1 The Notorious B.I.G. & Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – “Notorious Thugs” 2 DMX – “X Gon’ Give it to Ya” 3 Jay-Z – “Dirt off Your Shoulder” 4 House of Pain – “Jump around” 5 Dr. Dre – “Forgot about Dre” feat. Eminem 6 2pac – “Hail Mary” 7 Skee-Lo – “I Wish” 8 Jay-Z – … Read more“Dolby’s Power 100 — Hip-Hop (Summer 2024)”
10 Y.N.X.716 – “DIE BROKE (Instrumental)” Buffalo’s Y.N.X.716 comes like a thief in the night this year, billed on Bandcamp as a”lyricist” but apparently beholden to some pretty substantial forays, this instrumentals EP spanning 22 minutes and sounding very much the work of a professional like Pete Rock or Jay Dee. .. 9 Andrew … Read more“Dolby’s Top 10 Tracks Apr. – June 2024”
10 divr – “As of Now” “As of Now” is a keen, austere adventure in minimalist jazz from Swiss unit divr. As is fitting with the trend these days, the instrumentation isn’t as “jazzy” as are the intervals, phrasings and general oblong approaches to song construction, many of which may be governed by rudiments as … Read more“Dolby’s Top 10 Tracks Jan. – Mar. 2024”
100 Sly & the Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ on 99 Del tha Funkee Homosapien – I Wish My Brother George Was Here 98 Counting Crows – August and Everything after 97 LIVE – Throwing Copper 96 Jimi Hendrix – Band of Gypsys 95 Jethro Tull – Stand up 94 Puscifer – “V” … Read more“Dolby’s Hot 100 — Albums (Winter 2024)”
As a music nerd of unconscionable proportions, I get up in an unwieldly tizzy when people are ignorant of music. Now, obviously, they’re probably just not as psychotic about it as me. Still, say, when the only Counting Crows song I have any chance of hearing is “Mr. Jones”; I find exception, as August and … Read more“A Brief, Compartmentalized Juke-Box Tutorial”
Well, it’s been another lonely year in the blogosphere, more or less. Once in a while I’ll get an e-mail from the guy in Germany wanting me to review an album on his label, and every so often an artist will hit me up, invariably ignoring my request for fee. Other than that, it’s a … Read more“Dolby’s Top 50 Albums of 2023”
10 Blue Ocean – “Ode” Oakland is certainly a cinematic place these days, in its own right — for all its economic disaster and mass sports-team-exodus, there seems to be a rash of individuals there taking music very seriously, down to the sophisticated details. Blue Ocean is twee pop with a drum machine and a … Read more“Dolby’s Top 10 Tracks Oct./Nov. 2023”
I did one of these posts for Wilco, too, and truthfully, they both probably stand no chance of creation on account of label restraints. But the mission statement is clear on both: showcase the band’s best material on clear, analog sound, and pare things down to a $20 piece of merchandise that can be stuffed … Read more“The Best of Modest Mouse (Designed for Vinyl)”
10 Blur – “Barbaric” On “Barbaric,” Britpop heavy-hitters Blur go in a pretty typical directions for rock bands nearing the ends of their careers, which would be electronic, or at least the drum machine territory. A beautifully resigned and catchy chorus then paints the perfect disaffected picture of this malady: “I have lost the feeling … Read more“Dolby’s Top 10 Tracks July – Sep. 2023”
25 “Sand” (Farmhouse) 24 “Horn” (Rift) 23 “Julius” (Hoist) 22 “Dogs Stole Things” (Hampton Comes Alive) 21 “Maze” (Rift) 20 “Billy Breathes” (Billy Breathes) 19 “Water in the Sky” (The Story of the Ghost) 18 “Wolfman’s Brother” (Hoist) 17 “Sparkle” (Rift) 16 “Bouncing around the Room” (A Live One) 15 “Cavern” (Hampton Comes Alive) 14 … Read more“Dolby’s Phish Power Rankings — Autumn 2023”