Email Author Andrew Stout

2008 Stories by Andrew Stout

• Britney Spears

  published December 17, 2008

  In pop music, audacity pays the bills. Britney Spears knows that much, but her reach is often more awkward than it is effective. Take "If U... More >>

• E-40

  published December 10, 2008

  For an artist who stakes his style on all things kinetic and "flamboastin'," E-40's new album — his first since hyphy's high tide two... More >>

• Beyoncé

  published November 26, 2008

  From petulance ("Bills, Bills, Bills") to spite ("Survivor"), a large part of Destiny's Child's appeal was the ability to stamp a singular... More >>

• Lost albums that should remain lost

  published November 26, 2008

  While Guns N' Roses devotees greeted Chinese Democracy's release with euphoria on Nov. 23, the mood away from party central was... More >>

• In its search for lasting love, rock lost its libido

  published November 5, 2008

  Who put the "roll" in rock 'n' roll? Bo Diddley? The Marquis de Sade? I dunno. But I do know who gutted it: Keane, Snow Patrol, and other... More >>

• The Golden Age of TV on the Radio

  published November 5, 2008

  Four albums into its haphazard career, TV on the Radio arrived as a cohesive unit with Dear Science. On the new album, the... More >>

• Lykke Li learns to love

  published October 29, 2008

  By the time Swedish chanteuse Lykke Li entered the studio to make her first album, she'd spent half her life fantasizing about it. The music... More >>

• Club Collector

  published October 29, 2008

  Since he hit the scene five years ago, Philly-based tastemaker Diplo has been instrumental in the rise of two of this decade's defining... More >>

• Tina Turner

  published October 15, 2008

  With her sultry voice, Tina Turner could literally phone in a performance and still set the night ablaze. But a show-stopping turn at... More >>

• Kim Gordon continues a New York tradition

  published September 24, 2008

  Kim Gordon personifies New York cool so completely that fans often forget she is a Los Angeles transplant. But in 1979, when the future Sonic... More >>

• Shoegaze dimmed My Bloody Valentine's brilliance

  published September 24, 2008

  Even before the band fell off the face of the Earth in the early '90s, My Bloody Valentine was a legend in the making. Now a reunion tour gives... More >>

• Bad Seeds bloom

  published September 17, 2008

  With the Birthday Party, Nick Cave emerged as goth's most literary frontman. Since that Aussie cult band's split in 1984, Cave has cornered the... More >>

• Daedelus

  published September 3, 2008

  On Love to Make Music To, Daedelus' point of departure is the early '90s – specifically, rave culture's big awakening and the last... More >>

• Stereolab

  published August 20, 2008

  In the '90s, Stereolab albums were charming junkshops selling rock history's neglected treasures, mainly '60s French pop and '70s Krautrock.... More >>

• Lindstrøm

  published August 13, 2008

  Norway's Hans-Peter Lindstrøm has steadily built his reputation on a handful of neo-disco 12-inches and remixes for the likes of Franz... More >>

• Ratatat

  published July 9, 2008

  True to guitarist Evan Mast's side career as a graphic designer, Ratatat's instrumental pop owes as much to the Photoshop ethic as it does to... More >>

• Times New Viking continues Ohio's history of sonic unrest

  published June 11, 2008

  Call it cabin fever — or basement fatigue — but in the Midwest, musical eccentrics are prone to surliness. A recent example is... More >>