Drop the Needle

Even before Gym Class Heroes frontman Travis McCoy joined a band, women were lining up to show him body parts they usually keep under cover. McCoy served as a tattoo artist in upstate New York for several years, and during that time, he inked designs and illustrations on or near…

True Confessional

“I don’t think we’re anybody’s second-favorite band,” says Chris Carrabba, the emo dreamboat who sits behind the wheel of Dashboard Confessional. “We’re either somebody’s most-favorite or least-favorite band” — and those who fit into the former category can get awfully obsessive. “It’s intense, and there’s an inherently scary nature to…

Januar

The music on Januar’s latest can be hazy, indistinct, and difficult to pin down — and that’s generally a good thing. Rather than present their material in straightforward ways, the performers create a series of aural moods in which mystery and merit are joined at the hip. The Januar lineup…

Badly Drawn Boy

No one’s more British than Damon Gough, which may explain why he hasn’t broken through in the States. If his brilliant score for the Hugh Grant film About a Boy failed to entrance Yanks in sizable numbers, the Springsteen nod contained in his new CD’s title probably won’t reverse the…

Janet Jackson

At the outset of her latest disc, the other J.J. from Good Times giggles after saying, “I’ve uncovered a lot in my 20 years.” Such overt attempts at post-Super Bowl titillation dominate the songs that follow. But if Jackson thinks nipple obsession will compensate for underwhelming performances, she’s missing the…

gogoLab

At first blush, gogoLab seems like pure shtick — an opportunity for keyboardist Eric Moon, bassist Bijoux Barbosa, and drummer Brian McRae to don suits, shades, and skinny ties and live out their spy-music fantasies. Turns out, though, these guys are talented enough to transcend their own gimmickry. The disc’s…

Beyoncé

The music industry has a lot in common with the average automobile plant. Lots can go wrong, but when everything’s operating at peak efficiency, it’s still capable of turning out impressive products. Like, for instance, B’Day, a sleek new model that displays all the benefits of custom manufacture. Granted, Beyoncé…

Wovenhand

On 2004’s Consider the Birds, Wovenhand’s David Eugene Edwards made the Old Testament new again via lyrics that doubled as fierce and unforgiving divination. This time around, his intentions are just as prophetic; the title may reference an artistic style, but it’s also an allusion to Moses. Musically, though, Mosaic…

Different Strokes

Some listeners adore them, and some abhor them — but none can credibly deny that the Strokes have had a significant impact on this decade’s popular-music scene. Is This It, the outfit’s 2001 debut, arrived on a blast of hype powerful enough to blow open mainstream doors that had previously…

Halden Wofford & the Hi-Beams

The Hi-Beams’ take on twang is decidedly retro. Halden Wofford has that high-and-lonesome vocal sound down cold, and instrumentalists such as dobroist/pedal-steel expert Bret Billings and upright-bassist Ben O’Connor swing in ways that modern Nashvillians eschewed long ago. Fortunately, though, the combo’s latest disc is anything but musty. Country music…

The Panic Channel

Oh, to be Dave Navarro. Shortly after announcing his split from the famously pneumatic Carmen Electra, Navarro was reportedly keeping company with porn icon Jenna Jameson. This guy needs to write a guide to hooking up immediately. If only the Panic Channel’s debut were that intriguing. Navarro’s new group seems…

White Whale

White Whale doesn’t quite qualify as an indie supergroup, but members of the combo have some noteworthy credentials: Guitarist/vocalist Matt Suggs previously performed with Butterglory, while bassist Rob Pope was one of the Get Up Kids. Their know-how informs WWI, an uncommonly accomplished debut with a minimum of blubber. Even…

Ten Tiers

On the de facto title track of Ten Tiers’ latest, group leader Jonathan Tiersten sings about slipping “into the comforts of drunkenness” — an appropriate phrase, given the intriguingly woozy, off-kilter tenor of the EP as a whole. The disc stumbles at times but somehow manages to remain upright. Take…

A Resurgence of Radiation

Over the past year, the Radiators have received more national and international exposure than at any point since their late-’70s launch — but the attention has come at a heavy price. The bayou-rock band calls New Orleans home, and after that city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, reporters sought out…

Golden Smog

Golden Smog, a group featuring moonlighters from several rock and roots combos, has lingered for a long time, particularly by side-project standards. On Golden Smog, an amusingly sloppy EP, arrived circa 1992, with two enjoyable full-lengths following in 1995 and 1998. There’s been plenty of radio silence since then, but…

BaSheBa Earth

Don’t limit BaSheBa Earth by calling her a rapper. The woman born Portia Davis is also a fashion designer and a performance artist, not to mention a lyricist with a lot more on her mind than the average rhymer. Mothership runs on consciousness, and thanks to Davis’ passion and commitment,…

Tom Petty

Tom Petty is perpetually underrated. He debuted too late in pop music’s historical continuum to seem deserving of full classic-rocker status (although he’s certainly earned it by now) and came across like an apprentice rather than a peer when collaborating with the likes of Bob Dylan (a result of his…

Matchbook, Like Romance

For those of you tired of the paint-by-numbers approach employed by too many emo bands, here’s some good news: An increasing number of them find it boring too. Matchbook Romance is a case in point. A quartet from the rock hotbed of Poughkeepsie, New York, the group, led by guitarist/vocalist…

Rise Against

The video for “Ready to Fall,” the lead single from Rise Against’s latest salvo, is like a punk-rock version of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, except with fewer shots of melting icebergs and a lot more images of doomed wildlife: dead deer, dead dolphins, baby chicks riding a conveyor belt…

Nelly Furtado

These days, few performers are capable of crafting long-lasting careers — but producers like Tim “Timbaland” Mosley are another story. More than a decade after emerging from the wilds of Virginia, Timbaland is as in demand as ever, and his work on the unexpectedly pleasurable Loose ensures that his cell…

Nick Lachey

Lachey and Angel are members of an especially creepy brotherhood: They’re both ex-boy-banders who opened their lives to reality-TV cameras in the name of career advancement. Still, their discs are poles apart. Lachey’s CD is the equivalent of a tear-jerking Lifetime movie, while Angel’s largely eschews tearful sentimentality in favor…

Tapes ‘n Tapes

The men of Minneapolis’ Tapes ‘n Tapes create an indie-rock mélange that recalls at least a dozen acts from the genre’s past — and, relatively speaking, that’s a good thing. Rather than aping a particular group, Josh Grier and company draw from oodles of inspirations, and if they don’t quite…