Lady Saw claimed she’s “too nice fi inna cock fight” and “too rich to argue with bitch” in 2004 on “Man Is the Least,” but that was all chat compared to her eighth LP, Walk Out. “Make me introduce you to mi cutlass,” she threatens one heifer on “Chat to…
Boston-based music group Willard Grant Conspiracy sure knows how to make a music critic’s job tough. Whereas most bands can be blithely described with a few words, WGC practically requires a new genre tag. Stylistically it’s got strong folk-rock and rootsy overtones but isn’t exactly Americana. Instead WGC couches the…
Leave it to Trent Reznor — one of the few musicians who doesn’t need to hype his art by this point — to trump every other viral marketer with the promotional campaign for the new Nine Inch Nails album Year Zero. Besides leaking MP3s via USB drives left on bathroom…
Viki has always been a true Detroit eccentric, operating well beyond genre — a point this fifteen-track collection of rarities and outtakes drives home. Viki’s gargantuan beats, bee-buzzing distortion, cheap sci-fi sound effects, and reverb-soaked sauciness should be the toast of underground dance music; in fact, the electro-freaks in Adult,…
Spanish-born Maria Quiñones created the persona of Martirio (which translates as “martyr”) as an onstage alter ego, one who wears dark glasses and large, decorative combs known as peinetas. She performed with numerous groups before joining the group Veneno (Poison), which helped vault her to prominence. Throughout her career, the…
Studio A becomes hip-hop central on Thursday with the appearance of Duck Down Records artist Sean Price. Price is the artist formerly known as Ruck, half of the rap group Heltah Skeltah, and one of the lead MCs from the mighty Boot Camp Clik. In his sophomore solo effort, Jesus…
Superstar lyric soprano Renée Fleming’s tour itinerary says a lot about how far Miami has come as a cultural destination. Listed are three dates in Paris, two in Vienna, a stop in New York to sing with the brilliant L.A. Philharmonic featuring conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, then it’s off to yes,…
No, it’s not just an extended version of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” The Baseball Music Project, founded in 2004, brings together the work of talented historians, writers, composers, arrangers, and performers to present a unique look at the sport. It uses an orchestra, 73 musicians strong, for propulsion…
When you first lay eyes on Jediah, you can’t help but notice the teardrop-shape tattoo on his upper left cheek, not to mention the barrels of two smoking shotguns inked on either side of his neck. “I got a lot of tattoos,” Jediah says, lifting his pant leg to display…
Directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez know a thing or two about music and the movies. Tarantino’s soundtracks have become pop culture staples, while Rodriguez scores his own movies. We sat down with them recently to discuss their new double feature, Grindhouse, and how music affects their creative process. New…
Dear Gods of Rock: Subject(s): Mullets Rock! Too! It’s me, the Mullet. Please kill me. My time on this Earth — hanging off Richard Marx’s head as it sang “Don’t Mean Nothin’,” going to Indigo Girls shows, and bathing in NASCAR exhaust fumes — has been fun, but I just…
Those who think that pop music junkies represent music fandom’s lowest common denominator should read the comments left on iTunes about Avril Lavigne’s cheerleader-chant-from-hell single “Girlfriend.” Namely, this astute one: “The Avril I looked up to was her own person, and proud of it. She wasn’t afraid to act like…
It’s not strange that Prodigy’s second solo release, Return of the Mac, is a gritty, New York-centric quest to maintain order in an increasingly hip-pop driven world. What is surprising is that, after his group, Mobb Deep, signed on with 50 Cent’s crumbling G-Unit empire and dropped the watered-down 2006…
Forget the Foo Fighters — the true champ when it comes to blending melody and mayhem is a tumultuous trio known as Dinosaur Jr. These art-rock heroes were making heads bop and torsos flail back when Dave Grohl was still taking his cues from Kurt Cobain. The group’s bassist, Lou…
The new CD by Phoenix-based industrial metal band the Iris sounds like a sonic blueprint for a band that’s finding its sound and getting hotter by the minute. But the blueprint isn’t new — Marilyn Manson, Deftones, and a dozen other bands drew it. What’s great about The Vanity Fair…
Dyslexic Postcards are a little bit roots punk, a little bit Pink Floyd, and a lotta Spacemen 3. But mostly the quintet is way overdue to release a CD, so catch ’em at Churchills while it’s cheap. “Right now we have nothing for sale but our asses,” says guitarist/singer Joshua…
With machines replacing instruments and songs manufactured on an assembly line, it’s hard to find the soul in music nowadays. But there was a time when bands boomed with rich brass, and singers gained notoriety for their talent without having to compete on a TV show first. This era, known…
In what’s been a Sunday tradition since February, Fourth Dimension once again offer the Jazid crowd a unique blend of reggae, dancehall, dub, and ska. The show is presented by Kulcha Shok Muzik, one of Miami’s better-known record labels. A four-piece outfit seemingly tailor-made for Jazid, Fourth Dimension offers a…
We all know that when people think Chevy, the musical genre that leaps to mind is hardcore rap? Yes, it seems our favorite macho auto company is undergoing what the pros call a little brand alteration. Gone is the down-home, redneck appeal. These days, it’s all about keeping it rizzle…
Jimena Fama, the elegant frontwoman for the electronic fusion band Tango Conspiracy, can call her ensemble of male musicians to task with a quick dart of her piercing brown eyes. But once in a while, the quiet intensity becomes too much. There was, for instance, the gig last summer at…
It felt like deja vu all over again when I first heard Band Marino. Weren’t these the alternative folk kiddies with the Nettwerk Records deal, who sound like Bread, and were doing soundtrack work for Deadwood? Well, no, as it turns out, that’s the Format, from Arizona. The whippersnappers in…
Back in early 2003 the Killers were just another name littered in the demo piles of A&R departments across the country. Few people in the music industry knew much about the Las Vegas-based rock group, or if it would amount to anything beyond a four-man band with a heap of…
