If most of the Ghostly International clique, led by sterling electronic producers Matthew Dear and Tadd Mullinix, is the resurrection/remix of all sounds Detroit, then Kill Memory Crash is the revival of nearby Chicago’s Wax Trax! past. Kill Memory Crash mixes its heavy industrial vibes with newfangled IDM techniques, seeking…
Those who love to laze along Miami Beach’s well-trod sands will still want plenty of sun come July 4, so why not listen to some good music while you’re at it? Nikki Beach is offering a prize for you aesthetes: an all-day, all-night party featuring big-time DJs Steve Lawler and…
After a decade as a rock-anthem-spewing locomotive, Fort Lauderdale’s Crease has nearly arrived at a cohesive, big-time-ready persona. The four-piece puts on a serious game face to attack Only Human, its second full-length; this is a band that’s seen the wet end of the music industry stick, having been dropped…
It’s not easy for a band to induce reflective or even somber moods and entirely avoid languor, but that’s precisely what the Six Parts Seven does with its instrumental postrock. Like its previous work, the Kent, Ohio group’s latest album, 2004’s Everywhere and Right Here, maintains a gentle cadence from…
You don’t ordinarily expect to find a young white woman from San Francisco digging deep into the heart of crunk country. But Tamara Palmer did just that in the course of researching her new book, Country Fried Soul: Adventures in Dirty South Hip-Hop, which includes interviews with such playas, impresarios,…
The Transplants’ 2002 debut hinted at a new kind of urban rebel rock, one that not only glanced beyond cultural borders but also hopped the fence and liked what it found on the other side. With Haunted Cities, the LA trio of Rob Aston, Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, and Blink 182’s…
Four years have passed since the release of dancehall quartet TOK’s debut, My Crew, My Dawgs, and the controversial single “Chi Chi Man.” In the interim, Alex, Flex, Bay C, and Craigy T have amassed an impressive roster of hits, making the long-delayed followup Unknown Language worth the wait. There’s…
When given the right backdrop, Guru’s relaxed purr is the picture of effortless force. When it’s not, the ex-Gang Starr/would-be superstar simply sounds bored. Not that you could blame him for yawning through the overstuffed Version 7.0. “If I sold out/I coulda sold millions,” he claims on “Hall of Fame,”…
Ge-ology Plays Ge-ology works almost in spite of itself. At 30 tracks, it’s way too long, more of a compilation of Ge-ology’s many remixes, instrumentals, and productions for artists such as Unspoken Heard (“Elevator Music”) and Consequence (“Fa Sho”) than a traditional album. To hip-hop fans, Ge-ology’s tracks will sound…
John Hughes III is obviously obsessed with the subtleties of nature. How else could one explain the blood-and-bones samples on his Slicker albums — where he reduced the human voice to beats, and jazz players to zoo escapees — or Some Water and Sun, a collaboration with Shin “Spanova” Tasaki…
When Billy Corgan’s first post-Smashing Pumpkins project, Zwan, suffered an abrupt and ugly public breakup in the fall of 2003, most presumed a solo album from the notoriously prolific and egocentric alt-rock pioneer was inevitable. Not one to buck expectations, Corgan has released The Future Embrace a little more than…
As the hostess/proprietress of Radio Thrift Shop on WFMU-FM 91.1 in Hudson Valley, New York, and an accomplished singer in her own right, Laura Cantrell is a champion of old-time country music, and she makes it sound lovelier than ever on her Matador debut, Humming by the Flowered Vine. Her…
Chicago’s Bobby Conn is a pint-size dynamo. At least he seems that way, especially when he stands next to his statuesque vocalist/violinist Monica BouBou. Perhaps such a diminutive stature is what accounts for his deep baritone soaring into a high falsetto à la Prince. At times he is sexy too,…
“Dirty Filthy,” “Wowie Zowie,” “Sugar”: the world of London-based producer Tom “Superchumbo” Stephan is big and booming, as fat (as in the old-school slang phat) as the megasize club speakers that broadcast his tracks. Unabashedly enraptured with tribal funk, Stephan tries to make his tracks as deep as possible: One…
Okay, first, New Edition rules. I know we’re still hung over from a sugary sensory overload of pop puppets and hairless, corpulent Svengalis manipulating those tarted-up teenagers. However, early New Edition had more in common with the Jackson 5 than faceless Disney money-wranglers pumping out bubblegum tunes. Then the New…
Wayne Shorter, the former Weather Report co-leader and Miles Davis sideman, has led a quartet since 2001 that has regularly and justifiably been called the finest working group in jazz (other contenders: bands led by Dave Holland, Branford Marsalis, and Keith Jarrett). Believe the hype. For Beyond the Sound Barrier,…
There were no diamonds sparkling from his ears. Save for a relatively thin and long silver chain, his neck didn’t exhibit anything flashy or of significant proportions. The black leather watch strapped around his left wrist was reminiscent of an old-school Mickey Mouse or Timex watch instead of a Rolex…
This week there is no joy in Mudville. Winter and spring have ended, stemming the influx of tourists and supermarket checkout celebrities. The sweltering season has begun, bringing with it tropical storms and hurricanes and, when it isn’t raining, feverishly hot weather. Worst of all, the Miami Heat did not…
It’s no secret that in Los Angeles, celebrity is an obsession. It also happens to be serious business, for the city is perpetually flooded with aspiring actors and musicians waiting tables and working various odd jobs while hoping to land a role or find a discerning A&R man. But for…
Fat Joe’s lips move, his made-for-music timbre bellows, and, in the end, little is said. The Bronx native’s lyrical vacancy is tragic considering his intellect, pummeling flow, and infectious charisma. His music should be better. But enough’s enough. On his sixth album, All or Nothing, it’s as though even his…
Leave it to a pair of wacky Germans to encapsulate dance music’s Roland TB-303 revival/regression (the 303 is the bass line machine that started it all in house music and is responsible for the squelchy “acid” sound) into a single album. The Return to Acid Planet finds the usually IDM-leaning…
Embrace hasn’t had a successful album since its 1998 debut, The Good Will Out — until now. On the British quartet’s fourth album, Out of Nothing, a song penned by Coldplay’s Chris Martin (the crescendo-filled “Gravity”) and the surge of emotionally pulling, feelings-showing-from-the-inside-out type of music that Embrace has always…
