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...