Indie Unplugged Miami was a nifty little show that went down at the Wallflower Gallery last July and was recorded for posterity. As far as a live recording is concerned, the quality is pretty good. It’s not commercially available, so you have to get this South Florida sampler from the…
Usher Here I Stand (LaFace/Sony BMG) You really can’t fault entertainers claiming “player for life” status. At least they’re being honest; everyone from Rod Stewart to Karrine “Superhead” Steffans knows that the promiscuous can’t be reformed and that once you get the taste of the easy-lovin’, high society lifestyle, it’s…
Turkey: Mor ve Otesi – “Deli” (Insane) Turkey was ballsy and pretty ass-kicking on two levels here: 1) For entering a straight-ahead contemporary rock song, with band members actually playing their instruments, and 2) For singing in Turkish. That effectively prevents any kind of crossover success, even within Europe, but…
Because today’s a slow, lazy holiday, here are some more highlights from last week’s and weekend’s Eurovision song contest. The previous blog entry looked at some countries’ intentionally funny entries. Now is time for some possibly unintentional lulz. Azerbaijan: Elnur & Samir – “Day After Day” It looks like they’re…
This last weekend marked the finals of the Eurovision song contest’s 2008 edition…. What, haven’t heard of it? If not, you’ve missed out on years of amazing spectacle, full of slinky costumes, little-heard languages, and some of the most painful strains of Euro dance pop we’ll never hear widely on…
Benga Diary of an Afro Warrior (Tempa) South London dubstep veteran Benga operates on several (next) levels when he plants himself in front of a synthesizer keyboard and a hard drive of edited drum patterns. The producer’s Diary of an Afro Warrior, in its array of divergent sonics, speaks to…
Some teenaged girls develop obsessions with hot celebrities like Johnny Depp or Justin Timberlake. Some go gaga over the blue-eyed high school quarterback. Some fall for their older brother’s sexy best friend — the one with the washboard abs and broad shoulders. Yeah, I’m a sucker for blue eyes and…
There is a point early on in every artist’s career when their morals are put to the test. The music industry and personal ideals often clash, and the pathway to success typically has a distinct fork in the road. For 24-year-old reggae singer Etana, the imagery of when she first…
On the surface, Amber Opsincs and Shawn Reed appear to be ordinary 16-year-old girls. Their hair still has that high school sheen, they giggle at each other’s jokes in that special BFF way, and hitching rides from the ‘rents is their modus operandi until they score licenses next year. But…
It seemed like this trial would never happen, but as of yesterday, R Kelly’s child pornography trial finally began in Chicago. The famous R&B singer has managed to delay this trial numerous times to the point where the 14-year-old girl he’s accused of performing lewd sex acts on camera with…
2008 Keeps on getting better for Rick Ross. MTV recently dropped their “Hottest MC’s in the Game” list and it’s already causing a stir. There are a few questionable picks on the list and I’m not sure if I agree with any of it based on the order. If you…
Last Friday night, the gossip hounds at CNN were going on and on about actress/troublemaker Lindsay Lohan. There’s nothing new with that–except the talk was all about her cameo in the new N.E.R.D. video for “Everybody Nose.” According to the folks on CNN, the song is all about partying and…
Animal heads and mounted skulls give me chills. Nothing strikes fear in my heart like a room that celebrates Bambi’s untimely demise by having his decapitated head bolted to the wall. And like so many of my irrational convictions and strange fears, this started when I was a little girl…
Sometimes, the assholes in charge of dishing out work visas make mistakes. When British rapper Riz MC (who’s Muslim and of Pakistani descent) tried coming to the United States a couple of months ago for a showcase at South by Southwest followed by a couple of spot dates in New…
Down Home Southernaires were at one point known as Pygmy, and as Pygmy, they were great. As the DHS, they are even better. Imagine some country-fried soul R&B in the vein of Hialeah’s pride Coke (the band!) mixed with Clarence Reid’s Blowfly high jinks. Add Elastic Bond’s eclectic Dashiki express,…
At all times, legendary hip-hop drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson is a man pulled in many directions. The 37-year-old musician, producer, blogger, and hip-hop tastemaker usually has enough projects going on that he could win a multitasking award (if one existed). Aside from being a mainstay in his long-term band the…
Duran Duran boasts a rare longevity in the world of pop music — 12 albums and some 30 years in the business. The group’s two distinguishing members, synth master Nick Rhodes and vocalist Simon LeBon, still speak to each other. Fans have accustomed themselves to the periodic, reptilian sloughing of…
The weepy white girls who relentlessly spun Portishead’s two ’90s studio albums may find little on Third that recalls the existential meltdowns they had during their collegiate days. There’s no spy-movie danger, there’s no filigreed trip-hop beats, no faux-Billie Holiday vocals… there’s no beauty. Instead, there’s just raw dread, crackly…
Whoever came up with genre classifications for music obviously never heard of Santogold. The alarmingly catchy self-titled debut by Philly native Santi White offers an endless cache of crossover tunes ranging from indie pop, punk/ska, and dub reggae to new wave and electro club. In many cases, the genre-busting aural…
They certainly didn’t invent Americana music or, for that matter, reinvent it, but the BoDeans were responsible for one of its biggest hits, courtesy of an irrepressible anthem called “Closer to Free.” Thrust into the genre’s top ten after the television show Party of Five made that tune its theme…
Scrolling the Weezy files doesn’t always lead to stellar tracks. He’s got plenty of home runs, too many triples, a decent amount of doubles, and straight up strikes out that don’t even come close to a single on the windiest day. But check this track out between Kanye and Lil…
The verdict is in and New York rapper Remy Ma has been sentenced to 8 years in a federal prison for assault, weapon possession and attempted coercion after shooting her friend, Makeda Barnes Joseph, last July in a dispute over money. Remy Ma accused her girlfriend of stealing $3,000 from…
