2005 was a year of exploration and expansion in urban music. Against a Matrix-like background of corporate-controlled radio and TV, iPod-enabled consumers demanded more musical choices, and were rewarded by indie labels that stepped in to provide an alternative to mainstream mediocrity once again. For every lackluster commercial effort (like…
Listening to every single thing that comes across my desk is by and large a painful if not soul-killing experience, but it does occasionally land a few diamonds in my lap that wouldn’t get there any other way. Most of these CDs are by artists you’ve likely never heard of…
As far as music goes, I am not a tribal person. I am not prodded by Pitchfork, nor narcotized by Relix, nor are my spirits lifted by No Depression. Not to say that those media sources are entirely flawed — indeed, each has its virtues. But each of these influential…
So barefoot-boogie hippies rub you the wrong way. Or maybe you’re more open-minded than the typical cranky-pants, scene-sucking elitist. Either way, hopefully you’re savvy enough to realize that shortcut labels like “jam band” and “indie rock” better describe a band’s business approach and fan base than its sound. This past…
While hip-hop continued to get mo’ live in ’05, and indie rock further honed post-punk/emo’s affectations into something more genuinely affecting, the arch-paradigms from the past 12 months of electronic composition seemed more concerned with looking in than locking in. For the most part, top producers haven’t seemed as worried…
It’s rare to find anybody over 20 inside the noisy arcade castle at Mesa’s Golfland during the Saturday morning $8 Video Game Blowout. Never mind anybody over 60. That’s why the gray-haired dude on the Guitar Freaks V machine sticks out like a sore joystick-jamming thumb. Eyes squinted Clint Eastwood-like,…
Atllas has spent years trying to follow in the footsteps of his hip-hop heroes — Jay-Z and Master P, among others — but now he’s becoming a role model himself. The 25-year-old Phoenix MC stars in the next installment of MTV’s Made, coaching a high school girl from Sedona on…
It’s that time of year again, when all our sins come back to bite us in the ass, and right around midnight on New Year’s Eve, we resolve to fix all the things we keep doing wrong. Here are a few resolutions from musical artists to help you remember it’s…
When asked about favorite Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa memories, most people remember the good times. You know, the stuff they write songs about to get you in the holiday spirit — deck the halls, fa la la la la, and all that jazz. Now, ask a musician the same question…
For several years back in the 1980s and ’90s, rock ‘n’ roll keyboard legend Al Kooper had a very cool Yuletide custom. Kooper was (and is) an avid collector of prank calls, celebrity (and some non-celebrity) bloopers, weird songs, hilarious answering-machine messages and studio banter, and each December, he would…
1. Hanna-McEuen, Hanna-McEuen (DreamWorks) As drab and unremarkable as mashed potatoes, Hanna-McEuen is a couple of lonesome, heartbroken cowboys who whip out every cliché in the cornball country songbook. These two cousins (both sons of members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) sing about “making love ’til the morning light,”…
All hail Slayer! The monstrous sound of Reign in Blood inspires to this day. Unfortunately, much of what it inspires is adolescent claptrap such as the majority of death metal. Even though most fans of this “scariest” form of music are pimply dipwads, every once in a while the music…
A couple years back, singer-songwriter Jake La Botz was spending his Sundays down at the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in south central L.A., and playing in the church’s band with his friend Willie Chambers, of the ’60s R&B group the Chambers Brothers. La Botz is a Buddhist, but the…
Dem bow is like audio crack. The modified Jamaican dancehall beat creeps up on even the most rhythmically challenged and makes them move, leaving them craving more of the springy tempo. On a recent Saturday night at Jackson’s on 3rd, the floor is a sea of bobbing bodies, all grooving…
Another year, another rich haul of Christmas CDs. But instead of coming up with just another essay about holiday music, this time around we decided to help out the ailing economy — not to mention you frazzled holiday shoppers out there — and do a Christmas CD Buying Guide. So…
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I’ve been thinking about the word “nigga” a lot lately. Seems it’s popping out of everybody’s mouth these days, whether it’s high school wiggers or commercial rappers. The way I understand it, there’s two ways to see it: It’s either taking the power out of a derogatory term, much like…
For a leading indie-rock miserablist, Jamie Stewart possesses one of the heartiest, most boisterous laughs you’re ever likely to hear. The 33-year-old Xiu Xiu (pronounced shoe-shoe) front man typically converses quietly, in a polite, thoughtful, self-effacing, and a bit pensive manner, and then — when you least expect it –…
Catherine Ann Irwin and Janet Beveridge Bean have been at this Freakwater thing since about 1988, which is pretty impressive when you stop to realize that Gram Parsons died after recording a total of two LPs with Emmylou Harris; George Jones and Tammy Wynette were together for only about six…
All hail Big Poppa! Not only was the Notorious B.I.G. a master storyteller and MC, but he also has never humped a corpse. That may seem faint praise for such a legend. However, his lack of necrophilia sets Biggie apart from his friends and family, who have turned his moldy…
Conspiracy theorists, ready your blogs: The RIAA unleashed last month’s Hurricane Relief: Come Together Now on the American public to convince us to stop sending aid to Louisiana. Why? Who knows? But this two-disc benefit album is the musical equivalent of 9/11, each CD an unforgivable, falling tower of smoldering…
Brooding hardcore fans with blue bandannas in their back pockets rub shoulders with longhaired death-metal men and skinny, fashionable high-schoolers in white belts when Job for a Cowboy is about to go on at the PHiX. Typically, the hardcore crowd hates the self-indulgent nature of heavy metal, the metal kids…
