The Hold Steady do more than their name implies...

The first thing you think when you hear Craig Finn from The Hold Steady, is that he sounds an awful lot like Bruce Springsteen. That’s certainly not the worst comparison to have if you’re a modern rocker.
On The Hold Steady’s latest release, Stay Positive, the band embraces its inner “Boss” and cuts lose with perhaps the best rock album of the summer, if not the year. The album certainly smacks of early Springsteen, especially The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle. Mixed with all the soaring guitars is the driving piano that Springsteen has immortalized on such albums as Born to Run.
The album kicks off with the fantastic “Constructive Summer” and then slides into “Sequestered in Memphis” which is a mix of Springsteen’s music and Bob Dylan’s lyrics. Not only does the band tackle the typical rock anthems, but it also delves into deeper, less characteristic sounds on songs like “Lord, I’m Discouraged.” Tracks like “One for the Cutters” makes uses of harpsichord to create an almost eerie effect when coupled with the electric guitars.
What really drives the album is Finn’s vocals. They’re front and center in every song, and whether he’s singing a love song or wondering about his place in the universe, he makes every word he sings immediate and intimate.
The album leaked a month or so early, so in an effort to add something new for those who actually waited for the album, there are three hidden tracks tacked onto the last song, and they are some of the best tracks on the album.
If you’re looking for the rock album of the summer, want to indulge in a little Springsteen-esque music, or even get your kids on the road to Springsteen, Stay Positive is the album for you.

Beck has no reason for "Modern Guilt"

Beck can be alternately crazy-fun and goofy, or heartbroken and somber (see Odelay and Sea Change, respectively) but his latest release, Modern Guilt manages to walk the line between the two, creating a fantastically catchy listening experience.
It certainly helps that Beck teamed up with “Danger Mouse” – of Gnarls Barkley - to produce this album; an artist known for showcasing new sides of bands he produces. As he did earlier this year as producer for The Black Keys, Danger Mouse adds some new funk sounds to Beck’s psychedelic rock. Between the two, they create an album that would fit in just as well in the Sixties as it does today.
If the music is where Beck let’s his more fun side out, it’s the lyrics that balance the album out. Songs like “Youthless” and “Soul of A Man” question where our society is going, and the kind of people it creates on the way. “Profanity Prayers” may be as apt a description of the dangers of religious fervor as anyone is bound to hear.
It’s certainly not all doom and gloom by any means. “Chemtrails” is a beautiful song that is washed in organs and guitars, and Beck gets Cat Power (or Chan Marshall) to sing back up on the album’s opener, “Orphans.”
As an artist who goes a different direction with every release, Beck’s Modern Guilt is a step in a new – and exciting – direction.

New John Mayer DVD shows fans "Where The Light Is"

John Mayer has gone through three major phases in his career: he began as a acoustic singer-songwriter, became a pop/rock sensation, and then took a detour through the blues. In his most recent music (the album Continuum) listeners can hear all three of these phases blended together. For fans curious to see how his sound came about, or to get one of the better concert videos of the year, Where the Light Is will show you the way.
Recorded in L.A. on December 7, Mayer decided to take his 7,000-plus fans in attendance on a sort of tour of the different facets of his career. He opened with a five-song acoustic set, a scorching blues set with the John Mayer Trio, and closed the night with his band, playing some of his biggest hits.
It’s all here on the DVD, with the audio and visual transfer coming across gorgeously. The DVD looks just as good on a regular TV as it does on a giant plasma screen. The sound quality is immaculate, and really makes you feel like you’re right there in the audience, rocking along at the show.
Of course, what fans will really be buying it for is the man himself, and Mayer delivers in spades on the DVD. Whether it be a killer acoustic cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” the blistering blues trio cut, “Out Of My Mind” or the sweet sounds of “Gravity” – taken to a whole new level by opening the song with Otis Redding’s “Dreams to Remember” – fans of a certain phase in Mayer’s career, or just the man himself will be in for a treat. For those who want to carry the music around with them, a two-disc CD is being released simultaneously.
For any who have never seen John Mayer, but have been a fan, Where the Light Is shows fans just that.