Thirty-eight-year-old Jersey City, New Jersey native George Van Orsdel likes to think that he has learned a thing or two. At first glance George seems like a dip-chewing, cantankerous drunk. Appearances, of course, can be deceiving. He smiles at jokes that he could be twenty-year-old guitarist Todd Van Orsdel’s dad…
Although I slept through my freshman microeconomics course far more than I attended it, and thus am hardly an expert in such matters, I believe a band may safely be deemed “efficient” if it can make an entire album for six dollars (no matter how long it takes) or in…
Interviews with overexposed, platinum-certified stars such as D12 can sound a bit scripted. Check out this chestnut posed to group member Swift: What makes you stand out from Kuniva, Bizarre, Kon Artis, Proof, and Eminem? “I’m a hardcore MC. I’m a lyrical assassin,” says Ondre “Swift” Moore during a phone…
Can you imagine a city ordinance prohibiting sports jerseys and baseball caps on South Beach? What if the Florida state legislature banned Ladies’ Night at Mr. Moe’s in Coconut Grove? I, for one, would have a shit fit. But thanks to asinine politicians, who should be ridding society of crime…
Bebob Grabowski’s Gecko Jazz Bob Grabowski, a professor at Florida International University, has an alter ego. When he isn’t educating throngs of students on the evolution of jazz, he picks up his upright bass and becomes an old-school superhero named Bebob, following the tradition of South Florida legends such as…
Jim Camacho If anyone could claim a name that boasted some truth in advertising, it was the Goods, arguably the best band South Florida has ever delivered. Steered by brothers Jim and John Camacho, the Goods left behind a brilliant legacy, including Good Things Are Coming, their 1998 hopeful major-label…
Joanie Leeds A native Miamian, Joanie Leeds attended Syracuse University in the late Nineties, returned to South Florida for a spell, then went back to Manhattan and parlayed a bartending gig at Greenwich Village’s venerable the Bitter End into an ongoing residency. As demonstrated by her two albums to date…
Doug E. Fresh, Biz Markie, Slick Rick When it comes to rocking parties, Eighties hip-hop legends Doug E. Fresh, Biz Markie, and Slick Rick are can’t-lose propositions. From Doug E.’s “The Show” and Biz’s “Just a Friend” to Slick Rick’s “La Di Da Di,” the hits these three titans should…
Hernán Cattáneo Hernán Cattáneo hails from Argentina, home of the world’s most happening trance parties. And no, this DJ does not dabble in tribal, techno, or even dark progressive house, but classic trance tracks that he adds up into lush, lovely, and ethereal sets. Do your homework and pick up…
After an amicable split with guitarist Jorge Gonzalez earlier this spring, the remaining members of the Brand were briefly in a state of limbo. Not the type to amble too long and realizing the confinements of performing as a duo, they were forced to take their sound back to the…
New York upstarts the Izzys possess a twanged self-assurance that lifts aggressively from Sticky Fingers but never trips off bullshit detectors or attracts style cops. These boys fancy a come-as-you-are authenticity not usually heard from the Big Apple these days, one welled from rock and roll’s bluesy heyday but stylish…
Lloyd Banks is garnering the kind of acclaim Jadakiss earned back in the late Nineties for the same reasons: a series of high-profile mixtapes, an allegiance with a superstar rap crew (50 Cent’s platinum-certified G-Unit), and a distinct voice that sounds cool and husky, expressing a surprising elegance. But he’s…
In press interviews for his new album, Kiss of Death, Jadakiss, a member of the Lox, asserts that he wants to be thought of as one of the greatest MCs of all time. Though it seems like bravado, the fact that New York’s hip-hop community has taken his statements seriously…
Fans of Britain’s Mojave 3 have probably noticed that the role of singer-bassist Rachel Goswell — who has been the angelic vocal foil to major-domo Neil Halstead for fifteen years, ever since the duo’s early-Nineties days as the core of shoegazers Slowdive — dwindles with each new offering from the…
Don’t expect a whole lot of subtlety from the Forty-Fives. After all, this is a band that references its mindset in its name and lays out its intentions in the title of its latest album. The Stones, the Kinks, the Yardbirds, and the Pretty Things are among those referenced here…
We want to say fuck Bush and fuck Kerry!” Stic.man, one-half of dead prez, cried out to scattered applause. It was Saturday afternoon, June 19, the fourth and final day of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention (NHHPC), and most of the delegates — mainly college-age students from around the nation…
If you have set foot near any drum and bass dance floor within the past two years, then you have undoubtedly grooved to the speaker-rumbling bass sounds of Twisted Individual. Since going from a virtual unknown on the major drum and bass circuit to being voted best producer by long-running…
It’s barely 11:30 p.m. on a recent Monday night and Carmel Ophir is practically panicking. The promoter is worried about the body count at Back Door Bamby, and tonight’s special act is about to start spinning. On the bill is a ten-year-old DJ named Lil Monster. No joke, I thought…
Target Nevada Do you worship the Devil? Are you looking for the appropriate soundtrack to accompany your inner desire to maim someone? Then why not consider the original Target Nevada? In an unfriendly city filled with synthesizers, booty music, and straight-edge kids scared of beer-chugging bands, Target Nevada carved out…
He may be the offspring and namesake of a onetime country music icon, but calling Bobby Bare, Jr.’s music country is a severe misnomer. His latest band, the Young Criminals’ Starvation League, abandons all claims to country, Americana or otherwise, save a smattering of steel guitar and his own woeful…
On Goodie Mob’s first release since 1999, One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show, T-Mo, Khujo, and Big Gipp are out to prove that the absence of Cee-Lo won’t stop them from making dope music. The trio are at their best on the somber but potent “God I Wanna Live,” where…
Detroit Deli (A Taste of Detroit) sounds like the latest in a series of diminishing returns for Slum Village. Once considered a leader of the hip-hop vanguard for its acid, chopped-up raps and Jay Dee’s sylphlike beats, the group has been decimated in recent years: Jay Dee departed for a…
