Blend (album)

Blend is the BoDeans sixth studio album, and was released in 1996. It peaked at number 132 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Overview

After the band achieved fame and a new audience with '"Closer to Free", they resisted the pressure to duplicate the single's success and wanted to avoid rehashing the same formula. Like Go Slow Down, the band chose to record their next album at Hacksville, their studio in a rented storefront, and self-produced the album with the assistance of producer/engineer Greg Goldman. Recording took place over a two-year period during the time in between tours. Bob Clearmountain was hired to mix "The Understanding" and "Hurt By Love", while Tchad Blake mixed the uptempo "Hey Pretty Girl". The result was a more rock-oriented sound than their previous album, though it continued along a similar direction.

Reception

Despite not matching the success of "Closer to Free", "Hurt By Love" saw minor chart success and critics commented on the album's consistency. Music critic Rick Anderson, writing for AllMusic, praised the songwriting though he criticized the lyrics. He said, "'Hurt By Love' is what the BoDeans are trying for throughout this whole album, but they only get there once or twice." However, Chuck Eddy of Entertainment Weekly gave it a mixed review, stating: "Having finally achieved pop stardom via their Party of Five theme song, this long-suffering Wisconsin bar band now tries to preserve their meager integrity by acting as un-Hollywood as possible. With its timid, muffled harmonies over numbing guitar thrumming, Blend has enough forlorn corn to fill every silo in the heartland."

! (album)

! is an album by The Dismemberment Plan. It was released on October 2, 1995, on DeSoto Records. The band's original drummer, Steve Cummings, played on this album but left shortly after its release.

Track listing

Personnel

The following people were involved in the making of !:

References

"@" (album)

"@" is a studio album by John Zorn and Thurston Moore. It is the first collaborative album by the duo and was recorded in New York City in February, 2013 and released by Tzadik Records in September 2013. The album consists of improvised music by Zorn and Moore that was recorded in the studio in real time with no edits or overdubs.

Reception

Allmusic said "@ finds two of New York City's longest-running fringe dwellers churning out sheets of collaborative sounds that conjoin their respective and distinct states of constant freak-out... These seven improvisations sound inspired without feeling at all heavy-handed or urgent. More so, @ succeeds with the type of conversational playing that could only be achieved by two masters so deep into their craft that it probably feels a lot like breathing to them by now".

Track listing

All compositions by John Zorn and Thurston Moore

Album

Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century, first as books of individual 78rpm records, then from 1948 as vinyl LP records played at 33 ¹⁄₃ rpm. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though in the 21st century albums sales have mostly focused on compact disc (CD) and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used in the late 1970s through to the 1990s alongside vinyl.

An album may be recorded in a recording studio (fixed or mobile), in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. Recording may take a few hours to several years to complete, usually in several takes with different parts recorded separately, and then brought or "mixed" together. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed "live", even when done in a studio. Studios are built to absorb sound, eliminating reverberation, so as to assist in mixing different takes; other locations, such as concert venues and some "live rooms", allow for reverberation, which creates a "live" sound. The majority of studio recordings contain an abundance of editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, musicians can be recorded in separate rooms or at separate times while listening to the other parts using headphones; with each part recorded as a separate track.