The Jayhawks Sound of Lies (American Recordings) It was the perfect setup, at least on the exterior: They shared songwriting credits, shared lead vocals, shared the stage until it was difficult to discern just who brought what to the party. With their old buddies in Uncle Tupelo, you could easily…
The term “roots” music has come to mean almost everything that’s good and older than the day before yesterday, including rockabilly, swing, soul and ethnic forms like polka, salsa and conjunto. It’s gotten easier just to say what roots doesn’t cover: music on the charts or MTV, apparently, and anything…
Several London dance clubs can lay claim to the title “England [and therefore the world]’s First Underground House Music Club.” But only one–a South London spot called Heaven–has clear bragging rights to “England [and therefore the world]’s First Chill-Out Room.” It also can lay claim to helping bring about the…
The second annual New Times Music Awards Showcase is history. And–let’s see, how can I put this delicately?–it kicked total ass. Just more than 11,000 people came to the party, most venues were consistently packed, the DJ showcase went off, and, overall, we’re feeling about like the girl with the…
The Boo Radleys C’mon Kids (Mercury) Eggman First Fruits (Creation) The Boo Radleys should have been contenders. Of all the bands on England’s legendary Creation Records roster devoted to reinterpreting the psychedelic ’60s through the prism of the postmodern ’90s, Martin Carr and company had the goods. More forward-looking than…
Various artists Kerouac: Kicks Joy Darkness (Rykodisc) Talk about timing. Kicks Joy Darkness, an inventive take on selected Jack Kerouac poems and prose, hit the bins less than a day before Kerouac’s onetime cohort, Allen Ginsberg, trocheed his last couplet and joined his old Beat-buddy in the sky. Ginsberg’s passing…
The title of Tempe trip-funk collective Polliwog’s debut release, More Soul Than a Rabbit Factory, begs the query: “Fine, but just how much soul does a rabbit factory have?” Considering how much money the band poured into making the album, though, the better question is, “And how much money can…
Bzzzt. Pop. Check. Check. So how’s everybody doing out there? I said . . . how’s everybody doing out there!? All right! Are you ready for the second annual New Times Music Awards Showcase!? Coooool. Before we get started, I’d like to take a second and thank our sponsors. Especially…
They ain’t built the CD tower that can hold Joe Myers. Just try slotting any of the Tempe solo guitarist’s three homespun releases into your favorite disc organizer with anything resembling ease. It can’t be done! First, House With Nine Rooms came in a slim cardboard sleeve. Next, each copy…
Overwhelmed by the cornucopia of bands and venues on the table at the New Times Music Awards Showcase? This fun quiz is here to help! It’s easy: Just read the statements below and score each for how closely it describes your primary musical tastes, lifestyle and present state of mind…
Modern Rock Rusty Jones Note: Jazz-informed beatnik rock, with a monster sax player, deep bass grooves and intensely poetic lyrics via front man G. DeVoe. Quote: “We love to fly, and it shows.”–Garrett DeVoe BTW: Rusty Jones goes through drummers like Spinal Tap, and the resulting long gaps between live…
Nina Simone Anthology: The Colpix Years (Rhino) This two-disc compilation is neither a satisfactory introduction to nor a true anthology of Nina Simone’s career. It only covers her late-’50s and early-’60s tenure with Colpix Records–her early, formative years–and so omits such important original compositions as “Mississippi Goddamn” and “Young, Gifted…
Ben Folds is trying to explain why his band, Ben Folds Five, only has three people. Folds has been asked this before. “I’m not sick of the question yet,” he says. “I’m just sick of not having a good answer.” So, what is the deal with the name? “Well,” Folds…
Fair’s fair. A few pages ago, I dissed Rolling Stone for breaking out the Jimi Hendrix comparisons in a recent review of the new Chemical Brothers (no, really). But on the flip side, I have to commend the pop-music mag of record for recognizing home-grown Valley hip-hop DJ Z-Trip in…
The Chemical Brothers Dig Your Own Hole (Astralwerks) Attention, white boys: You can now, for the first time, bump Schooly D in your ride with subcultural authority. It’s the new Chemical Brothers, opening cut, “Block Rockin’ Beats,” and it goes a little somethin’ like this: First, an ominous drone rises…
Phil Rind stepped onto the Hollywood Records lot in Los Angeles and bowed to the Mickey Mouse-sculpted hedge guarding the entryway to the Disney-owned label. It was 1993 and Rind’s band–four thrash-core rockers from Scottsdale who called themselves Sacred Reich–had just signed the sweetest recording deal of its career. “I…
Last month, Revolver’s special investigations team (me) went undercover at the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference, the music industry’s largest, most (in)famous artist showcase/convention/trade show. Cynicism grates on the soul after a while, and my trip was an attempt to find a glimmer of artist-oriented purity in an…
“I believe in the possibility of a new era,” Kula Shaker front man Crispian Mills recently told a leery New York journalist. “You can sing about things like premature teenage sex, or you can sing about everlasting, universal truth.” Looks like we may have another Bono on our hands. Mills,…
Tony Bennett On Holiday: A Tribute to Billie Holiday (Columbia) Tony Bennett has nearly always been an anachronism. His career began just as his brand of sophisticated Tin Pan Alley melody was about to get swallowed up by the passionate rhythms of rock ‘n’ roll; a half-century later, with all…
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds The Boatman’s Call (Warner Bros.) Religion has always had its place in rock ‘n’ roll, appropriately enough for the devil’s music (see: Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Elvis during his gospel days, Bob Dylan when he wasn’t feeling so Jewish); modern rockers now tend…
Although it took several weeks for news to jump the pond, Sweet front man Brian Connolly died of liver failure last month in Slough, England. Here’s why you should care: For better or worse, Connolly was the godfather of glam–the first rock star to put glitter on his face, wear…
As the evening sunset glows above a nearly deserted downtown Los Angeles, Norris Anderson slips out the back of the Criminal Courts Building, lights a cigarette and ponders his bizarre ascension to the top of the biggest, baddest, most messed-up rap record company in the world. Minutes earlier, 31-year-old Death…
