AltWeeklies Wire
Embarrassing Fruits' Frontier Justicenew
As they continue to age, Embarrassing Fruits look more and more like a band we'd like to grow older with.
Tags: Embarrassing Fruits
Valient Thorr's Strangernew
Valient Thorr still finds its distinction by directing its menace at deserving targets via social commentaries charged by precision and power.
Tags: Valient Thorr
Jim Avett's Tribesnew
With six of its seven songs being Avett originals, Tribes can be considered Avett's proper debut as a country music singer-songwriter.
Tags: Jim Avett
The Static Minds' 'Rich Girl Blues'new
Here, on the debut 7" from Raleigh quartet The Static Minds, there are two. A-side reasoning: She's too busy being rich and, memorably put, "dying in her own bad taste." B-side reasoning: She's too busy being a bore.
Tags: Rich Girl Blues, The Static Minds
Gil Scott-Heron's Remarkable New Record, 'I'm New Here'new
Gil Scott-Heron is the gruff-voiced griot and spoken-word poet who laid a good chunk of the foundation for what we know today as rapping. I'm New Here is his unremitting self-portrait of a man who's had years to catalogue and now capture his paranoia, thrills and agitations.
Found: Betty Davis' Lost Masterpiecenew
Davis railed against the male-dominated industry, while playing the come-hither, power-wielding goddess who stirs libidos everywhere. Far ahead of the social norms, Davis presented herself unflinchingly as a complex black woman who could not be held down.
Tags: Is It Love or Desire, Betty Davis
Depression-Era North Carolina String Band is Generously Anthologized on New Two-CD Setnew
The subtitle of the anthology, The Complete Recordings of the Red Fox Chasers (1928-31), is truthful: The two discs contain the entire recorded output of Brooks, Miles, A.P. Thompson and Bob Cranford.
Kaia Wilson Shakes Loose Romantic Notions and Tender Thoughtsnew
Kaia Wilson demonstrates the flipside of the impassioned yelping she lent to The Butchies and Team Dresch.
Tags: Godmakesmonkeys, Kaia Wilson
The Urban Sophisticates Stretch Their Boundaries on 'Classic Material'new
Though the move toward more traditional production bridges the Sophisticates back across the gap toward mainstream hip-hop, there's still plenty of variety on Classic Material.
Big Pooh Strikes Out Solo on 'Rapper's Delight'new
Rapper Big Pooh's mixtape is the Little Brother emcee's latest litmus test for a serious solo career post-Little Brother, if that day ever comes.
The High and Mighties Might as Well Call Their Reggae 'Retread'new
Like every other group currently commercializing a pop reduction of reggae, Chapel Hill band The High and Mighties cites Bob Marley as its forefather.
A Second Look at Ben Folds Five's 'Reinhold Messner'new
At the time of its release, Reinhold Messner -- 11 largely interconnected songs stretched over 40 minutes -- was panned by many critics.
If James Jackson Toth is Sell-out Freak-folk, Keep It Comingnew
Outsider figurehead Devendra Banhart may date Hollywood actress Natalie Portman, and CocoRosie may have nabbed a multi-page spread in a July New York Times Magazine. But don't expect the beloved beardos and weirdos to be on sale at Wal-Mart summarily.
Little Brother Reworks 'Justus'new
The duo is re-releasing it in retail form with 16 full-length songs, omitting much of Mick Boogie's superfluous cascade of DJ punch-ins, shout-outs and drops.
Phonte Coleman Flashes Back with 'Zo! and Tigallo Love the '80s'new
A collaboration with Detroit musician Zo!, Little Brother's Phonte Coleman laughs himself across hip-hop semi-stardom by revisiting the follies of '80s synth-silly chart toppers.
