To chide the Crystal Method for being repetitive misses the point. These guys keep making the same record precisely because they have no interest in growing. And with Legion of Boom, they defiantly remain as empty-headed as ever. Too bad they’re living in the wrong era for such mindlessness. Whether…
In 1988, a quartet of blond Australians concluded the globe needed ABBA to achieve world harmony. Unfortunately, several years before, the Swedish dancing queens had declared they’d never perform again. So the Aussies dubbed themselves Björn Again and took their message of peace and platform shoes worldwide. In 1992, they…
Since the beginning of time (roughly the spring of 2000 for yours truly), the easiest band to write about from our peninsula tip has been Death Becomes You. The band’s grim grindcore was built on the guitar, bass, drums, and screaming, over-the-top stage props, boasts and Tourette’s-like exhortations to “Release…
Since forming in Munich in 1997, Chicks on Speed has evolved from a proto-electroclash pastiche to a boutique busker of buzzing electro. The multinational assembly of German Kiki Moorse, New Yorker Melissa Logan, and Australian Alex Murray-Leslie originated as art academy feminists, designing clothing that doubled as collages. Following suit,…
“The best-selling instrumentalist in the world, with more than 70 million albums sold to date, Kenny G is an international superstar who has earned countless prestigious awards throughout an illustrious career that spans three decades. Now add one more to the list of multiplatinum, chart-topping records: Nothing Special.” So fibs…
Like their Scandinavian cousins, the bands who’ve emerged from the San Francisco Bay Area in the past few years — Vue, Richmond Sluts, Big Midnight, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the Pattern, the Warlocks — are hell-bent on creating rock ‘n’ roll that not only acknowledges its past but outstrips it…
There was a time when the Mr. T Experience (MTX for short) was just another hack pop-punk band in a swell emerging from the clubs of Berkeley. While the group definitely had its moments — Love Is Dead from 1996 is probably its most cohesive work — and crafted classic…
Twenty-three years after busting the nation’s jaw with its infamous appearance in The Decline of Western Civilization (Penelope Spheeris’ documentary of the Los Angeles hardcore punk scene), the state of Fear, L.A.’s greatest punk band, is still strong. The band has a greatest-hits record out, a compilation of outtakes emerging…
When did smoking weed with smelly hippies and Rastafarians become more expensive than locking yourself up in a South Beach nightclub with an eightball of blow and some hookers? If we had to guess — 1999. That was around the time Lauryn Hill blew up. It was also the year…
From the Latin jazz imprint of San Francisco-based groove merchant Ubiquity Records comes the latest in a reputable catalog of CDs guaranteed to satisfy. Ochimini is Latin percussion legend Francisco Aguabella’s fifth release on the Cubop label. Despite decades of professional performances and a rangy discography that includes dates and…
Some bandmates find one another through want ads. Others meet in high school, college, or at shitty day jobs. But one night back in 1989, four strangers came together through one passion: breakdancing. The place was the now-defunct dive bar Summers on the Beach, and the men — Steve Copeletti,…
Jeff Rollason, long one of South Florida¹s most innovative musicians, is constantly cooking up lo-fi goodies in his studio/kitchen. His newest project, God Baby, is a partnership with the like-minded Michele Kane. Where Rollason¹s band, the Curious Hair, got off on rudimentary rural rock with experimental flair, God Baby wanders…
Sometimes I wish I were a 12-year-old girl. I wish I wore flirty fashions my parents hated without realizing how stupid I looked in them. I wish the mere sight of Shia LeBeouf caused my heart to race. I wish Madison Avenue loved me the way it loves every other…
It was always easy to dismiss Sun Ra as an anomaly on the jazz scene, a mischievous prankster who dressed up as an outer-space pharaoh to sell records and fill shows. Often overlooked is the fact that the man could play the piano like a demon. It’s obvious on his…
With Map of What Is Effortless, Telefon Tel Aviv marks a radical departure from the opaque ambience of its 2001 debut, Fahrenheit Fair Enough, toward a rich brew of soul and IDM electronics. Much of it, in fact, features the Loyola University Chamber Orchestra, which lends the proceedings a regal,…
The Thrills are five 23-year-olds from Dublin, Ireland, though their sound is straight out of circa-’70s California. The group misled their parents and left home without a record deal, traveling to San Diego to get inspiration and define their sound. So Much for the City proudly displays the band’s influences:…
Jason Trachtenburg has the nasal and energetic over-the-phone demeanor that makes you think of an eccentric uncle who falls down the stairs on purpose, then makes the family gather around the piano for an old-fashioned sing-along, glasses askew. And that’s essentially what he does. As one-third of the Trachtenburg Family…
In the past four years, the music business has experienced a near meltdown, hemorrhaging billions of dollars and sending shock waves that have reverberated all the way to South Florida’s dance music industry. Slow CD sales, a lukewarm U.S. economy, and peer-to-peer downloading of copyrighted music have continued to hammer…
With his supersized Afro, just-woke-up-after-a-late-night voice, and I-can’t-believe-I’m-a-star humility, Tego Calderón might be the most lovable thug of all time. Certainly, he’s the most loved rapper in reggaetón. That kid who was such a pest that he gets his nickname from the pesky abayarde ant suddenly started to look like…
The pen is mightier than the small willy, especially when wielded by small-willied music journalists all too eager to oversimplify the truth for audiences all too willing to put artists in a box. If you had a buck for every time Pat Benatar was cited for “paving the way for…
Even after four solid, gorgeous CDs, Ndegéocello is relatively overlooked by consumers and critics. This new album, marked by fantastic musicianship and pulsating sexual energy, should rectify that. Comfort Woman is a cool-weather disc, perfect for generating heat between lovers. It opens with an invitation, “Love Song #1,” in which…
Alien Ant Farm found fame the old-fashioned way: It latched onto a novelty tune and rammed it up America’s ass. But the SoCal quintet’s follow-up single, “Movies,” showed that it had a dribble of substance, albeit of the sub-Linkin Park variety. The band toured hard, gave 100 percent at shows,…
