Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

“A Passage in Time” is the debut album from Mesa, AZ natives Authority Zero. Released on Lava Records in September of 2002, it was produced by Dave Jerden (The Offspring, Alice in Chains, Jane’s Addiction, Anthrax, Social Distortion); It’s an internationally flavored eclectic mix of many sounds that show a ...

Here to save us all… from this sad state of affairs that is the Popular music culture in 2003? And how exactly to do that… free passes aboard the intergalactic fantasy flyer double timing down the deserted highway of indeterminacy and relive another 1978? Okay, I'll take the ride, but ...

There are a couple of Eric Thompsons floating around northern California. This in itself wouldn't be unusual --- Eric Thompson is not exactly an unusual name --- but it's just a tad confusing, as they are both musicians, and dabble in similar genres. The older Eric Thompson has been kicking ...

Lou Barlow is one of those guys who has been around for awhile and is in the somewhat unenviable position of having been one of those artists who is better known than heard, and who at the same time has probably influenced people who have never heard of him. He ...

The merging of rock and rap is becoming more and more accepted among listeners today. It brings two worlds together and combined them to make a parent's worst nightmare, some of the most powerful music you have ever heard. Even though some are afraid to venture down this road, Grade ...

It's hard to overestimate the influence which The Velvet Underground has had upon rock music over the past...shit, it's been almost 40 years since THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO came out, and that album and what came after influenced everyone from David Bowie to Television to Dinosaur, Jr. to The ...

I TALK TO THE STARS is an interesting project, being a pop project recorded in Nashville by Kellee Bradley, a Seattle native. It is misimpression that Nashville is only about country music; there is probably no other city that has a wide a variation of musical styles represented to the ...

Ministry is basically Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker. The duo, to their credit, have covered all sorts of musical genres over the course of eight releases, putting their mark on everything from Dance to alternative to metal to industrial and back again. Their dance work pushed the envelope, sometimes enthralling, ...

The sound of the UK comes to the US to take us on a mystical ride with some of the most serene and beautiful music that has ever been recorded. Peace and tranquility never sounded so good. Prepare to do some serious soul searching and much needed spirit cleansing. Miriam ...

First time I heard 'em on 2000's "Do Things" I was blown away by the level of ease with which they conducted an otherwise confounding and inconclusive, almost unclassifiable record that lay somewhere between bedroom eyes, kissing bandits, and blaring sirens. And upon the earliest moments of their new "This ...

If there was ever an aggregation (if a duo is an aggregation) that everyone thought was gonna be a one-hit wonder it was the Pet Shop Boys. They hit, "West End Girls," was square in the middle of a genre that everyone thought was going to disappear, just like rap ...

Released last October, Ra’s Universal/Republic debut, “From One,” has already become a success with its first single “Do You Call My Name” blazing up the radio charts, and the band selling out venues throughout the US on their recent tour. Musically, the band seems to embrace not one but many ...

If music has taught me anything it's that good music stays with you forever while bad music stays with you for an eternity. You'd be amazed by how many horrendous songs and albums you remember when you actually think about it. Then you have those that aren't good but they ...

My initial reaction to SNACKS was "What IS this shit?" The opening track, "The Cinnamon Show," will put you in the mind of one of those opening numbers for a live children's production. You know the type, Bear and the Big Blue House comes to town, and is a disappointment ...

To be able to let your thoughts and feeling out to the whole world can be beautiful thing depending on how they're perceived. Outsider music didn't turn out to be what some expected, it was not accepted (hence "outsider" music) and even though these musicians didn't get the love and ...

Being able to cope with the fact that the past is gone and we can't change it is very hard for some. The Attila and Dave Project seems to be one of those bands that just can't let go. Their entire album just screams "hippie music". By the time it ...

I think that it's quite evident that not all music is good music but there's always room for improvement. When given the right tools, an artist can make one of the most astonishing projects ever. The D4 is one of those artists. They have the basics of music down pat, ...

I love to hear bands that know their strengths and weaknesses. They know how far they can go and they don't try to exceed that boundary until they've done all that they can do in their natural setting. The Juliana Theory is one of those bands that know how far ...

NIGHTCAP WORLD is The Scoldees' sophomore effort, and finds the band lyrically and musically in a more sophisticated, reflective mood. The production values on NIGHTCAP WORLD far exceed those of the band's first effort, MY PATHETIC LIFE. There's accordingly more of a comfort level built in here for both for ...

What the hell ever happened to UB40? Once a hip Miami Vice namedrop, they almost seemed to disappear after a headlining US Tour in 1994. Certainly well-intended, the Campbell Brothers, Robin and Ali, seemed to be on a mission to bring reggae, once and for all to the white folks ...