Some dismissed Mayer Hawthorne’s debut, A Strange Arrangement as overly contrived. But the record was truly one of the great growers of 2009, helped in no small measure by Stones Throw Records and Hawthorne’s vintage connoisseur taste. Not to mention, Hawthorne’s  rare knack for pleasantly deluding people into believing that they could do what he […]

There’s something brewing with Portishead. After the release of Third in 2008, the Bristol-based trio lay relatively low, focusing more on family and pet projects than driving the wheels off the tour van. But over last summer Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons and Adrian Utley began to again make their presence felt, packing in a hectic […]

For Los Angeles readers, DJ Revolution hardly needs an introduction. During his 13 year stint manning the decks for Sway and King Tech on 92.3 The Beat’s Wake Up Show, he became a household name for households glued to The Box.  These days, he’s busy producing music for radio and TV, and deploying his formidable […]

Matt Shea is over 30 and single. His relationship advice should not be trusted. Download: Matt Shea – Summer Jamz 2011: Steamy Nights It’s coming towards the end of summer and that means one thing: time to quit flaking and step your love game up. Winter hibernation under your Surfing With the Alien duvet ain’t […]

Image via Ben Liebenberg/Corbis Few rappers are as enigmatic as Del the Funky Homosapien. The Richmond, California spitter has never been shy about flashing his back-handed brilliance, even if he’s always seemed a half-step away from tying it all together into a classic album – the Dan the Automator/ Kid Koala collab Deltron 3030 and […]

It’s not wholly surprising that when the UK’s Kaiser Chiefs announced they were attempting to reinvent distribution the news was greeted with more than a little cynicism. The Leeds group’s tactic of allowing fans to compile their own albums from tracks uploaded to the band’s website seemed to some a gimmicky conceit, perhaps half-designed to […]

Photo via Up North Trips In 1980, Kurtis Blow stood astride a freshly minted genre like a good time goliath. He was the first rapper to sign with a major label, and the first to achieve a gold record with his single, “The Breaks”. In that sense, there will always be a touch of disappointment […]

There are plenty of artists toiling away within Glasgow’s music scene, but none of them work harder than The Phantom Band. Not that these Scots spend much time on home turf: since the release of their sophomore album, “The Wants,” late last year, they’ve been touring incessantly. The Wants turned out to be an impressive […]

The talent on tap for Erland & the Carnival, who emerged out of the busy London indie scene in 2008, is more than a little intimidating. There’s the charismatic, angel-voiced Erland Cooper out front, while the Carnival consists of David Nock, former right-hand man to producer Youth, and Simon Tong, one time cornerstone of The […]

Robert Henke is many different things to many different people – performer, lecturer, software developer, technician. In truth, the Berlin-based artist busily juggles all four descriptions, but when he gets on the phone you can understand why he does so well in front of a bunch of university students: the man loves to chat and […]