Chris Martins

With his deep-voiced delivery, rough-hewn honesty, and laid-back swagger, rapper Freddie Gibbs offers the perfect amalgam of his Midwest roots and latter-day L.A. residence. As Gibbs's recent single, "The Ghetto," declares, he was raised in "the ghetto, the ghetto-ghetto" (in case there was any question) of Gary, Indiana, where corrupt...

Are you embarrassed around your closest friends? Suffer from unsightly outcroppings of polo shirts and pastels? Every so often do you unintentionally leak enthusiasm for Vampire Weekend? It's all right — Abe Vigoda is here to help. The tropical punk quartet is the next in line, after No Age, to...