The Velvet Underground Live MCMXCIII (Sire/Warner Bros.) Big Star Columbia: Live at Missouri University 5/25/93 (Zoo) The double-record set 1969 Velvet Underground Live, released in 1974, has gotten reams of critical praise over the years, in part because most reviewers have neglected to mention one important thing: It sounds terrible…
Dr. Dre has worked long and hard to establish himself as the epitome of hardcore rap. Hence the following line from his multiplatinum album The Chronic: “This is dedicated to the niggaz that was down from day one.” Whether Dre himself fits that description is a matter of some debate,…
Denver-based Martha’s Wake is a refreshing reminder that the devalued term “alternative rock” can mean more than loud, anguished guitar bands from Seattle. The music made by the group–which guitarist Jon Nichols jokingly calls “Egyptian death funk”–is a legitimate alternative to just about every other sound in town. The Wake’s…
Like all of Elliott Smith’s best songs, “Junk Bond Trader,” a key track on Figure 8, his fine new album, is more than its title indicates; instead of merely telling the story of a Wall Street bottom-feeder, it uses such an individual as a jumping-off point for a more personal…
John Mooney doesn’t give a damn about blues “purity,” whatever that is. While many of his peers have stuck to just one brand of blue-hued music to the point of repetition, Mooney has spent the past thirty years deftly melding two disparate forms: straight-from-the-fields Delta blues and complex New Orleans…
The Virgin Suicides: Original Motion Picture Score(Astralwerks)Although “soundtracky” isn’t a term recognized by the folks at Webster’s, everyone knows what it means — instrumental music that may work when paired with cinematic imagery but seems empty and uninteresting without it. Detractors of Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin, a French twosome…
Helium(Angel)Taking cues from the late Argentine tango wizard Astor Piazzolla, the three conservatory-trained East Coast musicians who make up the Tin Hat Trio continue to tinker with “world music” — and boy, do they like to tinker. Recorded almost completely without overdubs, Helium marks the skilled followup to the group’s…
Equally Cursed and Blessed(Atlantic)Catatonia’s second effort to see American release combines the Welsh band’s sarcasm, gravelly vocals, smartly overplayed pop and an attitude that reeks of cigarettes, hard liquor and the morning after to give lightheartedness a swift kick in the groin. When lead singer Cerys Matthews sings “Ooh sha…
