AltWeeklies Wire
The All-Time Greatest White-Boy Rhymesnew
White rappers are the new black quarterbacks, with pundits still arguing whether they could have the skills and smarts to seriously compete in a game invented by black players. Here's the evidence they can.
Cleveland Scene |
D.X. Ferris |
03-09-2005 |
Music
Eccentric Funk Troupe Parties with Politicsnew
Flo scats, raps and sings about everything from blow jobs to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while sporting angel wings, a fuzzy Kangol visor and white spandex pants coupled with a large, intimidating black codpiece.
Cleveland Scene |
Jason Bracelin |
01-26-2005 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Flo White, The Porpoise Project
Mama Dramanew
After six predominantly acoustic solo albums, Kristin Hersh is playing some of the harshest, loudest music of her career with the trio 50 Foot Wave.
Cleveland Scene |
D.X. Ferris |
01-26-2005 |
Profiles & Interviews
Up From the Ashesnew
Ascension was the second wave of Cleveland metalcore-hardcore. Its audience used to be part of the performance.
Cleveland Scene |
D.X. Ferris |
12-21-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Prodigal Hijosnew
The Garza brothers have gone from being outcasts to the kings of rootsy Texas rock and roll.
Cleveland Scene |
John Nova Lomax |
12-13-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Punch Drunksnew
The flipside to the underground rock band's creativity is that the musicians got into a brawl once over whether they had just played well or sucked.
Cleveland Scene |
Jason Bracelin |
12-13-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Lord of the Stringsnew
Guitarist Glenn Schwartz could have been a rock god. But on the verge of conquering the world, he chose to save his soul.
Cleveland Scene |
Thomas Francis |
12-10-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
No Remorsenew
The Dwarves' most eclectic and unbounded LP pairs chest-pounding rap battles that diss everyone from Good Charlotte to the Queens of the Stone Age with foreboding gospel that imagines Christ as an MC.
Cleveland Scene |
Jason Bracelin |
10-25-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
10 Can't-Lose Boozing Tunesnew
Bluesman Bob Log III claims there are only three towns in America in which female audience members haven't obliged his request to dunk a boob in his drink. So he knows something about boozing -- and the right songs for it.
Cleveland Scene |
Jason Bracelin |
10-22-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Bob Log III
Well Worth the Weightnew
Left in limbo after their first underground rock label folded, Disengage faltered, then raised the funds for their second CD. Application for an Afterlife is a fierce, dramatic disc that balances its bombast with breadth.
Cleveland Scene |
Jason Bracelin |
10-05-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Beats and Piecesnew
One of RJD2's goals when he set out to create his second solo record, this year's Since We Last Spoke, was to pull the building-blocks of his tracks from new and different places.
Cleveland Scene |
Steve Boughton |
09-27-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Label Cools on Nordic-Themed Rappersnew
Valhalla Ice had big plans for his rap/rock group, Norse Law. But things have gone downhill, and it sounds like the fat lady might be singing.
Cleveland Scene |
Jason Bracelin |
09-14-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Norse Law
Out of Africanew
Referencing the works of Marcus Garvey, Gil Scott Heron, and Carter G. Wilson, the Ghana-born rapper doesn't speak of black power so much as unleash it, venting on everything from blue-collar students dealing with bad credit to Third World strife.
Cleveland Scene |
Jason Bracelin |
09-07-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Refugees, hip-hop, Ohio, New York City, Cincinnati, Blitz, Kent State, Scribblejam, Soul Rebel
The Bond That Bonds: Spy-Fi Turns Out Album No. 001new
Specializing in re-creating the instrumentals of classic espionage flicks and TV shows from the '50s, '60s, and '70s, Spy-Fi spikes the themes from James Bond, Dick Tracy, Man From U.N.C.L.E., and dozens of others with volume and verve.
Cleveland Scene |
Jason Bracelin |
08-23-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Mohawks and Mullets Butt Heads on Ozzfest 2004new
The annual headbanger bacchanalia has undergone something of a sea change in 2004: Spearheaded by Superjoint, hardcore-influenced metal has taken over.
Cleveland Scene |
Jason Bracelin |
08-23-2004 |
Concerts
Tags: Various Artists, Ohio, Columbus, McGrath, Ozzy, Sabbath, Andy Williams, Black Sabbath, Buffalo metalcore quintet Every Time I Die, guitarist for Massachusetts metalcore bruisers Unearth, Judas Priest. Singer Rob Halford, Ozzfest 2004, Phil Anselmo, Symphonic black-metallers Dimmu Borgir, Vincent Price, concerts
