Konono No. 1 is from the Congo and is unlike anything you’ve ever heard. The group’s music is based on the sound of the likembé, or Congolese thumb piano. Angola-born bandleader Mawangu Mingiedi moved to Kinshasa (Congo’s capital) in the 1970s, starting the band with the intention of playing Bazombo…
Say what you will about the 1970s; some of the most defiantly original albums ever — John Cale’s Fear, Brian Eno’s Taking Tiger Mountain, and Sly & the Family Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On — were released then on major labels. As the music biz teeters on the precipice…
The Caribbean lowlands region of Colombia — where the rough northern Andes descend into the sea — is informed by centuries of conquest and cultural assimilation. The result is a vibrant melting pot as tangled and organic as the humid swamps that weave throughout the coastline. Descendants of slaves and…
When did mainstream rap become more relevant than its underground counterpart? Talib Kweli and El-P released self-congratulatory pap this year while Kanye West’s sincere, introspective effort sold almost a million copies in its first week. Now we’ve got Chamillionaire, whose Ultimate Victory is perhaps the most topical album ever. Though…
With his second solo disc — after previously helming local outfit Legends of Rodeo — Florida homeboy John Ralston builds on the strength of his critically acclaimed debut, Needle Bed. He has created something akin to a seminal milestone. Finding the perfect mix of attitude and ambiance, Ralston crafts a…
Sitting behind a monotonous stretch of pastel, cookie-cutter strip malls on Dania Beach’s Stirling Road is a one-of-a-kind addition to Broward’s cultural landscape. Blue Note Records, Miami’s legendary music store, has moved its vinyl and collectibles collection into town. The new shop is located west of the railroad tracks in…
So it’s been a week since the whole Fiascogate situation that took place at last week’s VH1 Hip-Hop Honors, where Lupe Fiasco forgot two bars to A Tribe Called Quest’s “Electric Relaxation” during a tribute to the group. I remember hearing him fumble the verse, but didn’t think too much…
A full bio on Spanish singer Montserrat? No can do. The events of her past and subsequent rise to stardom are as much a blur as the Latin American style of genre-bending mashups that have catapulted her career. While recently talking via phone, she chatters on cheerfully about the production…
In the new Kurt Cobain documentary, About a Son, the trio’s music is noticeably absent. Instead, director A.J. Schnack lets Cobain tell his own life story by splicing raspy narration taken from phone interviews between the musician and author Michael Azerrad with rich scenes of people and places from the…
Derivative, repetitive, insipid, insincere, and pandering, Songs About Girls also has the worst insert booklet in recent memory — seven pages of will.i.am mugging in a checkered suit. Get over yourself! To be fair, the first song, “Over,” a lover’s lament featuring a sample from Electric Light Orchestra (never a…
Thanks to the Diplo-inspired popularity of “favela booty beats” among U.S. audiences, there’s a certain expectation of unhinged rhythmic fire and verbal violence when it comes to Brazilian hip-hop… especially the type emerging from the slums of Rio de Janeiro. This multifaceted compilation from the upstart, “socially conscious” Verge label…
“Our Bovine Public” starts off the new album by the Cribs as an opening shot across the bow of the container ship that is the modern world. Or maybe that’s not the point at all and there are no deeper meanings. It’s hard to tell when every punk and indie…
One thing you notice about Breathing Under Water is that Shankar was willing to go beyond the confines of classical Indian music (her previous discs contained material written by her father, legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar, who guests on the disc). Kale’s sonic textures, which blend Western, Eastern, and electronic…
If there’s one thing the bulk of Bob Marley’s children are good at, it’s carrying the legacy of reggae forward in ways that most people wouldn’t expect. It’s a big part of what’s helped Damian, Stephen, Ziggy, Julian, and now Ky-Mani stand out from the lion’s den of today’s dancehall…
You know, Radiohead, I was just about to go to sleep when I checked my email one last time. And lo and behold, the download code for your new CD, In Rainbows, popped up in my inbox. *sigh* I didn’t need sleep anyway. Since the rest of the blogosphere is…
I love love love Little Steven, of his eponymous weekly syndicated Underground Garage radio show (and 24-hour station on Sirius!). (Locally, listen in on Sunday night/Monday morning from midnight to 2:00 a.m. on BIG 105.9 FM, the only time you will hear something beyond the station’s seeming 20-song “classic rock”…
Everyone was atwitter about this year’s edition of the Bang! Music festival, which started in 2005. On one hand, people were amped to see blabbermouth Kanye West and the recently reunited (sans James Iha) Smashing Pumpkins on the lineup. On the other hand, there was the strange mix of the…
Ministry The Last Sucker (13th Planet/Megaforce) If The Last Sucker is, as leader Al Jourgensen says, Ministry’s swan song, fans are not left wanting. From the assault of opener “Let’s Go,” the album recalls the thick groove and overall intensity of The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste, churning…
Miami’s favorite youth football coach, Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell is back in the news again, but for a good cause. He’s reaching out to folks in the hip-hop industry and gathering support for the Third Annual Battle of the Stars Celebrity Football Tournament to be held in Miami next year…
About two years ago, Jason Tyler lost everything in a Chicago house fire that was started accidentally by a superstar DJ and good friend. Then he spent a couple of semihomeless weeks in New York writing and recording an entire album with nothing more than a laptop that he carried…
Given the advances in digital studio equipment, cutting an album in analog can be both more difficult and more expensive than using readily available modern gear. Ben Harper preferred the old-school experience, however, so he and his band laid down Lifeline fast and dirty using a 16-track console. The results…
Sometimes, the simplest music is the most affecting. So it goes with PJ Harvey’s new studio album, White Chalk, which often feels like a sequel to Björk’s Vespertine. Absent are the scorched-earth guitars and feral vocals for which the songwriter is known. Instead, Chalk finds solace and strength in desolation…
