“The Terror" is, we know now, that even without love, life goes on... there is no mercy killing,” lead singer of The Flaming Lips Wayne Coyne said once in an interview.
“You wanna raise your voice / Don’t be scared to breathe / Don’t be afraid to hurt / Don’t be ashamed in me,” Jon Bon Jovi sings straightforwardly in the title track off of his band’s twelfth album.
Choosing a favorite Mariah Carey song is a doozy (after all, she’s been around since before Britney and has a repertoire to match), but mine would have to be the 1996 winner “Always Be My Baby.” Maybe it has to do with that instantly identifiable opening guitar strum, but “Always Be My Baby” is one of those songs that everyone can recognize, but not everyone can name.
Cue the eye roll when you hear everyone’s favorite slightly emo, girl power indie band has turned the synthpop route...just like everyone else, it seems, and to mixed effect.
To fans of underground hip hop, College Junior Ikechi Nnamani is better known as kechPhrase. A self-made rapper and producer on a first-name basis with Victor Vasquez, a.k.a. Kool A.D. of Das Racist, kechPhrase has been at it since he was thirteen. He’s dropped seven albums since. He took a homework break to talk to us.
Calvin Harris has got the formula down with his newest album, “18 Months.” The Scottish DJ’s catchy electro beats have high energy and low experimentation, but they clearly work based on the popularity of two familiar tracks, “Feel So Close” and the Rihanna hit, “We Found Love,” both of which aren’t by any definition new — but they appear on the album anyway.
Before Ben Affleck was a serious, hard–hitting director of movies based on true stories (and before he had adorable Jennifer Garner–babies), he was that guy who accompanied J.