A couple years back, singer-songwriter Jake La Botz was spending his Sundays down at the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in south central L.A., and playing in the church’s band with his friend Willie Chambers, of the ’60s R&B group the Chambers Brothers. La Botz is a Buddhist, but the…
Dem bow is like audio crack. The modified Jamaican dancehall beat creeps up on even the most rhythmically challenged and makes them move, leaving them craving more of the springy tempo. On a recent Saturday night at Jackson’s on 3rd, the floor is a sea of bobbing bodies, all grooving…
Another year, another rich haul of Christmas CDs. But instead of coming up with just another essay about holiday music, this time around we decided to help out the ailing economy — not to mention you frazzled holiday shoppers out there — and do a Christmas CD Buying Guide. So…
It seemed like scenesters Mr Kline + The Wizards of Time’s new CD might never see the light of day. But after overcoming personnel setbacks, tape-machine failures, and synth man/co-producer Bob Hoag’s hiatus to record with The Ataris, the band saw it fitting to release two CDs simultaneously — the…
The self-titled debut album from She Wants Revenge isn’t due out ’til the end of January, but Halloween would’ve been a better time to drop music this dark. With lascivious lyrics about damaged relationships (“These Things”) and moonlit sadomasochism (“Monologue”), Justin Warfield sings in a brittle monotone that could freeze…
Keith Jackson, vocalist/guitarist for legendary local punk group Glass Heroes, wears his love for Joe Strummer on his sleeve — and then some. Not only has Jackson seemingly been grafted with the same old-school rough-and-tumble punk style of the late Clash singer, he’s penned poignant paeans to his “personal hero”…
If you’re toiling in a 9-to-5 job, telling yourself that one of these days your musical genius will be discovered, lemme tell you about Zach Schwartz. After years stuck in nowhere bands, Schwartz got canned from yet another job and decided, “Okay, that’s it.” Finally resolving to treat his music…
Uh, excuse us for a just a sec, but as the beyond-buxom breasts of one Candye Kane, the former porn star turned blueswoman, we’d like a word with you. We’re certain we’ve got your attention, due to the fact that your lecherous peepers have been riveted to us since our…
Whether he’s repping the Taliban, dubbing himself “human crack in the flesh,” or prefacing one of his many latently homosexual slip-ups with the transparently insecure caveat “no homo,” Juelz Santana is brilliantly bad. During his second verse from “Mic Check,” Santana sneezes, pauses, and declares, “God blessed me, yes that’s…
Lil Wayne is the Al Green of rap: He could recite the phone book and have listeners hanging on each of his curvaceous consonants and smoldering vowels. On Tha Carter, Vol. II, Wayne more or less does just that, injecting familiar rap tropes (sample chorus: “Get money, fuck bitches, get…
This eight-song EP provides the first real indication that U.K. grime may be more than just a passing fad. South London MC Lady Sovereign, already a battle-scarred veteran at 18, has all the confidence of a sassy 28-year-old, plus the charm and cheekiness of an 8-year-old. Against a backdrop of…
Gosh, Pedro Sanchez must have some mad skills besides owning sweet bikes or hooking up with chicks, since the newly elected class president of Preston High School has been visiting dance clubs and discotheques across North America lately. Then again, indie film actor Efren Ramirez just might be trying to…
Thursday 15Acme Roadhouse: College Night with DJ J. Alan (Top 40) Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: DJ Suzy (hip-hop, dance) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with DJ Jeremy (goth, industrial) Axis-Radius: DJ Riz (funky house) AZ 88: DJ P-Body (jazz fusion, funk) Club Dwntwn: DJs Kirby and Chris Shannon (dance) e4: “Eve”…
Someday they’ll discover it’s not your environment at all, but a biochemical switch in the brain that determines whether you’re into stoner metal or the metal generally preferred by beer-swilling, hat-wearing types. If the members of Clutch do wear hats, they’re probably those trucker caps that say things like “John…
Christmas comes early this year in a pair of intimate Stiletto Formal shows, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve been naughty or nice. In fact, the arty, sex rocker-hipsters of Stiletto probably prefer the former. The band members are fresh off a string of tours and a sweaty sold-out show…
Rhino’s lavish reissues bookend T. Rex’s most fully cooked work, polishing maestro Marc Bolan’s legacy for any Yanks who still think of this overseas superstar as a trashy novelty. Not that trash is beside the point: Bolan’s 1972 masterpiece, The Slider, is full of the kind of grubby teenage reverie…
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I’ve been thinking about the word “nigga” a lot lately. Seems it’s popping out of everybody’s mouth these days, whether it’s high school wiggers or commercial rappers. The way I understand it, there’s two ways to see it: It’s either taking the power out of a derogatory term, much like…
For a leading indie-rock miserablist, Jamie Stewart possesses one of the heartiest, most boisterous laughs you’re ever likely to hear. The 33-year-old Xiu Xiu (pronounced shoe-shoe) front man typically converses quietly, in a polite, thoughtful, self-effacing, and a bit pensive manner, and then — when you least expect it –…
Back in the spring, when I first heard Fine China’s new album, The Jaws of Life, I fixated on the idea of hidden Phoenix treasures. The album’s great from the first listen — moody, Brit-styled pop, but by a band based here. The album’s easily one of the best local…
Catherine Ann Irwin and Janet Beveridge Bean have been at this Freakwater thing since about 1988, which is pretty impressive when you stop to realize that Gram Parsons died after recording a total of two LPs with Emmylou Harris; George Jones and Tammy Wynette were together for only about six…
If hip-hop’s all about the handle, the hooks, and the homies, then local wordsmith Chilee Powdah’s got the full package. His name (complete with a double “e” for easy rhymes) has thug appeal, and his album Code of Loyalty boasts a combination of thumping club beats, catchy choruses, genre-pimpin’ from…
