G-Unit’s Young Buck partners with producer Polow Da Don to deliver a surefire hit that will leave clubbers rocking, college Greeks stepping and every hustler on American soil nodding. In “Get Buck,” the rapper showcases a winning web of instrumental and melodic ABCs with pure bling via a brass marching band, gospel refrains, references to […]
It took time and tenacity, but talented 17-year-old Taylor Swift broke wide open with debut single “Tim McGraw,” displaying solid gifts as a songwriter with a voice so pure and earnest that it could stop time. Follow-up “Teardrops on My Guitar” again demonstrates those qualities and makes it obvious that Swift will be churning out […]
George Strait led the nominees announced Monday for the Academy of Country Music Awards with eight nominations, including entertainer of the year and top male vocalist.
Vocal duo Brooks & Dunn got seven nominations and Rascal Flatts had six. The announcement was made at the Country Music Hall of Fame and aired live on CBS’ […]
After the disappointing “10,000 Hz Legend,” French duo Air rebounded in a major way with 2004’s “Talkie Walkie,” arguably a better album than the group’s famed debut, “Moon Safari.” “Pocket Symphony” suffers by that comparison, but it introduces enough intriguing new elements (Japanese instruments, British guest vocalists) to earn its place in the Air […]
Even on his 1970 solo debut, Ry Cooder was looking back, plucking sounds from the history of American folk and blues roots music. Here Cooder goes deep into what Greil Marcus has called “the old weird America.” Like 2005’s spellbinding “Chavez Ravine,” it tells a story (though a highly metaphorical one) about the travels […]
With a new label and producer in place, Antibalas remains the hardest-working 12-member Afrobeat collective in show business — not a large fraternity, no, but you couldn’t tell by their work ethic. On their fourth full-length, the Brooklyn natives use the rather lively state of world affairs as their inspiration. There’s not much question […]
While many rappers spin tales of drug dealing, it’d be difficult to organize such business while maintaining a recording career. Conversely, Twisted Black didn’t garner too many spins with his first single, “I’m a Fool Wit It,” but he did catch concurrent life sentences for trafficking drugs. His album, “Street Fame,” harks back to […]
Music in a variety of stripes in South Africa played an integral role in fighting apartheid in the ’90s, and poet-turned-songwriter Mahlasela served as a central figure. Today the singer/guitarist maintains a powerful voice in his country’s embrace of freedom and justice. With his second ATO release, Mahlasela delivers 16 impassioned tunes infused with […]
It’s a crime Chimaira’s self-titled 2005 album didn’t launch the band higher into the metal stratosphere. Its current tour with DragonForce and Killswitch Engage, along with new masterpiece “Resurrection,” should crack things wide open. Go-for-broke track “Worthless” reveals the band’s renewed passion after surviving a rough patch, and we suspect it’s also fueled by […]
Thanks to its first two albums,! (pronounced “chk chk chk”) earned a reputation for making indie kids dance. “Myth Takes,” however, should see the festive art-rock collective bop its way out of cult status, as the 10 cuts on this album adventurously cascade through genres without losing a groove. “Must Be the Moon” chronicles […]
After jazz legend Sergio Mendes of Brazil and Chaka Khan of the U.S. entertained Jakarta people on Friday and Saturday at the Java Jazz Festival 2007, Jamie Cullum of Britain would get his chance tonight at 8:00 p.m.to please people at the festival.
An official at the festival said Sunday Cullum’s show was expected to lure […]
The Stooges don’t reinvent their particular sonic wheel on their first all-new album in 34 years — and that’s just fine. “The Weirdness” offers more of the Iggy Pop-led band’s prototypical Cro-Magnon raw power, with Scott Asheton’s muscular drum attack propelling brother Ron’s arsenal of guitar riffs. It’s a tightly woven scheme whose anthemic […]
This Montreal band came out of nowhere with its gripping 2004 debut, “Funeral,” quickly rising to the vanguard of the indie-rock universe. The slavishly anticipated follow-up is even more ambitious, if not as immediately affecting; strings, pipe organ, synthesizers, backing vocals and horns color every inch of empty space, and the musical intensity rarely […]
Immensely more satisfying than Wynton Marsalis’ 1995 Pulitzer Prize-winning epic “Blood on the Fields,” his latest long-form work triumphs as a masterful sociopolitical critique of American culture. The jazz statesman enlists his quintet and vocalist Jennifer Sanon, who shines. Her deliberately off-key vocalizing to match the chordal dissonance Marsalis employs in the title track […]
