No hip-hop artist is more deserving of the title Supa Dupa Star than Missy Elliott. (Sorry, P-Diddy. You’re like 7-Up: Never had it, never will.) Not to dis Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Kool Herc, and Run-DMC, but nobody can transcend the genre the way she has. Missy’s a top-notch producer and…
Piebald singer/guitarist Travis Shettel needs your help. After scream-singing through thousands of shows since his band’s inception in 1994, Shettel’s vocal cords developed blood blisters this past summer. Despite Piebald’s huge following, sizable record sales, and recent mention in Rolling Stone as “a band to watch,” Shettel’s September throat operation…
The effortlessness of Damon Gough’s romantic pop music gave his first album, The Hour of Bewilderbeast, a special grace that’s lacking on his latest effort. With Have You Fed the Fish?, Gough (known and loved as Badly Drawn Boy) continues to flirt with different musical styles, but Bewilderbeast’s charm and…
Bad news travels fast, and for months most of the ear-aware local public has known that Bobby Baker, sonic steward behind Boca Raton’s famed Baby Robots and Ant Lunch Musick, is not long for South Florida. In the interest of keeping Baker employed at his health-food store as long as…
Subtle as an amputation, the Residents cut themselves off from pop music’s tumorous body three decades ago and never looked back. As prolific as they are self-indulgent, Mr. Skull and his cadre of one-eyed malcontents remain cloaked in deliberate secrecy (though the high-profile Penn Jillette from Penn & Teller was…
Once upon a time, Pearl Jam seemed to live for a reaction, a trait that catapulted it to the forefront of grunge. The band blazed its brand of arena-rock for the sole purpose of shoving it in listeners’ faces. Its faithful hung on every power chord and deep Eddie Vedder…
Just in time for winter, Nettwerk issues the second installment in its Summerbreeze remix series. This time, Florida’s Noel Sanger twiddles the knobs on other artists’ tunes, filling out the two discs with a few originals. The DJ/producer showed up on the rave circuit in 1992, mixing for various groups…
Who’s goin’ Jesus hunting? ICP’s goin’ Jesus hunting! Yes, the sixth Joker’s Card has finally been revealed, its message delivered after ten years of buildup. Because most Juggalos snapped up The Wraith on release day (it debuted at number 15 on the Billboard chart), it’s safe to let the cat…
There’s nothing Brian Diaz hates more than a lazy, ignorant rock critic. “We just got slagged for making a video that doesn’t exist and wearing New Found Glory T-shirts we don’t own,” fumes Diaz, bassist for Long Island power-pop wizards the Reunion Show. But it’s not just web-jockey slackers who…
BEGIN TRANSMISSION Question: First of all, what is your mission here on Earth? Answer: vhgflvpfodfuosijckzxmclks djfkljfkldxjfkldjfkdjfkldsjfk lsjfkldjflksdjfjslfjdlkjfkl sjflkjdsflkjsl jfkljfkldxjfkld Translation: Earthlings have an unfortunate habit of self-destructing… of not giving themselves an outlet to release their pent-up frustrations and angst, which can be fatal not only to themselves but to…
The acolyte will deride the obvious misses amid this collection of hits; the casual fan won’t even notice, since the casual fan skipped most of the band’s ’90s output anyway. Still, it’s amazing that could fill two discs this go-round, since there were half as many albums to choose from…
This past summer’s Warped Tour at Pompano Beach Amphitheatre was an educational opportunity for South Florida’s mall-punk horde. On the main stage stood Good Charlotte — a poppy schmaltz amalgam of wretched MTV punque lite. One hundred yards away on the amphitheater stage stood the Casualties, a tribe of Aquanet…
It’s that time of the year again, when sidewalk buskers feel the humidity wane and the nights dry and crispen, so they all grab their beat-up woodentops, park their asses on a street corner, open their guitar cases, and play for tips. OK, so hardly anyone actually does that. Tourists…
Progressive dance music as conveyor of the gospel? Well, the conventional Christianity administered by Andy Hunter on Exodus, his solo full-length debut, isn’t that far removed from the Peace Love Unity Respect movement of the early rave scene — and here the British trance DJ draws from both backgrounds. Born…
The debut from Audioslave — the alt-rock supergroup that pairs a Zach de la Rochaless Rage Against the Machine with former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell — shouldn’t have any problem generating the kind of heat the fiery Rage was known for. Only now, it won’t come from pouring gasoline on…
Father to dozens of car-radio classics, Tom Petty in his later years has sidestepped his sing-along wizardry for a more somber, introspective feel. As if equating maturity with acoustic guitars and whispered vocals, Petty captured a dynamic, autumnal grace with 1994’s Wallflowers but has since traversed shaky terrain. He can’t…
Mick Meehan pulls a tuft of Bali Swag tobacco from its pouch and effortlessly rolls up a cigarette as he discusses his reasons for coming to America. “I came over here in the early ’80s, the same as everyone else,” he states in a thick, gravelly brogue. “There was no…
Don’t forget about the band, Alex Lora begs in his squeaky voice, not even if you cut your hair, get a job, wear a three-piece suit, get married, or get liposuction. Don’t forget, Mexico, about the band, the first band and for so many years the only rocanrol band, El…
Dot Allison is best-known as the ex-singer of Scottish trio One Dove, which quickly came and went back in 1993. One Dove’s detached coolness and dub explorations (courtesy of Primal Scream producer Andrew Weatherall) still generated enough earth tones to keep it grounded in dance-pop. In fact, One Dove’s sole…
Ataris guitarist Kris Roe has lived the pop-punk dream. He escaped his shitburg Indiana hometown by passing along a demo to the Vandals’ Joe Escalante. Offered a record deal over the phone, Roe informed Escalante that he didn’t have a drummer. “No problem, kid; I know lots of drummers,” Joe…
“Boca Raton,” Saturday Night Live comedian Jimmy Fallon mused. “What’s that mean? ‘Rat mouth?’ Oh, that’s nice.” Glancing up at the massive chiffon Styrofoam stucco structure over his head, the Spanish-challenged Fallon (one last time, people: Raton is mouse; rata is rat — my copyeditor’s dictionary says so) acknowledged his…
Ordinarily, albums have choruses, hooks, songs — hey, maybe even a thematic element or two, if the artist feels particularly ambitious. By contrast, Up (ten years in the making and, Lord, don’t it feel like it?) is all about epic psychodramas and operatic motifs. Then again, Peter Gabriel always sought…
