AltWeeklies Wire
Hip-Hop's On Trial, and Everybody's Snitchingnew
Though the first chapter in T.I.'s federal firearms case drew to a close with his $3 million bond release last Friday, Oct. 26, the rap industry continues to dodge bullets in a year that has been full of nonstop drama.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Rodney Carmichael |
11-01-2007 |
Music
Mason Jennings Treads the Awkward Spiritual Pathnew
For his new album, which should come out next spring or early summer, Jennings is trying to figure out whether he should split it in two, with "one that's more spiritual based and one that's more, you know, not."
Metro Silicon Valley |
Mike Connor |
11-01-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Mason Jennings
Give Me Your Uglynew
Sufjan Stevens continues to celebrate the downtrodden and disgusting with The BQE at BAM.
New York Press |
Gerry Visco |
11-01-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Sufjan Stevens
Duran Duran's Bon Ambitionnew
The band never seems to tire of insults and keeps coming back for more (money that is).
New York Press |
Crispin Kott |
11-01-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Duran Duran, Red Carpet Massacre
Is Ghostface as Dumb as He Wants You to Think He is?new
Ghostface Killah is a brilliant storyteller and lyricist, and is the only Wu-Tang Clan member still making relevant solo albums. He's also a cry baby.
Queercore Icons Team Dresch Have Never Been Predictablenew
Since the Portland-based punk band formed 14 years ago, its four queer members have broken social and musical conventions, but has anything changed?
Willamette Week |
Paige Richmond |
10-31-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Team Dresch
Michele Wylen Gets her Dance Onnew
Wylen doesn't know exactly how she came to be branded a dance act, but making her live debut opening for Liverpool-based electronic act Ladytron last October may have had something to do with it.
Willamette Week |
Nilina Mason-Campbell |
10-31-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Michele Wylen
Portland Hip-Hop Had to Start Somewherenew
The U-Krew represents a long list of firsts: They were the first Portland hip-hop group to ever show up on MTV or BET, and the group likely retains its title as the most widely heard hip-hop group ever to come out of Stumptown after its single "If U Were Mine" reached No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1990.
Willamette Week |
Casey Jarmen |
10-31-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: U-Krew
The Heavy Evangelism of Jesu's Justin Broadricknew
Jesu's second full-length is a bleakly epic knight's tale where melodies spiral upward into ominous gray clouds of static to create ingenious, thundering shoegaze.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kate Izquierdo |
10-31-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Doug MacLeod: Call Him a Blues Mannew
MacLeod has a great blues voice, filled with the hardscrabble grit of the Mississippi delta.
Port Folio Weekly |
Jim Newsom |
10-31-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Doug MacLeod
Improvisational Thrillsnew
Architecture in Helsinki has no plan, which is their plan.
San Diego CityBeat |
Justin Roberts |
10-31-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Ben Harper Finds His 'Lifeline'new
"The hardest thing any musician will ever do is follow an album that's decent," Ben Harper says of his 2006 release, Both Sides of the Gun. "To avoid self-adulation, I'll just use the word 'decent.'"
San Antonio Current |
Cole Haddon |
10-31-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Indie-Pop Phenom Creates Uncomfortable Intimacynew
Marcus Rubio's songs are invariably simple and repetitive, and most of the musical action comes from the painstaking arrangements, the way he layers violin, piano, glockenspiel, and the rest of the kitchen sink onto his adolescent musings.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
10-31-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Marcus Rubio, The Life of Pillows
San Antonio Symphony Debuts New Local Worknew
As California grapples with the ravages of wildfires, the San Antonio Symphony begins rehearsals for the world premiere of "Something Miraculous Burns," the newest work by local composer David Heuser.
San Antonio Current |
Diana Roberts |
10-31-2007 |
Music
Jay Clifford Officially Goes Solonew
The Charleston songwriter reveals a finely-tuned solo debut this week.
Charleston City Paper |
T. Ballard Lesemann |
10-31-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Driving Blind, Jay Clifford
