Marc Hirsh
Marc Hirsh lives in the Boston area, where he indulges in the magic trinity of improv comedy, competitive adult four square and music journalism. He has won trophies for one of these, but refuses to say which.
He writes for the Boston Globe and has also been spotted on MSNBC and in the pages of Amplifier, the Nashville Scene, the Baltimore City Paper and Space City Rock, where he is the co-publisher and managing editor.
He once danced onstage with The Flaming Lips while dressed as a giant frog. It was very warm.
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Date aside, the day that Aimee Mann endures on "Thirty One Today" should have no particular weight to it. Compared to crossing over into a new decade, or even hitting a halfway point like 35, turning 31 isn't much of a milestone. And that's how it plays out.
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After backing Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis, The Watson Twins shouldn't be overshadowed much longer. "Waves" features the crystalline, aqueous beauty of Chandra Watson's voice, perfectly set off by music that seems to hum just below the surface.
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For the work of an artist best known for the symphonic, soul-baring "Breathe Me," Sia's punchy "Buttons" seems like an odd fit. A hidden track on her new album, the hooky "Buttons" nevertheless runs the risk of defining its album in spite of itself.
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In Sons and Daughters' "The Nest," Adele Bethel puts her Scottish accent to good use against a detailed backdrop. She sneers her way through a tale of adolescent disappointment with such a barbed tongue that it takes on the dread of gothic horror.
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Ani DiFranco has spent her entire career living up to the implicit promises that she set down in 1996's "Napoleon." The song still serves as a mission statement, and with the weight of experience behind it, her guitar playing grows claws and the vocals go for blood.
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"We Are The Pipettes" has enough zip, drive and sass to be the theme song to a cartoon about the band's adventures, so much so that it's not surprising that The Pipettes' members throw out a roll call at the top.
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Songs about alcohol and its effects are common currency in country music. But in "Drinkin' Problem," Lori McKenna goes in a different direction, sidestepping moralism in favor of getting under the skin of someone for whom the issue is an immediate concern.
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Built around a one-chord boogie, The White Stripes' "Rag and Bone" barely qualifies as a song: It mostly revs in neutral as it plays out like a sketch punctuated by blasts of bluesy rock. More importantly, it finally allows drummer Meg White to showcase her personality.
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In the past, Eisley has made music characterized by an off-center sway that's all about being overcome: by the moment, the emotion, the music. But Combinations and the song "Taking Control" are about overcoming, with a newfound directness and heaviness. -
Some songs rely more on the ferocity of the person singing it than the song itself. On "I'm Gonna Change My Ways," Peter Case testifies with the conviction of a true believer and howls with the intensity of a recent convert.
