Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Judah Bauer is Jon Spencer's un-venerable right-hand man -- the sort of desperate-looking but solitary-loyal guitarist to bum smokes, bounce riffs and bury the sloe-gin with.  While Spencer has been bitten by the soul power for recent recordings, Bauer (as 20 Miles) uses his summer vacations to dig a little ...

Some albums you hate, some albums you love, and some, well, it just depends on the day. Angel Dust's latest, "Of Human Bondage," is one that falls into that last category. It has a number of things to recommend about it, starting from a stellar sound job by Siggi Bemm, ...

Avant is being lauded as the elastic alternative to controversial bump n' grinder, R. Kelly.  And while he does have some high moments on his sophomoric offering, Ecstasy, he has not really found his owns distinctiveness and may get mislaid in an ocean filled with Mawell's, R. Kelly's and D'Angelos's.  ...

It's tough being a jazz instrumentalist these days. I read a statement recently to the effect that the major labels are loath to sign, let alone release, work by younger, unknown jazz instrumentalists because they don't sell. This is, of course, as opposed to well-known artists like Mariah Carey and ...

Anyone want to venture a guess why VH1 hasn't "behinded" one of the world's most enigmatic and ego-burdened groups that ever graced rock? Or was it just too cumbersome and lengthy documenting ALL the predicaments of Roxy Music? My guess is that the final chapter is just now being scribed ...

Describing her music as: “Rock ‘n roll with a Cuban soul and a redneck spine”… Christina Williams brings (sings) to the listener the appliqué principles of well-written lyrical and vocal reflection. “The ‘Cuban soul’ comment,” She says, “is about what I have taken from my mother’s heritage: passion, poetry, heat… ...

The innovative global hopping of Cornershop’s 1997 disc, “When I Was Born For The 7th Time” was one of the few inspiring Britpop hybrids in recent years, fusing spiritual, Eastern themes (with its middle-eye tickling hit "Brimful of Asha") with mysterious, intriguing rock arrangements.  Unfortunately, Handcream finds most of its ...

Funny. The whole time Bowie was getting ready to plunge off the edge of reality- offering Dow Jones shares of himself, dot.comming his own media corp -- every one was kvetching and moaning about REALLY missing Thin White Duke, or whatever Bowi-eon you may identify with. Now, he puts out ...

"Novena" is a term that comes out of the Roman Catholic lexicon. It relates to a practice not recommended for those lacking persistence. I may be a little fuzzy on the details, here, but the upshot is that on nine successive Wednesdays (or is that nine successive days?) the applicant ...

As a member of the groundbreaking Euro-hop collective known as Dawn (sorry, Tony Orlando), trumpeter Erik Truffaz has been lauded for combining the rhythmic intensity of drum 'n bass with the instrumental prowess and melodic happenstance of jazz. The Swiss musician's recent work with his Ladyland quartet (guitarist Manu Codjia, upright ...

There are few albums that this oddly wonderful band records that would ever be considered mainstream. Although, In Our Gun holds the distinction of becoming the "most accessible" of this British ensemble's beautifully strange output.  What seems to have everyone baffled is an undeclared "Americanization" of their sound, full of ...

Rapper Infinity (real name: Antwon Buie) is a native of Charleston, SC, who has apparently been through some really vile times.  He lived in the depths of poverty, got bounced around in foster care and witnessed the crack addiction horrors of both his mother and the mother of his child.  ...

Unfortunately, Carlin's last band got caught in a bind that was swept up with the spirit (and sludge) of their times. 700 Miles were a willing alt-rock trio bankrolled by a veiled corporate interest, but artificially assigned to an indie label. Such designations were significant in promoting grassroots artists in ...

This is quite possibly what the Fugees would have sounded like had they grown up in the barrios of Mexico City instead of the bunkers in New Jersey. The Mexico City collective Los De Abajo brazenly mix portions of hip hop and dub to grind along with traditional mambos, salsas ...

There's not enough funky music out there. I grew up in an America where you turned on the AM radio and heard Al Green and Earth, Wind and Fire and Sly and James Mr. Please Please himself Brown, and everyone under the age of 25 walked and bounced and grooved ...

Say one thing for this uncompromising musician -- while she concocts a notorious funk potion openly coveted by her peers, she's quick to distance herself from their opulent pop life. You won't be seeing Meshell's Top 20 Countdown on VH1 any time soon. Unless the revolution comes. Maybe that's why ...

With four previous releases under their belt, the Toronto quartet Our Lady Peace have produced an exceptional modern rock album in “Gravity”. The group, consisting of singer/guitarist Raine Maida, new guitarist Steve Mazur, bassist Duncan Coutts, and drummer Jeremy Taggart, have paved their way into the industry’s mainstream amidst a ...

I'm not sure what happens to all these guys when they start to grow old. You could call it the "mid-life/world-beat syndrome"- when all the youthful snottiness and inspiration starts wearing thin, so you borrow a little cultural intrigue to boost the muse a bit. Peter Gabriel and Jah Wobble ...

COMMON SENSES is a quiet project, an introspective work with some personal takes on different affairs of the heart. Richard Kaufmann, the heart and soul behind this release, keeps things low key, with a four-piece (guitar, drums, bass, keyboard) backing group that never gets in the way but occasionally tosses ...

As has been said before, this is not your father's Van Morrison. Although her daddy actually IS Van Morrison! And except for some familiar Celtic-flavored passages, Shana uses her second disc to lay down some distance and put up distinctions between her and the ol' man.  Like Natalie Imbruglia and ...

Biggest thing in Canada, you say? Face it. Even if these ace power poppers were from America, heralding them as next-big-thingers would be as pointless as stereo AM stations. The so-called Great Pop Overthrow has been, well... under-whelming and overdone.  If you haven't learned anything from Blue Ash, The Shoes ...

I'm very fond of the laconic groove the defines the lead-off track, "Algebra," that features a laid-back, Everlast-kinda spiel, along with a Gorillaz-like mix of elementary electronics and charming, reverberating melodicas. However, I'm plenty ambivalent about the rest of the disc from this British singer/songwriter/remix trio, with apparent lifts of ...

I was on a bus a few weeks ago and some guy got on with his hair dyed in blue and yellow patches. I  kept looking at him and he started staring back. Finally, he asked me, "What's your problem?" to which I replied, "Nothing really. It's just that when ...

Extreme, exhaustive and brutal, but not like the cursory 15-rounders of deathcore's lemmings. Sticking your head in a bologna grinder would be less traumatic. Like Mr. Bungle and Painkiller's explosive skronk, the element of surprise always looms, as the Brothers grind away on raw, abrasive riffage until the tune suddenly ...