True hometown hero (Miami born and raised!) Desmond Child gets inducted today into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York. Boasting almost three decades in the biz, Child may not quite be a household name – but the stars for whom he’s crafted megawatt hits are. Enjoy this streaming…
It’s hard to believe that 2008 is already halfway gone. There’s no need to lament the New Year’s resolutions you thought you’d keep; six months from now, we’ll all be holiday shopping again and reading year-end top-ten lists of the best albums of 2008. Since it’ll all be a blur…
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. And nowhere is this more evident than in a Southern small-town thrift store, where beer helmets and broken furniture end up as impromptu amusement-park rides on lawns and libidinous nights. It’s the place in a college town where students and townie kids alike…
My dad occasionally speaks of our family clan’s unluckiness: “We never win anything.” I’ve never asked why he thinks that, but knowing my eccentric assortment of relatives, I don’t doubt that one of them could have pissed off some voodoo queen enough to get the whole family hexed. Whether luck…
Even beyond his 1991 death, Miles Davis remains one of the world’s most influential musicians and bandleaders. Davis impacted the jazz world first with his groundbreaking approaches in the 1950s and early ’60s. Arguably, his electric period (roughly from 1970’s Bitches Brew onward) directly impacted rock, funk, punk, and electronica…
Seeing Sounds is the third album from N.E.R.D., the “artist” project from the members of production team the Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo), plus their buddy Shay Haley. It’s the compact-disc equivalent of an ad campaign trying to appeal to the Red Bull/sorta grown and totally sexy/BlackBerry generation. “We…
She may give the impression of being the sensitive type, but Kris Delmhorst isn’t your father’s folkie. Nor for that matter is she is one of your dad’s old-school singer/songwriter types, i.e., the James Taylor/Jackson Browne/Joni Mitchell brood that defined the genre back in the ’70s. That’s not to deny…
The hip-hop disorder that sampling producer/arrangers the Herbaliser (Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba) loaded onto the FabricLive 26 compilation two years ago stands in sharp contrast to their previous LP’s spy-film grooves. It was a clear sign that the British duo were exploring new sounds, and real fans of the…
Destined to be a stoner classic, Tha Carter III should silence critics who think Lil Wayne can’t make a cohesive album. His vision and self-confidence have improved exponentially since the humorless mishmash of styles that was Tha Carter II. Instead of trying to record the hardest Southern gangsta album of…
As of yesterday, the long talked about merger between satellite radio giants, Sirius and XM radio, is one step closer to happening. FCC chairman Kevin Martin, approved, on principal, a merger which would allow the two companies to become one based around a series of concessions and a three-year price…
This abject Amy Winehouse video surfaced on the Internet today, a viral outbreak that started with British tabloid News of the World posting it to their site. The video, shot by Winehouse’s continually-incarcerated husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, shows Winehouse and a friend singing a song that delivers slurs to all sorts…
I’m not sure how on earth this just happened, but breaking news out of Chicago is reporting that R&B singer R. Kelly was just found not guilty this afternoon on all charges of Child Pornography. For the past 6 1/2 years, this saga has played out in front the world…
….And so is the whole tour. Seems lead singer Tom Keifer’s vocal cords have hemorrhaged (who knew that could even happen? yikes). Refunds are available at the point of purchase. Below is the official statement from Keifer’s camp. — Arielle Castillo “It’s with unbelievably deep regret that it must be…
Tampa Bay’s the Tim Version comes with a pretty good punk rock pedigree, seeing as how these Panhandle ne’er-do-wells have managed to take their wares across most of the U.S. of A., parts of Europe, and Japan, using that old trick: hard work. Individually they hold down some fairly white-collar…
It’s hard to say which is more awesome: Rachel Goodrich’s catchy song “The Black Hole” or its lo-fi video. In it, she sings while kneeling on her friend’s unmade bed; she’s wearing, for no particular reason, a ladybug costume and a pair of sunglasses. Meanwhile, her friend Jon Estes plays…
West African music is getting pimped out fairly regularly these days. Vampire Weekend takes the most watered-down version of Afropop you can imagine, scores a record deal, and instantly it’s the biggest “it” band of 2008. Consider that a fluke, but there are a number of gringo bands making a…
I haven’t been away from my home state of Texas that long, and occasionally I like to remind myself what it means to be a Texan. Yeah, we execute the mentally challenged, we thump our Bibles, and sometimes we forget that we’re part of a larger country. But we do…
Lay It Down is easily the right Rev.’s best in five years — in other words, since his last Blue Note outing. This time around, though, a myriad of acolytes pay homage to the golden-throated god by guesting on a disc almost as essential as anything in the Hi Records…
British label Strut made a name for itself in the late ’90s as a prime catalyst for the burgeoning revival of interest in Nigerian Afrobeat, due to their reissues of Tony Allen’s early post-Fela work, along with two mind-blowing compilations — Club Africa and Nigeria 70. The latter was a…
Live performances are the way musicians prove their mettle, and this recording showcases the raw energy of this Louisiana-born singer and guitarist, who is at the top of his game both as performer and songwriter. Captured during a single night in Nashville in the spring of 2007, the set opens…
South London dubstep veteran Benga operates on several (next) levels when he plants himself in front of a synthesizer keyboard and a hard drive of edited drum patterns. The producer’s Diary of an Afro Warrior, in its array of divergent sonics, speaks to how far this key player has come…
Lil’ Wayne Tha Carter III (Cash Money/Young Money/Universal) Possibly the most anticipated hip-hop release since Jay Z’s The Black Album, Tha Carter III is Lil Wayne’s 6th studio album and the final in the Tha Carter Trilogy. There’s been much hype surrounding this release seeing that many of the tracks…
