We begin with the greatest lyrics ever written: Somber songs of the plaid bartenders Western Unions of the country Westerns Silver Foxes lookin’ for romance With the chain-smoke Kansas flashdance ice pants Beck rapped these words in 1996, the artistic apex of “Hotwax,” the artistic apex of Odelay, the artistic…
The biggest statement Fischerspooner could have made regarding a second album would have been to not make it at all. The lip-synching, Wire-covering, Italo-loving icons never met a concept too high — in their dance hit “Emerge,” they championed “hyper-mediocrity,” the most succinct description of electroclash’s driving force. They could…
The third installation of Verve Remixed is far and away the best — and the first two were completely worthwhile. The source material is taken from songs by artists such as Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan, and the remixers include a wide swath of hip-hop and electronic music talent. Highlights…
Although not necessarily the first lady of modern R&B (an honor typically bestowed to Mary J. Blige), Faith Evans has carved out a decade-long career as a consistent and occasionally stellar performer. Her latest album is stocked with highlights, including the winsome first single, “Again,” where she sings, “If I…
Indie hip-hop, like most established music genres, has its own formalist traditions. The Perceptionists, a supergroup comprised of MCs Mr. Lif and Akrobatik and DJ/producer Fakts One, stick to those rules on Black Dialogue, reliably churning out a love song (“Love Letters”), the reg’lar-people/work-sucks track (“5 O’Clock”), and other stock…
Edan’s first two albums, including the memorable 2002 disc Primitive Plus, found the Boston MC and producer romping through old-school styles like a goofy kid at a flea market. Beauty and the Beat, however, is a more mature release, a self-conscious throwback to the hip-hop psychedelia of the early Nineties…
Literary types and romantics may well appreciate the belletristic Decemberists singer Colin Meloy. His imaginative, offbeat tales of love, death, and seafaring still abound on Picaresque, the Portland band’s third full-length. Meloy’s elegant lyricism (“From all atop the parapets blow a multitude of coronets / Melodies rhapsodical and fair!” he…
Some albums require real patience to be rightfully appreciated. Lost and Safe, the Books’ third album, is a curious patchwork of sundry instruments (including peculiar sound devices such as a metal filing cabinet and a vintage Hohner clavinet) and left-field, unexpected voice samples carpeting the beats. If one listens closely,…
Oh shit, here’s one of the guys who nearly turned turntablism, that ill-fated Nineties fad, into a full-fledged musical genre. Canadian DJ Eric “Kid Koala” San doesn’t so much cut-and-spin records as he scratches them into funny, whimsical, and melancholy compositions, whether it’s his interpolation of Charlie Brown’s “I got…
When it comes to meaty rock, Razorlight stands up better than many of its dance-rock contemporaries. Owing as much to Oasis as to Blur, the London quartet deals in arena-rock anthems that are cool enough for the indie-rock crowd, thanks to Johnny Borrell’s wordy, literate lyrics and unusual choruses. Its…
Retro rocker, trendsetter, ladies’ man, soul man, and SoBe resident Lenny Kravitz was born into show biz — his mother, actress Roxie Roker, played Helen Willis on the popular TV show The Jeffersons. Family connections to Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie made a musical career seem…
It’s no wonder Brazilian singer Maria Rita is an eclectic bossa nova baby. She suckled from the breast of Brazil’s all-time greatest female singer, the late Elis Regina, and she was raised by her father, pianist/composer Cesar Camargo Mariano. Considered a South American Norah Jones, Rita’s music rocks like a…
Expressing the band’s desire for widespread appeal, Locos por Juana’s long-awaited second CD, appropriately titled Música P’al Pueblo (Music for the People), begins with a medley of old LPJ favorites blasting across the airwaves every time the dial hits a new station. It’s a realistic aspiration. LPJ’s festive songs are…
It’s 11:45 on a March evening, and Torche and I are standing on the third floor of an office building wedged between Miami International Airport’s warehouses and a cargo truck-parking depot. It’s cold and windy. Inside a modestly furnished office that doubles as Southern Noise studios, bass player Jonathan Nunez…
This past Saturday on a breezy yet warm night, the Nocturnal warehouse at 50 NE 11th Street in downtown Miami bubbled with flashing lights and pounding house music. On its rooftop lounge, club director Dade Sokoloff shuffled CDs into the mixer. He played Louie Vega’s achingly beautiful Elements of Life…
The worst thing for musicians seems to be success. Once they attain any, everyone — from their fans to critics and from music business people to the artists themselves — begins having unrealistic expectations. In the case of Moby, America’s most prominent electronic artist but a once unlikely candidate to…
Surrounded by Silence? More like surrounded by friends. Roping in Ghostface & El-P (a highlight), Aesop Rock, Camu, Beans, Masta Killa & GZA, Yazu from Blonde Redhead, Beans, and the Books (another highlight), among many others, Scott “Prefuse 73” Herren’s third full-length release is more noteworthy for its lyrical anchors…
50 Cent and the Game have made up for now. But their recent feud has kicked up a lot of dirt, emphasizing that Game’s platinum debut The Documentary was a product of a hit machine manned by 50 and Dr. Dre; 50 co-wrote and guests on the three most popular…
Cuban rap band Orishas’s third album, El Kilo (The Dime), sounds way more refined than the reggaeton anthems being played on the East Coast, and it has the African soul that’s missing from West Coast chicano rap. The trio’s rather European phrasing — they sound sooo French rapping in Spanish,…
On Lullabies to Paralyze, Queens of the Stone Age eschew the fuzzy guitar crush of their 2002 breakthrough album Songs for the Deaf, opting for a slick, modulated rock-and-roll carousel perfect for spinning in your sports car. This makes for some ace thrills — including the nifty rockers “Everybody Knows…
After the demise of the Libertines, London’s Bloc Party is one of the only bands across the Atlantic that matters now. Their debut, Silent Alarm, is way tighter and more rhythmic than anything the Libertines ever put out, but it’s still an artfully burning collection of indie rock from four…
Out Hud answers the oft-heard call for unpretentious dance music with fevered electronic misbehaving on Let Us Never Speak of It Again. One of the tracks, the aptly titled “The Song So Good They Named It Thrice,” exposes the five-piece’s trouble when it comes to developing witty song names, but…
