One of Russia’s biggest rock bands, Mumiy Troll’s members grew up in Vladivostok, a city of a half-million people in the far eastern edge of the country, a good 10-hour flight from Moscow. “It’s like the rest of the world was [another] galaxy. We had nice beach and nice sea,…
There are many reasons to dislike Owl City, the electro tweepop project spearheaded by Owatonna, Minnesota’s 23-year-old Adam Young. For one thing? The moniker is horrible. You can name yourself after a town or a continent—say, Boston or Chicago or Europe—but you can’t name yourself after a city with the…
A recent poll of influential hip-hop writers determined that Jay-Z’s 2001 work The Blueprint is the best rap album of the decade. The only other thing that most of this set could agree on? That his follow-up, The Blueprint: The Gift & The Curse, blew. Unfortunately, Jay’s latest installment, The…
With the exception of a collaboration with Akon, Whitney Houston’s new album, I Look to You—her first studio album in seven years—is almost absurdly gimmick-free. In an era when female pop singers are increasingly self-referential (Britney Spears conceived an entire album, Circus, on this concept) Whitney absolutely refuses to play…
Though Third Eye Blind hails from San Francisco, it has found success by merging the Northern and Southern California aesthetics; the band managed to extract the fun, relaxed elements of Los Angeles culture (minus the douchebaggery) and combine it with the more substantive, craft-focused elements of San Francisco culture (minus…
I interviewed Soulja Boy recently, who I’ll just go ahead and call by his real name, DeAndre Way, and it was pretty wild: The Atlanta-based, teen millionaire rapper wore his colossal, eponymous pendant—which he says contains a hundred G’s of diamonds—and bragged about how all the big names in hip-hop…
Is there a more beloved duo in hip-hop than Meth and Red? Known for sharp and hilarious contributions to albums like their 1999 collaboration Blackout!, they’ve also appeared in deodorant commercials, the stoner cult classic How High and even a short-lived Fox show Meth & Red (tagline: “Putting the urban…
A Brooklyn-bred MC who reportedly taught himself his craft while serving 10 years in prison, Maino rhymes with understandable urgency. The majority of the songs on If Tomorrow Comes… are ferocious inspirationals rapped over movie soundtrack-style beats. Which is fine: Maino is a utilitarian rapper who’s not particularly quick or…
Few pop rockers have as luscious, uniquely reassuring voices as Matthew Sweet and The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs. Their first collaborative album, 2006’s Under The Covers, Vol. 1 remade songs from ’60s artists such as The Beach Boys and Neil Young and was a moderate success, and so for the sequel…
Regina Spektor combines a whimsical, Björk-like sensibility with singing chops and genuine compassion, and she’s usually able to effectively combine the silly and the sweet. While her previous album, Begin to Hope, featured some jaunty numbers and plenty of nonsensical musings, Far feels more serious. Sure, this is an album…
Like 2005’s Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture, Wu-Tang Chamber Music is not an official Wu album. An “official compilation,” rather, it doesn’t feature folks like Masta Killa and GZA, instead hosting NYC old-school all-stars including Masta Ace, Sadat X and Kool G Rap. But it feels like vintage Clan; in…
Brooklyn duo Matt and Kim’s self-titled 2006 debut album didn’t make much of an impact, but the group’s latest, Grand, has made critics swoon, won the band an endorsement deal with Bacardi and hit iTunes’ top 30. So what are they doing differently this time around? Just four things, says…
Other than his insistence on giving his projects ridiculous monikers, Montreal singer-songwriter Spencer Krug can’t seem to do much wrong in recent years. His main band, Wolf Parade, had one of 2008’s strongest albums (At Mount Zoomer), and his primary side project, Sunset Rubdown, has put together a string of…
Veterans of two of the best-selling hip-hop groups of all time, Cypress Hill’s B-Real and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’s Bizzy Bone, are touring together this summer and stopping by for a show on Saturday night at The Max. And while each brings to the table his own brand of talents, eccentricities and…
BMX freestyle pro Rick Thorne has 27 screws in his head. His worst accident was probably a 1996 crash into the corner of a loading dock, which left him with a broken palate and eye socket. “Fluid from my brain was leaking out through my mouth,” he imparts. Somehow he…
It may be a relief to fans of Grandaddy that former frontman Jason Lytle’s solo debut Yours Truly, the Commuter sounds exactly like a Grandaddy album. But it shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, they were a band in name only, and before their swan song, Just Like the Fambly…
“Magnetic Subtraction,” by Jim Schutze, May 21 Bunch of Dupes What I, too, find scary is how many people actually believe [Superintendent Michael] Hinojosa and his “fairness” and “equity” stance. It is unbelievable how easily deceived some people can be, how the masses will simply follow and not really question…
A virus is currently spreading among today’s young people. If left unchecked, it could have the far-reaching effect of rendering an entire generation between ages 20 and 40 culturally stagnant. It can’t be prevented with a face mask—although earplugs would be a step in the right direction—but what’s most tragic…
Having fought a prescription pill addiction and mourned his murdered friend Proof, Eminem has chosen new album Relapse as his therapy. Whereas he played his last work, Encore, largely for laughs, Relapse is an oft-shocking plunder of the depths of his psyche and his imagination. “My Mom” explores the genetic…
Lady Sovereign was the Asher Roth of 2006, the subject of a tremendous marketing blitz preceding the U.S. release of her debut, Public Warning. Like the suburban stylings of Roth, there was some question whether the public was ready for a white, British grime rapper’s fairly exotic flow. Turns out…
It’s not easy to promote your new album when most people think you vanished a half-decade ago, but then again, that’s not Papa Roach’s only problem. Earlier this year, the group faced a lawsuit from its founding drummer, Dave Buckner, who was unceremoniously kicked out of the band in 2007…
Being a privileged white guy from the Philly suburbs doesn’t disqualify Asher Roth from legitimate hip-hop MC status. But not being able to spin an interesting yarn does. The Scooter Braun–championed overnight sensation’s debut, Asleep in the Bread Aisle, has little to say, other than that Roth occasionally likes rapping…
