Lil Wayne is the Al Green of rap: He could recite the phone book and have listeners hanging on each of his curvaceous consonants and smoldering vowels. On Tha Carter, Vol. II, Wayne more or less does just that, injecting familiar rap tropes (sample chorus: “Get money, fuck bitches, get…
This eight-song EP provides the first real indication that U.K. grime may be more than just a passing fad. South London MC Lady Sovereign, already a battle-scarred veteran at 18, has all the confidence of a sassy 28-year-old, plus the charm and cheekiness of an 8-year-old. Against a backdrop of…
Gosh, Pedro Sanchez must have some mad skills besides owning sweet bikes or hooking up with chicks, since the newly elected class president of Preston High School has been visiting dance clubs and discotheques across North America lately. Then again, indie film actor Efren Ramirez just might be trying to…
Someday they’ll discover it’s not your environment at all, but a biochemical switch in the brain that determines whether you’re into stoner metal or the metal generally preferred by beer-swilling, hat-wearing types. If the members of Clutch do wear hats, they’re probably those trucker caps that say things like “John…
Christmas comes early this year in a pair of intimate Stiletto Formal shows, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve been naughty or nice. In fact, the arty, sex rocker-hipsters of Stiletto probably prefer the former. The band members are fresh off a string of tours and a sweaty sold-out show…
Rhino’s lavish reissues bookend T. Rex’s most fully cooked work, polishing maestro Marc Bolan’s legacy for any Yanks who still think of this overseas superstar as a trashy novelty. Not that trash is beside the point: Bolan’s 1972 masterpiece, The Slider, is full of the kind of grubby teenage reverie…
Back in the spring, when I first heard Fine China’s new album, The Jaws of Life, I fixated on the idea of hidden Phoenix treasures. The album’s great from the first listen — moody, Brit-styled pop, but by a band based here. The album’s easily one of the best local…
If hip-hop’s all about the handle, the hooks, and the homies, then local wordsmith Chilee Powdah’s got the full package. His name (complete with a double “e” for easy rhymes) has thug appeal, and his album Code of Loyalty boasts a combination of thumping club beats, catchy choruses, genre-pimpin’ from…
The travel bug bit Stereo Typed hard on the Phoenix hip-hop trio’s debut full-length. As the album title suggests, these guys get around — but they’re more globe trekkers with a message than bling-seeking jet-setters, delivering political criticism (with minimalist bass grooves on “Energy Raw Power”), social consciousness (weaving words…
Gorgeous bluegrass shaded with a blend of contemporary pop and rock influences, the San Diego trio Nickel Creek’s supple, earthy tones blow gracefully across genre-bending arrangements. Their new album, Why Should the Fire Die?, transcends categorization, and while it doesn’t fully break with their Americana pedigree and the style of…
In the past 10 years, Cave In has made itself a household name among hardcore, indie and metal fans. The Boston band became the king of split records by sharing discs with the likes of Piebald and Scissorfight. Following tours with Converge, the band was slapped with the “metal” label,…
Known for his beat-juggling skills with his ’90s New York DJ crew the X-Men (who would later become the X-ecutioners, so as not to get sued), Rob Swift blew minds back then by incorporating rival West Coast crew the Invisibl Skratch Piklz’s manic, extraterrestrial scratching with East Coast beat juggle…
With Confessions on a Dance Floor, Madonna makes progress in returning to form after the preachy, pale American Life, but this seamless, beat-filled ode to dance clubs isn’t enough to restore her pop relevance. These are the sounds of 1998, halfway between the Chemical Brothers and Stardust, and on “Sorry,”…
In case you were pining for another four-month Hollywood/Nashville marriage to fill the Kenny Chesney/Rene Zellweger void, forget it. Urban and Nicole Kidman are currently not an item according to the London Free Press, which reports Kidman advised Urban, “I’m just too busy for romance right now, as much as…
Breaking into your 20s can be harder than breaking into the music industry, but the acoustic-driven alterna-rockers in the band Micah Bentley have done both with a guileless acquiescence. Between 18 and 23 years old, these strapping young lads — including Micah Bentley himself — dish out lovingly listenable tunes…
Growing up in Chicago, Kaskade was initially into British New Wave acts such as The Cure and The Smiths before discovering clubs, Frankie Knuckles and house music. You can hear it in the melancholy groove of his deep house tracks, echoing the Brits’ love of Northern Soul. Kaskade began spinning…
Steadfastly political and occasionally amusing (as on “Homophobes Are Just Mad They Can’t Get Laid” and “Degrassi Junior High Drop Outs”), these Canadian anarchists were one of Fat Wreck Chords’ first bands, and have been plotting their musical coup for more than a decade. After two albums, the 1997 departure…
Right at that loud, sweaty moment when the crowd’s ready to crawl on the stage from too much anxious waiting and too much beer, the lights go dark and the house music switches over to some blaring, swaggering tune fit for a movie about 1950s delinquents. Everyone cheers and hoists…
Carl Craig’s approach has, from the outset, been far-reaching. Holding it down in techno’s very birthplace, Detroit, the DJ/producer segues from house and hip-hop to techno and drum ‘n bass in Ecstasy-size furies (his label name isn’t Planet-E for nothing). His latest mixdown, Fabric 25, has him front and center,…
Jazzanova has made its mark for long remixes — at times, exceedingly long — for nearly a decade. The six-member German-based collective (or, as the group’s label name suggests, Kollektiv) is more geared toward interpretation than creation, and this compilation gathers four years of their favorite works, each one an…
While you’re tackling Martin Scorsese’s Dylan dissertation, take a break for a humbler rockumentary that’s no less fascinating and a lot more fun. All Dolled Up, the distillation of 40 lost hours of primitive video that photographer Bob Gruen originally shot between ’72 and ’74, is a rare window into…
Seattle, Washington, 1992: The city becomes the music capital of the country with the explosion of grunge, as bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Stone Temple Pilots saturate the airwaves. If that story was on cassette tape, Calvin Johnson would hit “rewind” so everybody could get the full scoop…
