The complaints about hip-hop’s clichés have become every bit as hoary and tired as the clichés themselves. Yes, the genre wallows in senseless violence, misogyny, and bigotry, we know that. Yes, yes, it obsesses over money and guns and sex, and, uh, money. It does all of those things –…
I actually do put Pee-Wee’s Playhouse on my résumé,” chortles Stanley Clarke. “I’m proud of that.” The bassist and composer of the score for Paul Rubens’ celebrated kiddie show goes on to mention that it was on the Pee-Wee set that he met Lawrence Fishburne, who played the part of…
I can’t! I don’t want to go through the misery again,” stutters Aidan Moffat in his thick Scottish accent, as thorny ex-girlfriend memories tear through his mind. Each time Moffat, lead singer and songwriter of the alternative-folk duo Arab Strap, enters the studio with his guitar-toting partner, Malcolm Middleton, it…
Songwriters often try to inject themselves into their music as much as possible. But Nashville folkie David Olney prefers to keep himself out of his songs and turn first-person narratives into third-person observations. “I’m not that interesting,” Olney croaks over the phone from his home. “I’ve run into people I…
What’s with all the craziness in Lake Worth? Bloody kid-killings, shooting sprees, supper-table massacres. Real estate prices soaring through soggy skies. Mexican food. Weird stuff up there, confirms Kenny 5, a transplanted scenester with a vividly interesting past. “It’s becoming a central location,” he says. “Lake Worth has become a…
On his sophomore turn, Fabolous sounds as if he’s sleepwalking through his Street Dreams. With a languid, stoned flow reminiscent of a less God-fearing Mase, Fabolous’ rhymes are hypnotic and enveloping at their best. But the 23-year-old Brooklyn MC and would-be Tupac incarnate seldom lives up to his potential here,…
No one understands the concept of a meaner, leaner workforce better than Chet “The Cheetah” Weiss. Caught between a rock (his seminal, yet dysfunctional, garage-rock combo The Quadrajets) and a hard place (his doctoral work in economics at Auburn University), Weiss took both jobs and shoved ’em. He then formed…
Wayne Wonder is a lady’s man who’s down with the thugs, equally at home crooning solo love songs over dancehall beats or lacing rude-boy anthems with buttery choruses. His panty-wetting tenor is never nasal and is refreshingly free of the breaks and yelps that other heartthrobs use as shorthand for…
House’s throbbing beats, feel-good vibe, and bare midriffs are never going to be mistaken for Rachmaninoff. But the genre’s bad rep can actually be attributed to DJs and producers who pander to the lowest common denominator with a steady stream of 4/4 beats and whooshy atmospherics instead of pushing deeper…
As a vocalist, Caroline Herve, a.k.a. Miss Kittin, is a familiar name among followers of what’s been termed electroclash. In case you’ve managed to escape the media hype overload, the genre is populated with young bands attempting to pay homage to — and put their own spin on — early…
After a year spent in trend-piece captivity, finally the White Stripes get to be a band again. And a better one, as it turns out. All those pats on the back from the suits at MTV and Clear Channel must have felt like knives to Jack and Meg White, because…
When big money alt-rockers get that hunted feeling in their pool grottos, they might turn around to see the tip of Carrie Brownstein’s six-string rising from the water like a fin. The Sleater-Kinney guitarist’s talent transcends boundaries (if not bodies of water). Rolling Stone even compared her to Jimmy Page…
Live in Brazil, the newest album from Los Angeles trio Concrete Blonde, is the band’s response to the South American aggro-surf culture — usually defined by more metallic acts. “I hate to generalize Latino culture,” begins singer/bassist Johnette Napolitano, “but I find it more relaxed, and happier in a way.”…
Hallandale Beach’s surreal skyline of residential skyscrapers begins to shrink as you drive away from the coast. Hallandale Beach Boulevard turns more mundane and suburban just before it crosses I-95 into a world of Scarlett’s, Mattress Giant, and Circle K. It’s the tiny, mobile-home ville of Pembroke Park. The drab,…
AFI, an unusual hard-rock band, recruited veteran producers Butch Vig and Jerry Finn — an unusual duo — to produce its major- label debut, Sing the Sorrow. Vig made his name producing Nirvana’s Nevermind and built on his heavy-but-dreamy style with Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage (for whom Vig drums). Conversely,…
Once upon a time, reggae was ordained as the next big thing. No fooling. Several mid-1970s critics actually predicted the Jamaican genre was going to hit our shores like a musical squall. Um, not quite. Instead — for many listeners — reggae’s legacy lingers in two ways. One is the…
While the Industrial Jazz Group’s odd moniker conjures images of Nine Inch Nails with a horn section, the Los Angeles combo is actually about as industrial as Bob Seger. (Just in case, City of Angles’ cover includes the warning “File under: ‘Jazz.'”) Fortunately, even the “jazz” in the band’s name…
Deke Dickerson has long championed the nostalgic sounds of rock, surf, and hillbilly. He did it first as a member of Untamed Youth, then for the Dave & Deke Combo, and for the past several years, he has been the guitar-slinging leader of the Ecco-Fonics. This time out, he’s pursuing…
Idlewild has consistently surpassed its emo contemporaries. On The Remote Part, the group crafts emotional, affecting, vital rock music. Humming with bar-band ferocity (and never self-pitying), Idlewild tops its exceptional 100 Broken Windows by breaking free of the influences that colored earlier albums. U2, R.E.M., the Smiths, the Cure –…
Football, apple pie, baseball caps, and deathly secretive same-sex encounters in the locker room — these things were once “All-American” until some of the boys rejected these rites of flowering manhood. Then they grew their hair long and picked up a guitar. As it turns out, rejection is just as…
On the battlefield, a warrior grapples with despair. He’s certain his cause is just. A rival family has stolen his family’s kingdom, but the price he must pay to regain it is too high. Many of his friends and relatives fight on the side of his rival, and killing his…
Eye pressed to a digital video camera, Chris Blackwell pans the view from the wood hut on stilts overlooking an inlet in the Caribbean that he calls his main office. A long table surrounded by batik-upholstered chairs and littered with DVDs, books, and CDs dominates the sun-filled room, where on…
