Album Reviews » Passion of the Weiss

Jul
27

Life will always be shot full of heartache, melancholy and sadness, some of which can’t be blamed on the popularity of Pat Robertson, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Big Momma’s House. You might get fired from your job. You might break up with your girlfriend. You might be forced to sit through a sequel that may… Continue reading »

Jul
25

Fall Into the Crap: Common’s Finding Forever

We all should’ve known this was coming. There were those Zoolander Gap Ads. The burgeoning bad acting career. The Gay Jedi album cover. And that odd-couple b.f.f. relationship with Jeremy “I’m Just Happy I’m Famous and Able to Get Girls Now” Piven. But a decade and half after Can I Borrow A Dollar, Common has… Continue reading »

Jul
20

This is the Lo, Right?

As Joey aptly put it yesterday morning, the just leaked Camp Lo in Black Hollywood, is a legitimate contender for best hip-hop album of the year. Especially considering ’07 has been nothing but aging veterans trying to make classics past their prime, against all the odds. Redman was solid but unspectacular and loaded with filler.… Continue reading »

Jul
12

The Beastie Boys-The Mix-Up

Here’s the thing about the Beastie Boys: they’ve always been annoying. Despite their frequent brilliance, success has always come in spite of and not because of Ad-Rock, MCA, & Mike D’s adenoidal yawps and frat-boy lyrics. And yet, despite being blessed with Screech Powers-like voices, the mercurial trio has had an astonishing run over the… Continue reading »

Jul
01

Pharoahe Monch-Desire

Hip-hop history is littered with MC’s blessed with scythe-sharp flows and Byzantine lyrics who couldn’t pick out a dope beat if their life depended on it (see also Kass, Ras). Now I wouldn’t go as far as to lump Pharoahe Monch in with the tin-eared rabble, but over the course of five albums and 16… Continue reading »

Jun
25

My Morning Jacket-At Dawn & Tennessee Fire Demos

In the decade thus far, scores of pretenders have been hyped as having that elevated and hopelessly nebulous notion of greatness (thanks for stopping by Strokes!). In reality, only a handful of bands have emerged that can be lassoed into such a discussion. My Morning Jacket is one of them. Before you scoff, consider the… Continue reading »

Jun
08

Marco Polo’s Port Authority: Revivalism Gone Right

From hyphy to crunk to snap to grime to whatever the fuck Subtle is, hip-hop has split into a wide variety of sub-genres since its inception. Despite this, most hip-hop heads can be fit pretty neatly into two categories: those who consider NYC’s two golden ages of hip-hop (87-88, 93-97) the high-water marks for the… Continue reading »

May
28

Carlton Patterson & King Tubby-Black and White in Dub

As Mel Brooks once pointed out,, it’s good to be the King. Taxes are low. Seignorial rights seem like a cool deal for those on top. Not to mention the fact that having your own castle must be the ultimate bachelor pad (though inevitably the moment you’d get a comely wench out of her chastity… Continue reading »

May
24

Voxtrot-Voxtrot

If the Internet reinvented the idea of the overnight sensation, Voxtrot were some of its first guinea pigs—a bunch of kids in their late teens and early 20s who suddenly found themselves digital darlings off the strength of a couple self-produced, self-released EPs recorded in the sweltering heat of a Texas summer, home on break… Continue reading »

May
24

Wax Tailor-Hope and Sorrow

“Cinematic” is the operative cliche that will be thrown about to describe Wax Tailor’s sophomore effort, Hope and Sorrow, but sometimes cliches are cliches for good reason. The record feels tailor-made (pun unintended) to soundtrack a hip-hop tinged re-make of the drug-addled Jack the Ripper flick, From Hell. The kind of thing to throw on… Continue reading »