The Nashville way of making music is unlike any other, comparable only to the studio system of Hollywood’s golden age — a closed system of songwriters, producers, record labels, and artists that creates most of the sounds you don’t want to admit you listen to on the radio when no…
Another year, another wave of quirky British bands pouring into the States. It’s got all the makings of a new British Invasion. Well, except for one thing: the invasion. For every Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand that succeeds in North America, there are dozens more that barely make it across…
Nobody needs a primer on indie rock. We all have our own idea of what it is, right? Nonetheless, why is it that so few of us can agree on who deserves such a designation? Fact is, attempting to define indie rock universally is as futile a task as trying…
The criterion for this list was simple: Only the hardest, heaviest metal albums were considered. Bands who play a hybrid style of metal that is not thrash, speed, death, black metal, hardcore, grindcore, or some amalgamation thereof were not included. What follows is pure f’n metal. Bang your head off…
Most music fans think they know the story of the Sex Pistols fairly well, but when you mention Glen Matlock to them, the name often draws blank stares. They might remember he was their original bass player and left just before the media circus took over, but few realize he…
Time once again to round up that favorite European-born friend-with-benefits (and funny teeth) and bop over to Space for whatever pops into Armin van Buuren’s head. Sure, van Buuren is another staple spoiling the fashionatti around town with frequent appearances, but it’s that time of year to count your blessings…
New Jersey hamster-wheel-metallers the Shake Up will headline Churchill’s this Friday, and now this tip for bands: Remember the daydream you had last week about being in bed with ten chicks who dug your show at the Giganto Center last night? It’s not going to come true if your MySpace…
As an antidote to the faux-swing movement of the Nineties (led by the Brian Setzer Orchestra, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, et al.), the John Pizzarelli Quartet is most effective. Who would have thought that the more satisfying interpreters of swing would come from the jazz angle rather than from rock…
As a director, Woody Allen has demonstrated infuriating narcissism and lobotomy-worthy judgment by continuing to cast himself in his own films. While the rest of his actors outdo themselves at their craft in order to fulfill his still-vital ideas, Allen insists on burdening his work with his overworn nonacting, essentially…
Latin/Anglo crossover is what Latin American artists have always dreamed of and what American artists are beginning to realize they need to pull big sales numbers out of a shrinking market. Crossover success means jackpots in both concert tickets and CD sales, so expanding a fan base across genres, countries,…
It was, according to no less an authority than the New York Times, the year rap went regional. There was plenty of recent evidence to support this claim, beginning with the suddenly paltry record sales by some of hip-hop’s heaviest weights. There was also lots of historical evidence: Ever since…
Now is a bad time to be a giant music corporation, but ethically challenged music fans couldn’t ask for better days. Bootlegging has always been about catering directly to the fans, and the Internet breeds the best bootleggers yet: bigger and stronger and faster than ever before, the better to…
This story, as originally conceived, was supposed to be a compilation of the year’s best box sets and other reissues. But then it hit us: In today’s shuffle-driven iPod world, with the pace of pop culture moving at breakneck speed, it’s pointless to make such temporal distinctions. The past is…
Over the past decade, recordings of DJ mixes have been multiplying like e-mail spam. The sheer volume of said releases is overwhelming, and it makes one wonder: Who the hell is buying them? There must be a demand if labels keep issuing the things as if the music industry has…
In 2006 the pop singles market continued to dominate, in no small part because the click-to-pick-driven mentality of online music stores and ringtone sites gave consumers unparalleled freedom to choose their own musical adventure. What suffered in the meantime, though, was the quality of pop/rock albums. These platters frequently spawned…
No two words go better together than open and bar, which is one of the things you can experience at Space this Saturday. There is a catch, but it’s more than livable: Bring a new unwrapped toy as a donation to Toys for Tots, and you’ll get free admission and…
A true jazz vocalist in the tradition of Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, Dianne Reeves unquestionably possesses the power, tone, phrasing, vibrato, and soulfulness of the classic million-dollar voice. Which is why producers called on her to supply nearly all the music for last year’s Oscar-nominated period piece Good Night,…
Genial Cuban-American four-piece Rhett y Los Borrachos Empeñados (Rhett and the Pawnshop Drunks) fills Jazid’s air with retro-Latino this week. For more than six years, the band has worked on perfecting a mix of salsa, balladry, funk, and rock that plays with the ideas of chamber music and symphonics. The…
Live hip-hop music — MCs performing alongside an actual band — is rare these days, unless you count VH1’s annual attempt with Hip-Hop Honors and the ever-present Roots crew. However, in Miami this dearth of live hip-hop is not a problem. Trailblazers such as Mayday! are paving the way for…
Sometime back in 1980, keyboardist Thomas Morgan Robertson — nicknamed “Dolby” because of his extensive audio expertise — was enjoying a good gig as a session synth player. After a night with Bruce Wooley and the Camera Club, a proto-New Wave outfit, Dolby stole away a few hours in his…
As punk rock began its path of destruction westward from its English birthplace, it arguably gravitated to three poles, each with its attendant aesthetics and hangups. First, of course, was London, with its up-yours-Thatcher sneer and obsession with simmering class warfare. No need to state (but we will anyway) that…
Following the ambitious (some would say exhaustive) disc that was 2005’s George Is On, which featured the inescapable “Flashdance” single, the members of Washington, D.C.-based Grammy-winning duo Deep Dish are taking some amicable time apart to work on solo projects. But Ali Shirazinia and Sharam Tayebi, though not particularly prolific…
