Friday, February 10th, 2012


Hendrix had just taken London by storm with a BBC session that rocked the music world, cementing him as one of the most influential musicians from his era and Gered Mankowitz captured this historical moment at his legendary Masons Yard Studio.

When Justin Currie performed at New York City’s famed Joe’s Pub in mid-June the place was packed with people of all ages expecting to hear tunes from the group he co-founded in Scotland during the mid 80’s called Del Amitri. Songs like “Kiss This Thing Goodbye,” “Just Like A Man,” and “Always The Last To Know” gained notoriety because of Currie’s ability to combine uplifting tunes and darker lyrical themes

The eleven captivating songs on Shontelligence were recorded over a two year period. Co-written with producers Sturken and Rogers, the album presents an array of songs which display Shontelle’s depth and versatility; like the motivational anthem, “Battle Cry,” also featured on a compilation album inspired by President-Elect Barack Obama’s campaign called Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement, and “Life Is Not An Easy Road,” a reggae-influenced track that encourages strength in the face of adversity.

Perfecto Vegas, is an unambiguous return to his roots in electronic groove – and a clear reminder that this turntable genius is still one of the best spinners in the world. After his recent stints in pop music collaborations, the world famous DJ was inspired by his weekly spot at Las Vegas’ Rain Nightclub to truly get back to his beginnings as a club/trance electronic mixer.

No doubt the game has changed lyric wise. An overwhelming percentage of artists focus on denigrating others over limitable expenditures on materialistic desires via the internet. “The Last Kiss” will make rappers put their webcams aside and work on their lyrical linguistics.

Throughout history Japan has been known to borrow things from other countries and make them their own. Among those Japanese imports are Kanji characters (China), Beer (Germany), Baseball (America), Pei Yong Jun (South Korea), Gwen Stefani (America), and most recently, spaghetti western movies like Sukiyaki Western Django by the master of stylized violence, Takahashi Miike.

“I think the band is without a fucking doubt a million times the best it’s ever been. As long as people get off on coming to the concerts, I’ll forgive them for not buying the records.” Liam’s cheeky arrogance may seem disproportionate to the band’s success stateside, but to the 500 thousand people who immediately bought tickets for their concerts the day they went on sale, Oasis is still the dog’s bollocks.

From start to finish Magnetic is a rollercoaster of liquefied intensity. If you were to put a lump of coal inside one of Xzibit’s pimped out cars and let all 74 bone crushing minutes of this album ride in the sound system, you would end up with a diamond as big as your head.

Over two decades have passed since Rock and Rap music first collided when a young Run DMC covered Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” off their 1975 album, Toys In The Attic. At the time, Rock music was flourishing; whereas, Rap music was still trying to make a name for itself in the music industry. The two [...]

For most fans of drummer Larry Mullen. Jr, bassist Adam Clayton, guitarist The Edge, and vocalist Bono, these are the periods that define their loyalty to a band known as U2. But this devotion only covers two-thirds of a career that spans three decades. In the last 10 years alone U2 have released three albums: All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000), How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (2004), and most recently, No Line on The Horizon (2009), which means that kids who are 18 years old today were nine when the smash hit single, “Beautiful Day,” first hit airwaves.

How many emcees from “1988″ are crafting great cohesive albums without following today’s formula and sounding archaic? Can you name ten? The artists you mention are mired underground and don’t receive any airplay on Bet’s 106 & Park.