When Kid 606 couldn’t find the amped-up ragga he yearned for, he invited some like-minded friends to collaborate on their own music. Enter Shockout Volume One, an introduction to a burgeoning Tigerbeat6 sub-label that blends sweaty Jamaican machismo with junglist breakbeats. The most satisfying tracks are menacing soundclash shout-outs. Com.a…
One had to figure that it wouldn’t be long before the puglike cuteness of the Diplomats wore off. On “Stop-N-Go,” Cam’ron again proves why he is the most unjustifiably arrogant figure in hip-hop with rhymes such as “Y’all sing sing sing/I’m from the Sing Sing bing/right to the wing ding…
Hyped as a “mix tape,” Below the Radio includes tracks picked by Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle, including up-and-comers Fruit Bats, Earlimart, and Snow Patrol, as well as graying icons Beck, Pavement, and Giant Sand. There’s even one new Grandaddy track — the hold-hands-and-sway indie gospel sing-along “Nature Anthem.” For maximum marketability,…
A decade ago, the idea of a bluegrass artist finding mainstream success seemed as unlikely as another Bush winning the White House. But with the widespread acclaim accorded her double-platinum retrospective Now That I’ve Found You, and steering roles in mega-soundtracks Cold Mountain and O Brother, Where Art Thou, singer/fiddler…
Since 2000, Tomas Ceddia and Joe Budious have fought the good fight, bringing quality dance music DJs (most recently Naked Music star Miguel Migs) to a city that often cares more about the taste of its vodka than the music it listens to. It’s been a long, educative process that…
If the hip-hop underground were like the indie-rock scene, then 2Mex would be a huge cult star for his rapid-fire style and witty, punchy songs such as “Escape the Toyota Matrix.” Instead, this talented MC, a longtime participant in the highly underrated Los Angeles rap world, builds his fan base…
Saturday Looks Good to Me wants to kidnap you and your stereo and take you on a skip through a field of lavender, stuff you full of chocolates, and pump you full of goody-goody feelings until you’re ready to burst. Or at least that’s the impression you’ll get listening to…
Months after relocating to the Windy City and finalizing the details on her forthcoming EP, A Hot Hooray, local electro-pop/indie diva Oly, is returning in full force for a one-night stand in the city that bred her punkish, whimsical take on synth music. Her bright, deliciously vocalized landscapes are sure…
The genesis of the South Florida duo Timewellspent is love — love for Sixties psych, Seventies soft rock, and a man named Burt. Vocalist Casey Fundaro (the nephew of Three Dog Night’s Danny Hutton) and guitarist/pianist Christopher Moll (formerly of locals See Venus) have cut their teeth on these influences…
Thursdays, Oxygen Lounge Armand Pena’s tribal house single Watching Me has held in the top ten most downloaded songs on beatport.com since it dropped October 7. Plus, he’s got more cuts in the hatch from his new label Rhythm Freak, which he named after the moniker he uses for occasional…
Named for the act of two lesbians sitting, legs outstretched and interlocked, to rub their pussies together, New York’s Scissor Sisters may be just what the “red states” fear most about the coastal “blue states.” After all, as multi-instrumentalist/ bassist/group epicenter Scott “Babydaddy” Hoffman remarks, “It would only take a…
Recently, I went on vacation. It was a spontaneous trip. My best friend, Kevin, was about to head off to England for a year, and so on a Friday morning I decided to hop a plane from San Francisco to Southern California, take the following week off, and go climb…
Time, distance, and the slow dawn of reason have finally enlightened us: All That You Can’t Leave Behind sucked. U2’s last record saddled the megaton-transcendent single “Beautiful Day” with ten awkward, flailing whiffs at the piñata of beauty, poignancy, and cultural relevance. But then 9/11 raised an urgent need for…
On the surface, much of Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Soft Pink Truth? is an album of electro-pop covers of punk songs from Drew Daniel — ex-punk rocker, current Björk collaborator and Matmos member, and button-pusher behind The Soft Pink Truth — that’s perfect for…
Visitors logging on to Kraftwerk’s Website are greeted by Unicode green text announcing the band’s name and a line drawing of a frequency-emitting radio tower, à la the old RKO Pictures logo. Another click generates a menu of some of Kraftwerk’s best-known works, including “Boing Boom Tschak” and “Radioactivity,” which…
If you’re an MTV-watching, Internet-surfing, beef-consuming fan of Eminem, you won’t learn nothing new by listening to his fifth album, Encore. Many of its revelations have already passed through the echo chamber of media-fueled public discourse. Like his last album, the horrendously overwrought The Eminem Show, Encore purveys a surreal…
Chingy, the St. Louis rapper with the Nelly-esque drawl, regresses into Jackpot’s double-platinum formula on his follow-up, Powerballin. In the beat sector, he recruits the Trak Starz to craft “Don’t Worry,” a duet with Janet Jackson that’s a “One Call Away” clone, while R. Kelly lends his pied-piping prowess on…
Grant Marshall, a.k.a. Daddy G, was the strong silent type in the original lineup of Massive Attack (now the sole domain of Robert “3-D” Del Naja). Marshall seeks to establish a career apart from the UK group, yet as a DJ he can’t stray from using their songs and remixes…
On the surface, Massive Attack’s inaugural soundtrack effort, written for a Jet Li thriller scheduled to be released next April, sounds rather atypical. Orchestral strings swell and heave, only to be undercut by tense excursions into electronic rock. There is even a repeating motif, a melancholy suite that floats through…
Cologne, Germany’s Kompakt imprint has set the gold standard for cutting edge techno for nearly a decade. So, hopes were high for the release of label cofounder Michael Mayer’s first long-player, Touch. Unfortunately, the album comes off as a routine exercise. The title track, while beginning with a huge flourish,…
Four albums on, Rufus Wainwright’s skewered ruminations reflect an inward, soul-baring gaze that quickly defuses any possibility of instant connection. His last outing, the multihued Want One, upped the ante, with its ambitious arrangements supporting his trademark croon, a nonchalance that warbles midway between Morrissey and Elliott Smith. Want Two,…
Pianist and composer Manuel Valera is not interested in the usual Latin licks over post-bop beats, but in the shape of cubano jazz to come. On his new CD, Forma Nueva, he’s joined by the adventuresome John Patitucci on bass and rim shot master Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez on drums,…
