AltWeeklies Wire
'Brass Knuckles' is Nelly's 'Thriller'new
Brass Knuckles shows an artist who, having been deemed irrelevant, has come back hungry, utilizing every name in his Rolodex and teaching himself some new tricks.
He's a Solar Mannew
Now Magic Lantern guitarist Cameron Stallones has struck out on his own with a solo album under the moniker Sun Araw.
A Gentler Autechrenew
On Quaristice, they occasionally veer into a more classically "beautiful" melodic mode; overall, the album's less rhythmically manic than their more recent releases.
Tags: Autechre, Quaristice
Juanes is the Trojan Horse of Musicnew
The Columbian singer is a pretty boy you'll want to sock in the mouth for inspiring millions of jiggling boobs, but who'll knee you in the groin with expert guitar licks.
Tags: Juanes, La Vida Es ... un Ratico
io Drones Alonenew
Is there a lonelier endeavor than creating ambient music in Orange County -- besides umbrella merchant?
'Hungry Beat' Fills Fire Engines' Voidnew
Cited by Primal Scream and Franz Ferdinand as inspirations for their own bands, Scotland's Fire Engines burned briefly but thrice as brightly as most other groups of their time. Their oeuvre amounted to merely 18 tracks, but it is, as they say, all good.
Tags: Fire Engines, Hungry Beat
Cafe Tacuba's Denouementnew
This latest effort by Mexico's supreme rock en espanol group will grow on you, but that's not necessarily a ringing endorsement.
Tags: Cafe Tacuba, Sino
Manu Chao's Global Soundtrack Rolls Onnew
In many ways Chao's strongest album to date, La Radiolina is also his most electrified and may disappoint fans accustomed to the stripped-down acoustic style of his first two offerings.
Tags: La Radiolina, Manu Chao
Brother Reade Follow in the Grand Two-man Traditionnew
Rapper Jimmy Jamz and producer Bobby Evans cut the bullshit (no skits, no grandiose, time-wasting intros, etc.) and get down to flaunting their considerable skills, as the album's no-nonsense title implies.
Tags: Brother Reade, rap music
Another Sir Richard Bishop Gemnew
Renowned for his mercurial guitar-playing over the last 26 years with Seattle ethnodelic legends Sun City Girls, Bishop has wrought a distinguished solo canon as well.
Bumps Gives a 23-track Seminar on the Manifold Pleasures of Rhythmnew
Besides being a musical feast in its own right, Bumps also serves as a beggar's banquet for sample hounds looking to bolster their rhymes with killer blaps.
Tags: Bumps
Battles Drops a Pivotal Expermental Rock Opusnew
If the band parlays its critical-darling status into Conan/Letterman show-playing notoriety, we could be witnessing the (re)opening of the American music-fan mind to the degree of which we haven't seen since the Ford administration.
Matthew Dear: Poised to Break Out of the Techno Ghetto?new
The transition from techno producer to singing/lyric-writing techno producer is rarely attempted, never mind executed with competence -- but Asa Breed finds Dear furthering his songcraft within the genre, his flat, sometimes stilted voice complementing his low-slung, artfully spare techno.
Tags: Asa Breed, Matthew Dear
As Uncompromising As a True Head Could Hope Fornew
Who knew heady-mental Nordic prog rock would blow up in the 00s?
Completely Unclassifiablenew
Don't get me wrong, I like the Red Krayola -- I just don't get it.
Tags: Introduction, The Red Krayola
