Pieced together by an all-star team of producers (RZA, Raekwon, Mark Ronson) and bolstered by guest vocalists like Missy Elliott, Macy Gray, and fellow Wu-Tang alumni Ghostface Killah and Method Man, A Son Unique feels more like a posthumous tribute to Russell Jones than an actual ODB album. Even so,…
Mac McCaughan’s bandmates in Chapel Hill’s influential and self-sufficient Superchunk probably didn’t think twice back in 1993 when he inaugurated his side project, Portastatic. What’s a few four-track outtakes between friends? But it bodes ill for a band when its spinoffs cease to be mere sketch-pads for the main event,…
Irving Fields, pianist, still had a few months left in the army when he landed his gig at the Versailles Hotel in Miami Beach. The year was 1945. He was stationed in Alabama. But he had been a piano prodigy since the age of eight and had played on cruise…
From the introductory acoustic Rastafari anthem “Life Seeds” to the concluding cool jazz riffs belying the incendiary sentiment of “Keep Burning Rome,” the debut CD from reggae singer I Wayne fulfills the substantial musical promises heard in his previous singles “Living in Love” and the Billboard-charting hit “Can’t Satisfy Her.”…
The story of house music’s origins is sort of The Aristocrats for the seasoned DJ set — you know how it begins (Jack, his groove, and “Let there be house!”), you know how it ends (fresh!), so what distinguishes each version is what paves the journey. The two-CD Kings of…
50 Cent may be the most hated star in the game, inspiring more dis records than LL Cool J in the “Rock the Bells” era. But it’s difficult to front on records such as “Outta Control,” which is all floss and snake oil charm. The beat approximates the sound of…
Foxy is one of the only rap cats who can big up King Selassie I with more authentic patois twang than half the Def Jam Caribbean roster. The flow kicks behind the groove all seductive and delicious. I know you didn’t respect her raggachat circa “Broken Silence,” so go head…
Pop reggaeton spends more time translating itself than residing in itself. Not to mention announcing itself. Luckily this track skimps on translation of its request to, say, sientan el poder, perhaps more out of embarrassment than anything else. Leave the Vargas-reminiscent video aside; Fat Joe’s rap is adorably clumsy while…
One of the great misconceptions of dance music mythology is that the DJ is an anonymous conduit of groove. This idea of celebrity subversion may appeal to the dance community’s vaguely socialist politics, but it simply isn’t true. There are dance-floor superstars, and in this upper stratosphere of big beats,…
Despite the group’s phenomenal success of X&Y, which has already sold in excess of two million copies in the U.S. since its early-June release, this heir apparent to the U2 throne promises a satisfying show sans the arrogance of other Brit rock stars such as Oasis and Tony Blair. Chris…
Go ahead and choose a subject. It could be as simple as a glass of water or as delicate as a soured relationship. Whatever it might be, chances are Puerto Rican master storyteller Victor Manuelle could take the topic and instantly spin a breathless yarn that would leave you transfixed…
The accelerated release date of Damian Marley’s third CD is owed to the tremendous response his “Welcome to Jamrock” single has received on urban radio. However, nothing about this CD sounds hurried. The nimble production by Damian’s older brother Stephen audaciously weaves hip-hop, R&B, and even rock and roll beats…
Sure, we could follow the lead of nearly every story ever written about Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo and spout off about what a weird guy he is. The heralds at Rolling Stone even said so on their cover just a few months ago. Yeah, we could pile it on, maybe…
Hurricane Katrina affects us all one way or another. The disaster is something much larger than any of us — collectively or individually — and we will never be able to gauge its complete impact. But if any city can begin to imagine what New Orleans is going through, it’s…
The acid-spiked electronic dub that closes the second half of Selecta One bodes well for the Hacky Sack-hoarding, poncho-clad hippie types, but its glitches and spacy meanderings might leave a sour taste on even the most stoned of tongues. The disc pits producers Jason Kennedy (Polycubist) against Kenneth Gibson (DubLoner)…
As the singer/songwriter of the now-defunct Catherine Wheel, Rob Dickinson presided over one of the most chameleonlike bands of the Nineties — exploring everything from shoegazer to grunge-pop to Radioheadesque prog over the course of the band’s five proper studio albums. Sadly, his first official solo effort, Fresh Wine for…
I’m thinking more Hotel MTV than Scarface here. A lineage that traces back to that one cool kid in Sixteen Candles — you remember? Yeah, him. Jay Gatsby before him. Wait a minute though; the dude’s from San Diego. When does he not have summer? Like Lydon always sez, ever…
In 2004 international audiences decided they’d heard enough dancehall songs condemning homosexuals (or as they’re known in dancehall circles, “batty boys”). The homophobic rants were more than just monotonous and alienating; they threatened to permanently tarnish the one-love luster that has traditionally defined reggae music. Even established Jamaican artists such…
I did not shoot Suge Knight. I did, however, meet the gangsta and has-been rap mogul just hours before he was shot in the early hours of this past Sunday morning. The meeting occurred at Ludacris’s star-studded “barbecue” at South Beach’s Hotel Victor. The party was a surprisingly intimate affair…
There’s a powerful air of déjà vu permeating urban pop music, in which the boy bands are lively and snappy and the teen idols are up-front and oversexed. New Edition’s “Candy Girl” days of insinuation and nuance are long gone, but still these young R&B/hip-hop stars of today echo shades…
On Late Registration Kanye West ventures into the sort of rough psychological waters few MCs dare to tread. Moments of self-doubt crop up, while thorny questions regarding personal integrity and undue entitlement seemingly threaten to capsize West’s platinum-plus career. But in the end no one — especially not the man…
With degenerate drones dripping from their 808s, drum machines, and effects boxes, Excepter is dance music for noise nerds. But for the rest of us, the group hews far closer to Throbbing Gristle than anything you’ll find in a club, at least this side of Armageddon. Excepter’s most recent releases,…
