Musicians are known for toeing the line between two different worlds — drifting between good and evil — or various mind states to become successful. We’ve all got multiple personalities, so that’s not groundbreaking news, but the split between Muslim rapper Musab and Las Vegas-based pimp Minnesota Slicks is hard…
Radiohead may have gotten all the hype for the pay-what-you-wish scheme behind its latest online-only release, In Rainbows. But the English rockers weren’t the first to willfully give away their music — it’s a gimmick stretching all the way back to the blues. Here, a look at music’s best freebies…
This month Cleopatra Records offers some important aid in resuscitating the girl-group genre. The new compilation Leader of the Pack highlights the career of the inimitable Shangri-Las. The album is a push for today’s female artists aching to shriek, “It hurts when I girl-group!” It’s a display of pillow-clutching pomp…
And the hits just keep on coming… News reports out of New York this morning state that highly acclaimed Cuban percussionist Carlos “Patato” Valdez passed away yesterday at the age of 81. Most stories I’d ever read about the guy said he was crazy (in a good way) both on…
Deerhoof December 4, 2007 The NADA Art Fair Better Than: The Mojitos I had last night Ever get the feeling that everything is surreal while watching a band? Sometimes it’s because the band has a live show that it’s incapable of capturing on a recording and other times it’s just…
Chad “Pimp C” Butler with his mother, Wes “Mama” Monroe in Port Arthur, Texas, 2006 News reports trickling out of Los Angeles are revealing more about the unexpected death of 33-year-old rapper Pimp C. Some of the details are conflicting, which is to be expected in the immediate hours following…
According to this TMZ report, Pimp C of legendary Texas-based hip-hop group, UGK was found dead in his bed in a Sunset Strip hotel room this morning. There’s a brief posting about it at MTV as well, that says his death has been confirmed by Jive Records. The rapper, born…
BY ANDY VIHSTADT Great Danes Denmark’s Raveonettes have proven themselves again with Lust, Lust, Lust. The album is already out overseas but won’t be available in the US until February 19. Here are a couple of tracks to hold you over. The Raveonettes: “Aly Walk With Me” MP3 The Raveonettes:…
Photo by Elvis Ramirez “Poetess” made up a poem out of words solicited from the audience. I always figured that open mic poetry nights usually didn’t attract huge crowds. I imagined low lights, smooth music playing in between acts and a people lounging in couches relaxing, some huddled together all…
Son del Centro rock out justicia. Photo by Esther Park Concert For Fair Food Saturday, December 1, 2007 Bayfront Park, Downtown Miami Better Than: winning a lifetime supply of Whoppers. This past weekend, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers were in full effect, along with 500 or so of their supporters…
As Tall as Lions Into the Flood 01:18-02:03 of “Into the Flood” Hmm… I’m thinking a bit of Slowdive, maybe a dash of Counting Crows and a taste of the Fray. What kind of soup does that make? Utter, replaceable crap soup. Thanks a lot dudes. You totally owe me…
Youssou N’Dour Rokku Mi Rokka (Nonesuch) On his new disc, veteran Senegalese singer-songwriter Youssou N’Dour continues to contemplate issues of freedom and religious bliss over a musical template blending African and Western pop. Among Rokku Mi Rokka’s highlights is “4-44-44,” which celebrates the joys of everyday life, and such gifts…
When it comes to playing Southern blues, some musicians have a stronger ear for it than others. If you really want to play it, you need an inherent ability to hear the music. When it comes to the banjo-picking and drum-thumping skills of Ben Prestage, he’s got an advantage that…
Imitation, it is said, is the sincerest form of flattery. But what do you call an exact replication? A tribute, of course. It’s a musical one in the case of Australian Pink Floyd, the world’s finest tribute band to, well, Pink Floyd. Starting way back in ’88, five Aussie musicians…
These days most gentiles — that’s non-Jews, folks — think Hanukkah is some sort of Christmas equivalent for God’s chosen people. But the truth is, it’s one of Judaism’s more minor holidays, and was moved to the forefront only since secular pop culture believed the religion was getting the shaft…
‘N Sync was so popular around the turn of the millennium that even I — jaded, posturing music critic — bought the band’s second album, No Strings Attached. It sold more than a million copies the day it was released in March 2000, and I was swallowing a lot of…
In today’s world of Cuban music, there’s nothing really exotic about a band as well rehearsed in chamber music as it is in rock. But roll back the clock to the end of the Cold War, and you’ll find Artevivo was at the heart of artistic resourcefulness on the island…
“Vocalese” is a jazz technique in which lyrics are added to instrumental tunes to convey a certain idea or feeling. Its origins can be traced to the Twenties, but it really came into vogue later, in the Fifties and beyond. And it is Kurt Elling’s passion. The Chicago-based musician develops the…
It’s almost guaranteed when you pursue a career in sports that you better have a backup plan in mind. For six-foot-nine former NBA power forward Wayman Tisdale, his plan B was a music career, and it’s gaining him just as much acclaim now as he garnered on the basketball court…
Rock historians regard the glory years of the Stooges to be 1969 and 1970, when the proto-punk act released The Stooges and Fun House, their two most influential albums. But according to Ron Asheton, the voluble guitarist for the combo, which is close to intact after coming apart more than…
At times, the oeuvre of Coheed and Cambria can make classic rock works like The Wall or Tommy seem as though they were based on the flimsiest of gimmicky ideas. Really. The expansive rock quartet from upstate New York has, over the course of about a decade, created a fictional…
Chris Brown has been well known to the screaming underage masses for a minute now, but he broke out to a wider audience at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards show. There he perfectly parroted the Gloved One’s moonwalk dance, prompting Justin Timberlake to tell the world he felt old…
