This year’s award for the most bizarre way to start a hip-hop CD goes to Zachary “Status” Young, who kicks off his latest with a sample from 1995’s Grumpier Old Men in which Burgess Meredith tells Jack Lemmon a rambling story without a moral. In contrast, this disc teaches an…
The Ark, State of the Ark (The Rebel Group). The Scissor Sisters’ take on the sultry ’70s meant to charm but succumbed to smarm. So why does the Ark’s venture into similar territory work so much better? Credit a surer feel for glam and bubblegum verities, a more charismatic frontman…
Although the “alternative hip-hop” tag is an utter failure as a marketing tool, it actually fits Murs, a performer who embodies much of what’s best about the music and very little of what’s worst. This L.A. veteran’s style is based on hyper-articulate, profanity-free rhymes that are spring-loaded with surprises, and…
RAQ hasn’t amassed the type of popularity that might result in a frozen treat being named after it. Even so, its renown is spreading like hot fudge on a cold scoop of Vermont’s finest. The band’s ties to the land of Ben and Jerry and that state’s jam-friendly scene are…
On its first two albums, Avenged Sevenfold was a by-the-numbers screamcore outfit. The Orange County band was one of the first to make the unexpected connection between death metal and emo, and the weird mix of adolescent goth melodrama and extreme metal aggression helped it build a solid underground reputation…
Amid the tugging drones and ragged feedback of the new Minmae album, Le Grand Essor de la Maison du Monstre, singer/guitarist Sean Brooks gulps the phrase “lopsided reminders” — a pretty canny description of Minmae’s music itself. Like a fuzzy-lensed camera atop a wobbly tripod, the Portland trio takes snapshots…
Plenty scoffed when the hip-hop valley boys of She Wants Revenge went all Joy Division-y. Some even called them goth poseurs. Those people were missing the point. Anyone who’s had the chance to catch Justin Warfield and Adam Bravin’s dark ’80s dance act live should have revised their opinions by…
The video for the M’s latest single, “Plan of the Man,” was directed by Academy Award recipient Jonathan Demme, who’s created well-regarded concert films for the likes of Talking Heads — but the song was also featured in a considerably less hifalutin venue: a March episode of The OC. Incongruous?…
Lemmy Kilmister may have the coolest handle in metal history, but Trey Azagthoth — leader of the long-running death-metal outfit Morbid Angel — is a close second. Although he sounds like he should hail from the frozen blackness of upper Finland, Azagthoth actually calls sunny Tampa, Florida, home. And while…
West Indian Girl is so fresh out of the package, it still smells like Styrofoam and bubble wrap. But what the Los Angeles group lacks in experience — the core duo of Robert James and Francis Ten was signed to Astralwerks before playing a single show — it makes up…
Featuring current and recent members of the Dalhart Imperials, the Honky Tonk Hangovers, Eddie Clendening & the Blue Ribbon Boys and Local 33, Ethyl and the Regulars might appear to be spreading themselves a little thin. Yet there’s nothing diluted or impure about the quintet’s music. For the past couple…
While some contend that Denver’s dance scene has grown a bit stagnant in recent years, DJs Luna and Evenflo — known collectively as Elephant — would beg to differ. These ladies are veterans of the electronic dance scene, having both kicked off their careers during the rave heyday of the…
If you subscribe to the adage “If it’s too loud, you’re too old,” then you’ll be happy to know that the recently reunited alt-rock pioneers in Dinosaur Jr. do, too. Even though they’ve aged a bit during the past fifteen years, they’re still loud as hell. In fact, if you’re…
I’m in love with Melissa Ivey, and I don’t care who knows it. Actually, allow me to clarify that for the benefit of my wife, who’s probably on the phone with the divorce attorney right now: Ivey’s a lovely gal, easy on the eyes and all that, but really I’m…
Rather than leave the nest, Eisley keyboardist/vocalist Stacy DuPree takes it with her. Along with bassist/pal Jon Wilson, Stacy’s bandmates include three siblings — lead warbler/guitarist Sherri DuPree, guitarist Chauntelle DuPree and drummer Weston DuPree — who travel under the supervision of tour manager Boyd DuPree, their father. That’s a…
As we’re all painfully aware, Monday is this year’s tax deadline. For the average 9-to-5 shmoe, that means scrounging through a pile of employment forms, bank statements and gas receipts for stuff to write off. Of course, some people try deducting every receipt in the house, from so-called business meetings…
Scott Wexton, better known these days as the Voodoo Organist, wears a red suit on stage, growls out bluesy, demonic lyrics that have landed his songs on zombie-movie soundtracks, and plays a theremin, of all things, as he churns out soul-stealing organ chords. He’s pretty much a Mirror Universe cross…
The guys in Rye Coalition are some dumb motherfuckers. Veterans of the early-’90s post-hardcore scene, they’ve witnessed tons of their contemporaries try to milk the major-label bull, only to get gored in the groin. But after a decade of humble independence, Rye signed to DreamWorks in 2003 and subsequently suffered…
Liars, the once and future kings of Brooklyn art rock, have completely given up their dance-punk crowns and tossed their white belts into the East River. Fans of 2004’s They Were Wrong So We Drowned — a brilliant concept album of witches and woods that critically bombed — should have…
It’s often difficult to critically analyze a much-beloved artist, because the tendency is to excuse irksome traits or loathsome sonic detours simply because of past greatness. So while it’s tempting to give Morrissey a free pass for hauling in a choir of children — who appear on several tracks on…
Toby Keith may not really be a dick, but he plays one on CD. He generally comes across as ultra-smug, as if rubbing his popularity in the noses of intellectual elitists were half the fun of success. Yet the attitudinal aggressiveness that dominates White Trash is vastly preferable to the…
Superstring Theory’s debut EP, Same Damn Story, was a promising if disjointed disc of small-budget electro-pop. The duo’s sophomore effort, Everything Before Now, follows exactly the same formula — only with bigger ambitions and a wider panorama. Like She Wants Revenge without the wrinkles, singer/guitarist Jeff Eyser and keyboardist/ programmer…
