Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

When I first saw the T. Bubba CD, I was definitely surprised. Actually, surprised would be an understatement. Being that I have never heard of the guy, I envisioned him to be some new rapper from the south. (I was probably picturing Bubba Sparks, Timbaland's newest rap find.) Nonetheless, it ...

T.H. White’s new electronica album, The Private Spotlight, provides a relaxing atmosphere that is perfect for loungey background music. Its silky-smooth cocktail-time collection of funky electro beats is nothing groundbreaking, but it’s a good listen nonetheless. The Private Spotlight’s spacey mellow tracks emanate a dreamlike trance that is captivating. White ...

Here is the 411 on T.I. Vs. T.I.P. If you’re under 25, you probably know this anyway. If you’re 25 or over, you probably don’t care. However…T.I. is a rapper who sells bunches and bunches of tracks and is not exactly shy about spreading the word concerning his abilities. If ...

Anyone's list of Blues Greats is sure to include the likes of B.B. King, and Freddie King, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, even Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Hardly ever mentioned, though, is Taj Mahal, one of the most consistently satisfying yet dolefully underappreciated Blues ...

Taj Weekes was born and raised on the island of St. Lucia where he listened to a broad range of ecletic music,making him impartial to certain genres and simply appreciative of all good music despite genre. It was not until his arrival in New York that he formed the group ...

The PLUS ULTRA EP is an extension of turntablist/minimalist/musician Take’s EARTHTONES & CONCRETE release. As with most projects of this type, it consists of remixes of Take’s tracks on the full release by and collaborations with others. Take’s work on PLUS ULTRA will at first blush ...

I can’t get it out of my CD player. What else can I tell you? Hardcore energy plus five guys who can actually play their instruments, and play cohesively plus an uplifting, positive message, so I don’t have to turn the system off every time my ten ...

We’ve all had those CDs, where the first time through, it’s doesn’t quite grab your attention, but you give it a second and third chance, and eventually they grow on you, right? Unfortunately, the Tally Hall’s Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum reverses the formula. The first trip through the CD turned ...

I kind of miss power pop, artists like Suzi Quatro, The Sweet, The Shoes, kind of early Beatlesque stuff that wasn't rocket science but was deceptively simple, music that you found yourself humming three or four days after you heard it. Maybe that's why I'm a bit of a sucker ...

Tankard is one of those amazing bands that never seems to take itself seriously, yet still manages to  produce work that is considered masterful.  As a re-issue in celebration of their 25th anniversary, “Kings of Beer” is an excellent opportunity to listen to a band that has been consistently excellent ...

If you like loud, thrashing guitars from the beginning to the end of an album, than you might just love Tankard’s, Disco Destroyer. The band features Andreas “Gerre” Geremia (vocals), Frank Thorwarth (bass), Andy Bulgaropulos (guitar), and Olaf Zissel (drums). The band has no shortage of releases for their admittedly ...

WHERE WE LIVE is not so much a collection of songs as an album full of retrospective snapshots from a life full of wanderlust. Claire Lynch's fine liner notes indicate that Savory has moved around a bit, living in such varied places as Michigan, South Carolina, northern California, the Yukon, ...

Tape Recorder Three is Todd Zack, a one-man show who plays all of his instruments, fairly competently and sings in a disembodied voice that is a cross between an extra-snotty Jim Morrison and a more accessible Lou Reed. Which, I think, kind of sums up CHARACTER AMOUR, Zack’s first long-play ...

Not exactly "The Needle and the Damage Done" but not far off either. I'm not implying drug use is involved in their recreational activity, yet this frightfully effective combination of sounds tends to suggest otherwise.  TTV's moniker was provided indirectly by horror guru Clive Barker, "The Damage" was created entirely ...

This Ann Arbor quartet's sophomore effort find things a bit toned down from their initial offering, and, perhaps, needing to take better control of their own destinies. WELCOME was produced by Toby Wright, who has produced the late, lamented, and to this day underrated Alice In Chains, as well as ...

Oh, what a wonderful Sunday morning you will have when you've decided to heed my words: LISTEN TO TCHEKA'S NEW ALBUM, NU MONDA!  The mood radiating from this music is energetic and inspiring... "peace of mind" music if you will.   Tcheka, a.k.a. Manuel Lopes Andrade, weaves together his passionate voice, ...

It’s been nearly a decade since Tea Leaf Green sprouted up in the heady garden of jam rock.   The San Francisco quartet has been touring relentlessly since 1998,  making a name for themselves as an electrifying live act and garnering an ever-expanding dedicated fanbase.   Not until 2005,  did ...

The rebirth of American Power Metal and Thrash all in one bright, bombastic little package called "Embrace Oblivion," that at its most severe sounds -- like a cross between Hallows Eve and old Annihilator, and at its most subdued, which is to say, stone-ground and slowit's a Warrior-like respite.  Well ...

Tech N9ne has been around for a long time, falling in and out of deals that took more than they gave. He started his own label, Strange Music, some years ago, and began dropping his own tracks as well as those of others from his native St. Louis. He is ...

While Ted Nugent's well-documented modern day bow-hunting meatpacking exploits have tended to overshadow his illustrious musical career which now spans over three decades, his groundwork laying contributions to seventies' guitar-Rock can never go unnoticed.  So it's only fitting "The Ultimate Ted Nugent" 32 song collection appears as a two-disc anthology ...

Terrible Teddy Nugent is back. He never went away, really, and he hasn’t been exactly quiet, but like the class clown who has been sitting quietly all day until 15 minutes before dismissal and whose Ritalin suddenly wears off, Ted Nugent has jumped back to center stage and made LOVE ...

SWEDEN ROCKS is the title of Ted Nugent’s new concert CD, recorded in 2006. It’s absolutely fabulous, and the only reason it doesn’t get ten stars is that the audience for whatever reason, sounds like the lamest bunch of folks you’d ever want to meet outside of ...

This disc is exceptionally distinct and different, considering that most glitch-oriented electronica uses its distortions and randomness for best kinetic effect. This New Orleans duo (Joshua Eustis and Charles Cooper) tend to use a lot of floating Fender Rhodes piano and dreamy flutes in their work, displacing the usual assortment ...

I'm not going to pretend that I am totally able to differentiate amongst all of the different types of dance music out there, or that I can even name all of the different types. There's house, deep house, trance, techno, garage...I'm sure I'm leaving out a few, or maybe quite ...

Tenspoke Indies seem like they want to be several different things at once, and yet they don’t want to be at the same time. Confused? Well, I was too. It seems like so much of this album harkens back to ‘80s popular rock, with an emphasis on AC/DC-esque lyrics. But ...