Record Rewind 2.0

On July 18, 2011, The Fold re-released their third studio album, “Dear Future, Come Get Me.” This reissue fell between the releases of the pilot episodes and first full season, respectively, of “Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu,” for which the band had written and performed the theme song and some incidental music. But the show soon ended its original run shortly after The Fold released their “Ninjago”-centric EP “For the Spinners” in 2012, and the group was back to making original music. Unfortunately, they were in debt after funding “Dear Future” themselves. But with help from Kickstarter backing, the band was able to release their fourth album “Moving Past” on Oct. 15, 2013. While “Dear Future” and “For the Spinners” shared a similar sound and polish, “Moving Past” takes on a more mature style befitting of the members entering their 30s, with production primarily handled by Sean O’Keefe, known for producing Fall Out Boy’s debut. “Different Kind of Disease” sets the table with its mino...

  Many people know The Fold as that band who did the theme song for “LEGO Ninjago,” but that barely scratches the surface. Not only did they write multiple songs for the series, but they’ve also been putting out original material since the early 2000s. To me, their third studio album, “Dear Future, Come Get Me,” is their most intriguing because it provides a snapshot of the band right before they hit it big with “The Weekend Whip.” “Dear Future, Come Get Me” was released on Oct. 6, 2009 as The Fold’s first independent release after leaving Tooth & Nail Records. The Chicago quartet worked with Zack Odom and Kenneth Mount, who previously mixed their previous album “Secrets Keep You Sick.”  Interestingly, the album seems to bridge the gap between two different band lineups. While Dan Castady, Aaron Green, Mike Emmons and Keith Mochel played on the recordings – with Mochel even co-producing –  by the time the album was released, the band consisted of Castady, his brother ...

One year ago, Apple’s romantic dramedy “Fly Me to the Moon” took the motto of “fake it til you make it” to its logical extreme. The film’s premise pokes fun at conspiracy theories that posit the moon landing in 1969 was staged by centering around a NASA team tasked with fixing NASA’s public image leading up to the Apollo 11 mission, later staging a backup moon landing, in case the real one fails. The project, codenamed Project Artemis, is led by marketing specialist Kelly Jones, played by Scarlett Johansson, who clashes with Apollo 11’s launch director Cole Davis, played by Channing Tatum, until they fall in love. When it comes to romantic movies, no matter how interesting the premise is, a main couple without romantic chemistry can bring the whole thing down. Luckily, Johansson and Tatum have great chemistry and play off each other very well. This is especially evident from their witty banter and more intimate interactions. Their individual characters are engaging on their own as w...

  For over 20 years, Avril Lavigne has toed the line between pop and rock across seven studio albums. But “Goodbye Lullaby,” her often-overlooked fourth album, toes that line the most of any in her discography. In recent years, however, the album’s singles have seen a surge in popularity among younger listeners discovering her for the first time. Does the album as a whole deserve a reappraisal? Lavigne debuted in 2002 with her pop punk-rooted “Let Go,” achieving mainstream success with the sound years before Fall Out Boy, Paramore and other bands would blow the lid off the genre. But by the time they had circa 2007, she had already begun turning her musical dial more toward pop with “The Best Damn Thing,” which divided critics but spawned her only No. 1 single so far, “Girlfriend.” Lavigne began work on her next album in November 2008. The focus this time around was to present a stripped-down approach to her sound, starting out with minimal instruments and adding more later. The in...

While my favorite Jonas Brothers album has always been their self-titled album, rewatching their Prime Video documentary “Chasing Happiness” for the fourth time made me really consider the deeper layers to the lyricism and musicianship on display. Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas started out performing as young kids, singing and acting on Broadway and commercials. As the Jonas Brothers, they signed to Columbia Records and released their first album with them, “It’s About Time,” in 2006. But their slowly growing fame became detrimental to the Jonas family’s livelihood. Their father, Kevin Jonas Sr., was scrutinized at the church he was a pastor at for his sons’ secular practices. In addition, touring costs and medical bills for Nick, who had been diagnosed with diabetes, caused him to max out his credit cards. According to Kevin Sr., he informed the brothers one night that he would resign from the church, meaning the family would lose their home, and that Columbia had dropped them. This left t...

The Backstreet Boys are gearing up for the 25th anniversary of their landmark album “Millennium.” While I plan to properly review that album closer to its actual release day, I figure now is a good time to cover what I think is their second best album. Picture this: it’s 2006 and you’re the four remaining Backstreet Boys; AJ McLean, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough and Brian Littrell. You took a four-year hiatus from anything boy band-related before returning with an intended “big” comeback album. But that album, “Never Gone,” veered too far from your classic dance-pop sound that it flailed, and now one of your bandmates, Kevin Richardson, has left to pursue solo ventures. What do you do? You return to the studio and to your roots, but with a slightly different, more personal approach. Out comes “Unbreakable,” the Backstreet Boys’ sixth album released on Oct. 30, 2007. With this album, the boys wanted to combine the teen pop sound they cut their teeth on with a more grown-up pop rock s...