Music

Stuff you need to know to avoid musical ostracism: Fried Coke Fried Coke? Dude. Critical Boondoggle The gleefully savage reviews doled out to Twyla Tharp’s The Times They Are A-Changin’. They shoulda used more trampolines. Strange Bedfellows Vanessa Carlton signs to Murder Inc. The Ja Rule duet is gonna be…

Folks fortunate enough to chat with electronic-music maestro Brian Transeau, who performs as BT, should keep a dictionary nearby, because they’ll probably need it. For instance, he explains a technique called circuit-bending by noting that “it’s the first time, I think, that electronic musicians are able to work with something…

The Game rose to fame with help from Dr. Dre, who godfathered 2005’s The Documentary, a smash that featured cameos by 50 Cent. But a feud with 50 was followed by the sudden end of the Game’s label deal — a split that indicates with whom Dre sided. As a…

Remember the first time you heard the Pixies classic “Where Is My Mind?”? It condensed the euphoria of cutting anchor and sailing into the abyss into a four-minute pop song. Now Jay Reatard (that Memphis garage-punker from the Lost Sounds, the Retards, Angry Angles, and probably a dozen other bands…

Go: The Very Best of Moby is not the unlikely superstar’s first retrospective collection. It is, however, the one that will appeal to his later fans who joined Moby after his music developed a licensing-friendly tone. Although he got his start on the dance floor, Moby’s earlier hits — two…

Eons before being a Swedish muso meant that one endlessly turned-out plasticine variations on dance cheese or lil’ diva pop, Parson Sound was reconceptualizing music. In existence from 1966 to 1969, the ten-member outfit — psychic kin to like-minded acts in Germany’s fledgling krautrock scene — seamlessly ground rock, classical,…

Toronto is a city that can spit out British imitators who are virtually impossible to distinguish from the originals. Turn Off the Stars is one such group, which is remarkably impersonating Coldplay. This is not to discount the appeal of Andrew Walker’s jangly guitars or vocalist Mike Walker’s Chris Martin-esque…

The Cardigans might be stuck in the general public’s mind, in that soft and fluffy place their song “Lovefool” created with its inclusion in the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack. But the Cardigans of today are harder and spikier. On their sixth album, Super Extra Gravity, they have turned from amiable…

A play on the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the U.K.” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.,” Born in the U.K. makes you feel as if a window has opened to the insides of Badly Drawn Boy. The simplicity behind Born boasts an honesty that isn’t bogged down by overinstrumentation…

Traditional male R&B acts are tough to find these days, but John Legend has been one of the few to consistently deliver without settling for just hip-hop instrumentals. The first song off of his upcoming sophomore album, Once Again, “Save Room” features Legend’s soulful lyrics that skate across the breezy…

Songs like this one — by multiplatinum artists going off the beaten path to create music that comes right from the heart, or at least the ones of their producers — are exciting. DJ Premier grafts the backdrop, giving a postmillenium jazzy, hip-hop tribute to classic soul singers and jazz…

The hype surrounding Sa-Ra has been tremendous, owing to this silver-screened promo, which showcases the trio’s penchant for Eighties drum machines, effects, and pitched DeBarge-like vocal harmonies. Imagine Fonzworth Bentley styling at a Versace runway show with mounds of contraband for party favors, and you will get the Sa-Ra flavor…

The twenty-year-old British S-O-V, affectionately nicknamed by Def Jam president Shawn Carter, delivers her first U.S. single for rebellious young teens and unassuming hipsters. A disciple of message boards and grime-music offshoots, the self-proclaimed midget MC drops honest, childish lyrics (sans ghostwriter) over Casio keyboard riffs and “Planet Rock”-like drum…

The Pink Panther puts down summertime game on the sampled, candy-apple Eighties R&B flavor of the S.O.S. Band’s original. Killa spits signature syllabic flow such as “You model material/You need a runway/So let’s run away/We could hit the runway,” and along with the smooth reworking, you’ve got the unreleased jam…

Fort Lauderdale MC Butta Verses lately has been making noise on the underground circuit and continues to put in work with this aptly titled offering. The guitar-driven, drum-layered beat grips you from the get-go, as Butta sounds off on paying bills and serves his version of the come-up. Carrying De…

Drawn to “creepy things” since childhood, Melora Creager wrote her first song, which was about Lizzie Borden chopping up her mom, at the age of five. The tune featured stabbing piano chords to capture the force of the 40 whacks Borden gave her mother with an ax. Creager describes her…

Christmastime is here. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Here comes Santa Claus. We’ve all heard it before, and we don’t need to hear it again. Before you plan a holiday bash or go on a three-hour road trip, burn a mix of these fresh holiday tunes. Winter…