has put them on pretty much everyone’s watch list. Well, now “Boys & Girls” is here, and the whole world can hear the soulful blues rock [or should that be bluesy soul?] that has previously [...]
Highly touted down-and-dirty blues n' soul band Alabama Shakes turns the sweat and heat quotient up to eleven on their raucous, highly-anticipated debut album Boys and Girls (April 10, ATO) . At the ripe old age of 23, powerhouse frontwoman Brittany Howard displays remarkably gritty old soul cred as she alternately storms and caresses her way through the album's dozen roadhouse-ready tracks, from the slow grinding lead track "Hold On" to the Memphis-styled R+B of "Ain't the Same" and "I Found You." The core of the band -- Howard, guitarist Heath [...]
[The Lookahead is a monthly segment where we get to be all newsy and point out cool stuff going down in the next 30 days or so. We'll have cool Pittsburgh music shows and events, local album releases, and some national releases of interest. This is the good stuff we've heard about. Come back on the 1st of each month for more!] Earlier today, we shared some upcoming Pittsburgh events and releases, and now it's time for part two: all the [...]
Brittany Howard & Co. unleash the official visual for their forthcoming debut LP's lead single.
Depois de boas apresentações em talk shows americanos e uma grande expectativa ao redor de Boys and Girls , chegou a hora de conferir o debut completo do Alabama Shakes . O lançamento oficial do disco acontece só no dia 09 de abril, mas o site da rádio NPR já disponibilizou o disco nessa segunda-feira na íntegra para audição. Com um conjunto bem trabalho de harmonia, letras e uma postura confiante, a banda entrega uma mistura de soul, blues e rock num trabalho digno mesmo de elogios. Vale, e muito, você conferir.
Debut LP now streaming in full.
"It's when they grasp for the rockier blues terrain that Boys & Girls is at its most thrilling..." Alabama Shakes | Boys & Girls Hold On , the opening track and first single from Athens four-piece the Alabama Shakes' debut long player, was first sketched out and worked up on-stage in the middle of a live show last year. It makes for a gloriously restrained beginning, with a laid-back strut to the melodic chime of Heath Fogg's guitar and the impeccable rhythm section of bassist Zac Cockrell and drummer Steve Johnson. They [...]
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