When Hip-Hop strolled into the debutante ball in her homespun garb, she barely got a glance. Those who did look scoffed at her lack of instruments, forgetting that guitarsbassdrums are only tools, with no imagination besides that which is brought to them. Two decades later, sitting prettier after capping the…
It’s baaaack! This summer sees the Vans-sponsored Warped Tour reaching its 10th summer of rocking young people in baggy shorts silly with a motley crew of relatively diverse bands from across the spectrum of “aggressive music” — however you choose to define it. As always, there’s wheat, and then there’s…
In the mid- to late ’90s, Armand Van Helden was the name in American progressive trance and house, penning hits like “U Don’t Know Me” and “Witch Doktor,” while remixing tracks by everyone from Puff Daddy to the Rolling Stones. His two post-millennial LPs met with tepid critical press and…
Like their stateside sisters the Dixie Chicks, the Corrs have watched their commercial success grow as they’ve pruned the traditional musical elements that originally defined them from their sound. Borrowed Heaven, the photogenic family group’s fourth studio album, contains traces of their Irish heritage, but the flavor’s never more prevalent…
Before he was a member of this bicoastal dance-punk outfit, drummer John Pugh belonged to the same small but energized Arkansas music scene I did; every time the pre-Pugh !!! would come to Little Rock, we’d throw a dance party raucous enough to attract the cops but good-natured enough to…
Because bland people who have bland conversations at bland dinner parties need more bland background music to play once the Train CD ends, South Carolina’s Edwin McCain puts out a new album every two years or so. Really, though, what would you expect from a guy initially championed by Hootie…
Now that Creed has broken up, the Cali-based P.O.D. — best known for its hit “Youth of the Nation” — has cornered the market on spiritual groups. But lead singer Sonny Sandoval explains that he’s somewhat uncomfortable with that label. After all, no one is calling the Beastie Boys a…
Underground hip-hop crews may not have the flash and bling of their mainstream counterparts, but they usually get the last laugh via artistic credibility and career longevity. (When was the last time you heard from a No Limit soldier or a Cash Money Millionaire?) On Saturday, June 19, you get…
1. NB Ridaz, NB Ridaz.com (Upstairs) 2. Usher, Confession (LaFace) 3. Velvet Revolver, Contraband (RCA) 4. Juvenile, Juve the Great (Universal) 5. Petey Pablo, Still Writing in My Diary (BMG) 6. Modest Mouse, Good News for People Who Love Bad News (Epic) 7. Kanye West, The College Dropout (Roc-A-Fella) 8…
After moving 80,000 copies of its Lava Records debut, A Passage in Time, Mesa’s Authority Zero returns with a mlange of ska, punk, rock, and even an Irish drinking song on its sophomore effort, Andiamo. Seamlessly wavering between reggae-dub (“Madman”) and acerbic punk songs such as “Revolution” and “PCH,” Authority…
After a six-year hiatus, the Beastie Boys return with To the 5 Boroughs and alternately position themselves as pop culture bottom feeders and political pedants. While anti-Bush screeds “That’s It That’s All” and “Time to Build” come across as heavy-handed, the terse “Open Letter to NYC” does manage to channel…
Just as the words colour and color don’t mean quite the same thing, there are no American analogues to Syd Barrett, XTC, Robyn Hitchcock, David Sylvian or the Legendary Pink Dots (acid reference almost certain). The Pink Dots emerged from England in 1980, moved to Amsterdam (legal cannabis influence almost…
If you’ve ever sat in your third-period trigonometry class and daydreamed that Ben Folds would hook up with the guys from Weezer to record an album (and really, who hasn’t?), then boy do I have a band for you: Piebald. Don’t let the third wave ska-style name throw you off…
After 17 years, is No Doubt coming to the end of its New Wave/ska-pop road? You don’t need a Magic 8-Ball to see that signs point to yes: Gwen Stefani is currently at work on her solo debut with the likes of OutKast and Missy Elliott, and also getting her…
The bohemian vibe is always present at the Sail Inn in Tempe, but the producers of this Friday’s Buhay party aim to amp it up even higher. Buhay (pronounced “boo-HIGH,” it’s Tagalog for “life”) is bringing Montreal producer and DJ JoJo Flores to town to add his soulful house grooves…
Still holding out hope they’ll find those pesky WMDs? While Saddam’s hoard may never be discovered, you’ll uncover plenty here at this showcase of East Coast hip-hop legends. The Mash Out Posse (Lil’ Fame and Billy Danze) of Brooklyn’s infamous Brownsville section bring their sarin-tipped ghetto rhymes and experimental rap-rock…
Electroclash was just a 15-minute cocaine high on the pop time line, so Miss Kittin is deservedly cranky on her solo debut-cum-comedown, I Com. She kicks off a liturgy of her sub-A-list duties (adding people to the guest lists, kissing cheeks) on the opening track, “Professional Distortion,” before reminding us…
The mere mention of Vancouver’s Skinny Puppy elicits images of traumatic soundscapes that often spiral into the chaotic; the band’s output was matched only by its flair for the visually unsettling. It was that combination that put Nivek Ogre, cEvin Key, and the late Dwayne Goettel shoulder to shoulder with…
Though he mostly emotes with a morose mumble instead of a caustic croak, Hayden just might be Canada’s answer to Vic Chesnutt: an endearing, love-troubled kook with a penchant for poignant, sometimes darkly humored yarns spun all indie-folk-like. In “Wide Eyes” — a mournful strings ‘n’ piano ballad that opens…
Top 10 sellers at Zia Record Exchange (1940 West Indian School Road) for May 30 through June 5: 1. Slipknot, Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (Roadrunner) 2. Method Man, Tical 0: Prequel (Def Jam) 3. D12, D12 World (Shady) 4. Usher, Confessions (La Face) 5. Avril Lavigne, Under My Skin…
Anyone who has heard interviews with the group Velvet Revolver pretty much knows the members could have named themselves the Rehab All-Stars. Front man Scott Weiland, formerly of Stone Temple Pilots, is notorious for his drug use and surrounding shenanigans. The behavior of his bandmates/Guns n’ Roses expatriates — guitarist…
Crawling like a sunrise across a parched desert landscape, Califone’s rootsy folk-blues has all the spacious grace of an Ennio Morricone spaghetti Western soundtrack, ushered into the 21st century by the background clatter and thrum of electronics. Forged from the ashes of Red Red Meat, the Chicago quartet continues to…
