Despite the fact that Jennifer O’Connor has been likened to songwriters like Liz Phair and Elliot Smith, such comparisons don’t say anything about O’Connor’s melodic sensibilities or her ability to spin a phrase. Sure, O’Connor has a tendency to spew some venom on occasion. And true, she does anchor her…
A Tribe Called Quest’s abstract and socially conscious lyrics over silky-smooth jazz arrangements played well with the college crowd, earning the Tribe a cult following in the mid-’80s through the late-’90s. And now the influential hip-hop trio is back for its first tour in six years. The Tribe’s Phife Dawg…
You think Courtney Love is a badass? Even at her most unlady-like TV moments, she’s like Miss Manners compared to the girls in Orlando’s Jeanie and the Tits — Jean Smegma, Mary Mammary, Yochi Yeast, and Kristin Klamydia. Then again, coming from the same scene that spawned many a rowdy…
There are plenty of bald white dudes still plugging away in the music biz long past their artistic and commercial prime: Michael Stipe, Moby, Scott Ian… and Aaron Lewis. It’s a fairly safe bet that Lewis’ band, Staind, will never again enjoy the sales or status that 2001’s Break the…
From the opening horn-driven punch to guitarist/vocalist Brandon Tarricone’s closing yelp, Brotherhood of Groove’s exclamatory “Get Up” is an immediate, hook-laden shot of funk that could inspire even the most deadbeat crowd to get its dance on. And it’s a good slice of what the New Orleans-based Brotherhood is about…
With the help of international hip-hop superstar (and former Fugee) Wyclef Jean, Colombia’s greatest legally exported gift to the United States, Shakira, has created an epidemic of her own with the dangerously addictive single “Hips Don’t Lie.” Just like the cash crop of her native land, the potent single has…
Bob Dylan once referred to Smokey Robinson as “America’s greatest living poet.” Though many often countered that Jim Morrison was the rightful owner of that title, the argument hasn’t been made since Morrison croaked in 1971. And so Dylan was right — Robinson was one of the reasons Motown enjoyed…
Iko-Iko is the name of a ’50s pop song written by James Crawford that quickly became a folk/blues standard, covered by countless legends. It’s also the fitting name of the Miami-based blues quartet founded by Graham Wood Drout, a vocalist/guitarist/percussionist who’s worked with anyone from Sheryl Crow to Bruce Springsteen…
Six Feet Under? What is this, a traveling version of the HBO series about a family that works at a funeral home? Is this a family affair? Well, not quite, unless your idea of a wholesome time is to spend the night with Chris Barnes, former mouthpiece for gross-out kings…
Call it shoegaze, call it indie pop, call it ambient rock… whatever. The simple fact is that the lush sounds emanating from As Tall as Lions’ self-titled sophomore album are as calming as watching a Joy of Painting video (Bob Ross, RIP). What makes it work is the band’s ability…
Before there was Beck, there was — ahem — Beck. Not the smooth-crooning hipster but rather Jeff Beck, the guitar god extraordinaire, who courted rock reverence by virtue of the searing fretwork that defines his signature style. Whereas early contemporaries Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page were cast in the company…
Beenie Man has been a hurricane force in Jamaican music since the tender age of 7, when he unleashed his first single unto the Rasta masses. Since then, he’s gone on to become a profitable and controversial figure — the self-proclaimed “Undisputed King of the Dancehall.” Well, maybe there is…
There are some genres that should never have mixed. Take rap and metal. Please. How did that ever get so popular? Just think: If the equation had been slightly altered at its onset — say, with smooth, acoustic rhythms and soulful singing instead of half-assed metal riffs and tuneless barking…
Ah… the sugary bliss of Little Anthony and the Imperials’ six decades-long career. From the fame-making super-smash-hit “Tears on My Pillow” to the woman-done-me-wrong angst of “Hurt So Bad” to the ass-shaking “Shimmy, Shimmy Ko-Ko Bop,” Little Anthony and the Imperials have certainly cemented their role in American music. With…
Hahahelp! fits into a long Miami tradition of experimental noise-trash music, in the line of Harry Pussy, Laundry Room Squelchers, Monotract, the Curious Hair, and others. The band exists as a collection of odds-and-sods drums, cheap synthesizers, out-of-tune guitar and bass, and improvised vocals. The group began as a free-form…
He’s not internationally known, or so he says. But as the voice behind one of the most popular hip-hop tracks of all time, 1988’s “It Takes Two,” Rob Base is known by more than just his native Harlem. Alongside his trusty sidekick, DJ E-Z Rock, Base broke out with the…
Who heard Mary J. Blige rhyming with Busta and Missy on the “Touch It” remix? Well, certainly more than just “Louis and Gucci.” The first guest to surprisingly grab the mic on the collabo cut, it’s clear that the “Queen of R&B” is not content with collecting royalties and occasionally…
Is 2006 the Year of the Wu? If we take inventory of what the remaining Wu-Tang Clan members have been up to, all signs point to yes. In the beginning (of 2006, that is), there was Ghostface Killah’s Fishscale. Then came Inspectah Deck’s Resident Patient, followed shortly by Masta Killa’s…
Hip-hop, you don’t stop… or so they say, right? Actually, that’s exactly the case this week. After two days of poppin’ at Revolution (with Wu-Tang Clan on Friday and the b-boy battle on Saturday), the FTL’s looking more like the ATL. And on Wednesday — well after Wu-Tang’s gone back…
The Phenomenauts could be the most inspired shtick-rock band to hit the scene since the day someone brought a Mexican wrestling mask to a Los Straitjackets practice. The Phenomenauts’ shtick is simple yet effective. Bearing costumes, props, and helmets, they invade the stage as psychobilly spacemen out to make the…
If Melissa Etheridge has proved anything in her long career, it’s that you don’t have to write fluff to win a Grammy. The Kansas-born singer/songwriter has two of those awards to her name. And though she won both Grammies more than a decade ago (in 1992 and 1994, both for…
Electric Frankenstein’s not the first band you’d expect to hear in a PS2 game, much less one that caters to mall punks. But sure enough, the New Jersey-based foursome has a track featured on Tony Hawk’s Underground. Then again, EF has popped up in stranger places, namely Garry Sharpe-Young’s book…
