Having a hit record is tough, but topping your native land’s album chart on your first LP? That’s something even more remarkable. But that’s how it’s gone for Rita Ora. Discovered by Jay-Z and Roc Nation three years ago, the petit singer’s distinguishable vocals and catchy tunes have made her a fixture on pop radio with her song, “How We Do (Part...

Young Empires are a Toronto-based haute rock dance party, with Matthew Vlahovich on vocals and keys, Jacob Palahnuk on bass, Aaron Ellingson on guitar, and Taylor Hill on drums. These friends have been jamming together since 2009, but have recently gained wider attention for an impressively fun interactive Facebook music video for the single “Whi...

What happens when you’re the hottest new band on the planet, yet haven’t released an album? Then what happens when you do release it and it falls short of the ridiculously high expectation and incredible hype? Easy. You go back to the drawing board, relax, collect your thoughts and write an honest record that goes back to your roots and see what ...

  The boys of fun.--lead singer/songwriter Nate Ruess, Jack Antonoff, and Andrew Dost--are back with their second studio album,  Some Nights, which drops today.  As a long time Nate Ruess fan, from his Format days, I feel qualified and obligated to review this record.  People who are just beginning to listen to fun. might be put off by this a...

I resisted listening to this album for a long time, because yay another actor made a hip-hop album. We all remember that Jamie Foxx fiasco from a few years ago and who could forget William Shatner’s disastrous foray into making awful, if not comical, music for the masses. Then I started hearing rumblings. My friend Amanda started tweeting endless...

Stalley is from Massillon, Ohio. If you know what to listen for, you can hear the small town talking in Lincoln Way Nights (Intelligent Trunk Music), his latest mixtape: There’s the hollow clanging of the wooden wind chimes on the front porch in “Assassin,” the bittersweet letter to his hometown/girlfriend in “Milq n’ Honey,” and the marching ba...