Uh-oh. TVT’s collection of Southern thug rappers is pretty much — to borrow a phrase from actress Lindsay Lohan — completely retarded. The Dirty South’s incarnation of gangsta rap doesn’t hold a candle to the West Coast’s industry-shaking forebears like ‘Pac and Eazy. Lil’ Jon and the Eastside Boyz, Atlanta’s…
Out of the Shadow is the sound of music getting good again. It’s the sound of pop music distilled to its true essence; the toe-tapping, hand-holding, paper airplane-throwing soundtrack to a breezy summer day. And it’s flowing out of the amps of San Francisco quartet Rogue Wave. The perfectly crafted…
Can you possibly compare Iron Maiden to Poison? Not really, but the Wildhearts are often compared to their U.K. brethren the Darkness. They’re two different animals, and the Wildhearts’ latest record leans further toward the dark chasm of metal than the glitter of glam-pop. The guitar work is ultimate shreddery,…
So, exactly how many cover songs do the Remnants know? Quite a few, actually. OK, a lot; more than 70 — some punk, some garage, and some just plain rock. But that¹s not to say the Remnants are a cover band. Five of the six tunes on this disc are…
Remember how fun it was to sneak out of your room after bedtime and watch MTV — at least for us 20- and 30-somethings labeled as the “MTV Generation.” Well, MTV pretty much sucks now, but in pockets of Palm Beach County, you can still find a local show that…
When it comes to interviews with overexposed, platinum-certified stars such as D12, the conversations can sound a bit… scripted. For example, check out this chestnut posed to group-member Swift: “What makes you stand out from Kuniva, Bizarre, Kon Artis, Proof, and Eminem?” “I’m a hardcore MC. I’m a lyrical assassin,”…
Although I slept through my freshman micro-economics course far more than I attended, and thus am hardly an expert in such matters, I believe a band may safely be deemed “efficient” if it can make an entire album for $6 (no matter how long it takes) or in five days…
Is it fair that mambo pioneer bassist Israel “Cachao” Lopez is 85 years old and still producing beautiful music, when the rest of us are just sitting around doing nothing? Well, no, but as long as he keeps making records like this, it just doesn’t matter. All the information you…
Antibalas’ latest album, Who Is This America?, finds the 17-piece ensemble from Brooklyn making lemonade out of the bitterest lemons, whether it’s misogynistic urban culture or stilted U.S. foreign policy. While a bit more overtly political than 2002’s Talkatif, Antibalas offers a bright, danceable sound that’s given backbone by a…
The title of the Ponys’ debut, Laced with Romance, is as accurate as that Spears girl is chaste. With lines like “I only love ya ’cause you, ’cause you look like me,” the band is like that disheveled boyfriend who drinks too much at parties and never says he loves…
For those who have a Dead Can Dance-shaped hole in their hearts since the group’s dissolution — and for those who liked them but were put off by their occasional goth dalliances — take heart. Vas has picked up where DCD left off. Vas is the duo of vocalist Azam…
While the four turntablists in the X-Ecutioners appear god-like on stage behind the wheels of steel — pawing at breakbeats and twisting tempos into a rhythmic frenzy — their work as producers has been pedestrian, ranging from the decent-but-simple to the simply horrendous. Their latest, Revolutions, is hardly a masterpiece,…
Last Friday night at Ohm nightclub in West Palm Beach, I learned a few things: (1) Hardly anyone drinks beer at a hip-hop show. It’s all about Hypnotiq, Grey Goose, and good ol’ Hennessy with lime. (2) Hats are in. It doesn’t matter if it’s one of those annoying mesh…
The scene at downtown Fort Lauderdale’s Poor House on any given Friday or Saturday night is familiar. Young men and women pile into the club’s close quarters to hear the band and unwind. People sit at the bar and swap stories while a handful of tipsy patrons spills out into…
Bright beams of colored light swirl and sweep across the crowded dance floor, illuminating sweaty, muscular bodies. The relentless bass is more than just loud; it’s a full-body massage at 130 beats per minute. Neon green go-go dancers gyrate wildly on elevated platforms as artificial fog wafts around the room…
The Beastie Boys’ first three albums each redefined pop music, and Ad Rock, Mike D, and MCA haven’t known what to do since. Ill Communication simply copied the sarcastic, live hip-hop of Check Your Head and wound up perfectly in sync with the Lollapalooza zeitgeist, but the electronic experimentation of…
Further distinguishing themselves from their laptop-addled colleagues, the Chapel of Keith Tenniswood and Andrew Weatherhall sees the duo veer from gently batting the electronic template to an all-out smackdown. Whereas they were once immersed in the synthesis of their gadgets on 2000’s Tiny Reminders, Two Lone Swordsmen dust off the…
Take a high school band from suburban Australia, lock it in a recording studio with records by Belle & Sebastian, Brigitte Bardot, and the Beach Boys, then give its members only sugary snacks to subsist upon and you might come up with Architecture in Helsinki’s debut CD, Fingers Crossed. While…
Dear Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Here is my treatment for a future advertisement: We start with a close-up of a hot, butter-coated FRYING PAN. There is NO SOUND. We see two hands crack a couple of EGGS, which splash and sizzle on the skillet as we fade up VELVET…
Ever heard the old saying, “You can’t polish a turd?” These are the exact words I would have spoken to the incomparable Butch Walker before he signed on as producer of this record. He did a damn good job on the production end — as good as one could do,…
Lefty Lucie Lefty Lucie (self-released) Lefty Lucie is a five-piece from Broward County, fronted by singer Lucie Wood. The debut self-titled EP is four songs of breezy, chiming guitars and drums backing Wood¹s charming, sultry vocals. So what¹s up with the band¹s name? Is it a nod to leftist politics?…
It turns out the funniest Onion-esque fake news story penned so far this year did not spring from the Onion. No, Sub Pop Records — a concern not ordinarily known for its forays into satire and comedy writing — deserves full credit for “Pitchfork Staff Member Says ‘Hi’ to Real-Life…
