The indie hip-hop movement bubbling up out of Miami is gaining ground on its mainstream opposition, not only because its beats and rhymes are tight but also because it’s learning to break all of the right rules. Take homegrown record label Hoverock, which has released the Kill Ugly Remix —…
The sophomore album by hip-hop artist El-P portrays a world plagued by war and malevolent technology. Cities are burning under the noses of uncaring mayors. There are “rats tappin’ glass in a government lab.” It doesn’t sound happy. Then again, these aren’t happy times. “C’mon, Mom, can I borrow the…
The Winter Music Conference (WMC) sounds like an incredible, genre-defying jam that could be conjured up only in the wildest dream state. We’re entering a week packed with parties and special events, where the collective lineup of talent features everything from classic goth-rockers the Cure to the current “King of…
Alright is a love-loathe proposition. Plenty of listeners will be enchanted by Allen’s defiantly casual singing, cool-girl vocabulary, and taste for hybrid pop, while others are sure to find these attributes irritating to the extreme. As for the MySpace phenom in the spotlight, she doesn’t appear to care what reaction…
Since putting their collaborative efforts on hiatus last year, the dynamic duo of Dubfire and Sharam, known more famously as Deep Dish, have each sought to create a stronger distinction between their solo recordings. Although Sharam has adopted a free-wheeling aesthetic, Dubfire has taken a decidedly rootsy turn with his…
Anyone hoping that singer David Kilgour’s latest disc, The Far Now, would be a return to the streamlined, guitar-driven rush of his former New Zealand punk outfit the Clean will quickly be disappointed. Instead, for this, his sixth album, he’s offering down-to-Earth, contemplative jangle-rock with melodies and moods strong enough…
While many of his famous Brazilian contemporaries are reissuing hits from their lengthy catalogs, 64-year-old singer Caetano Veloso stubbornly continues to push himself forward, as evidenced on his newest album, Cê. The simple, stripped-down instrumentation here (guitar, bass, drums) is also a nice change from some of his larger samba…
Sometimes, house music is just too underground for its own good. Entire dance albums are composed, mixed down, and released in the middle of the night, but try getting in touch with these fly-by-night producers. It isn’t easy. 24 hour Miami House Music is a raucous album with a cheesy…
During a President’s Day weekend show last month in San Francisco, Michael Franti and his band, Spearhead, temporarily ceded the stage to a handful of fans who had won a “Letters to the President” contest sponsored by the group. There was plenty of vitriol in the air, and one letter,…
Here’s a good rule to follow: You should never trust what critics have to say about music, since most critics, as far as this journalist can tell, don’t even trust what other critics have to say about music. Here’s another good rule to follow: Ignore that first rule if the…
There’s no worse feeling as a music writer than having a local band blow up right under your nose and gain national acclaim without your hearing a word about them. It’s not a common occurrence, but when it happens, all you can do is dust yourself off, swallow that lump…
Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible is a dense, academic, and ultimately rewarding album fixated on questions of spirituality, religion, and the concept of self — and more specifically, how to reconcile these things in a bleak world where uncertainty is the norm, hope seems dead, and God isn’t exactly benevolent. (That…
Legendary Brazilian singer Gilberto Gil has always stood out when it comes to musical production. After the Tropicalia phenomenon he helped create in the 1960s went global, Gil left it alone. As new-wave samba and bossa nova gained foreign acclaim in the early 1970s, Gil steered away from those genres…
For certain hip-hoppers affiliated with J Dilla, making music without the legendary producer just isn’t the same since he passed away. He helped a slew of average MCs get a rep, but his beats were so crisp and mind-boggling, it was easy to forget how pedestrian some of his friends…
Sure, Mary Karlzen sings like a coal miner’s daughter and lives in Wisconsin, but she’s originally a South Florida home girl who got her break with local outfit Y&T Music. Her third album, Dim the Watershed, released on Y&T in 2000, helped legitimize the hype regarding South Florida’s musical talent…
Is there such a thing as fate in musical collaborations? There is if you’re former sElf frontman Matt Mahaffey and former God Lives Underwater guru Jeff Turzo. The pair came together after each found himself watching videos of the other’s band on MTV’s 120 Minutes — the station had confused…
The fifth edition of the Langerado Music Festival arrives with a ton of hype, a couple of megastars on the bill, and lots of bands flying in from across North America to participate. It’s arguably the biggest party in Broward County all year, and for those of us who take…
“It’s like they say in the States,” says Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s Albert Mazibuko, “don’t hate the player, hate the game.” Then he laughs, but only because of how bizarrely out of place this droll chestnut of American street slang sounds in the context of what he’s talking about, which is…
On his previous album, Joyful Rebellion, Canadian rapper k-os shouted defensive lyrics like “Hip-hop is not dead/it’s the mind of the MC.” That particular rhyme got him in trouble with critics who saw the Toronto-based lyricist as a preachy preacher’s kid proselytizing the masses. And k-os actually is a preacher’s…
Because jazz sitarist/guitarist Rez Abbasi was born in Pakistan, studied in India, grew up in Los Angeles, and paid his dues in NYC, it’s safe to say he’s the prime example of what it takes to have a genuinely global sound. Trying to hang a rudimentary genre handle on Abbasi…
Jamaican singer Richie Spice is approaching dancehall music from a vastly different angle than most of his peers do. Despite growing up in the rough parish of St. Andrews, Spice’s smooth vocals and delicate songwriting is in stark contrast to most of the soundbwoy fi dead shit-talk proliferating throughout the…
Sexually inquisitive college girls have Ani DiFranco. Metaphysically minded faerie fetishists have Tori Amos. And aging Gen-X hipsters have Kristin Hersh. Of the three women, the latter is the most underrated and vital artist and probably the most normal. On Learn to Sing Like a Star — her 21st release…
