Rhymesayers Entertainment artist Brother Ali has been spitting out albums since emerging out of Minneapolis with 2000’s Rites of Passage. It was a brave introduction to the life of an albino rapper and a little insight into his heavily politically minded views. 2003’s Shadows on the Sun, 2007’s The Undisputed Truth, 2009’s Us, and 2012’s Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color continued Brother Ali’s path of delivering content-driven, independent hip-hop.
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Album Review: Zoe- Programaton
Zoé es una banda Latinoamericana formada por cinco integrantes. La banda tuvo su comienzo en la ciudad de México. Su establecimiento retrocede hasta mediados de los años ‘90. Su música originalmente fué influenciada por el pop británico sin duda alguna como los Beatles.
León Larregui (vocalista y guitarra), Sergio Acosta (guitarra), Jesús Báez (teclado) y Ángel Bosqueda (tambores) emprendieron Zoé en 1994. Casi veinte años más tarde, los mismos cuatro integrantes más la incorporación de Rodrigo Guandiola (batería) son a lo que llamamos Zoé. Hoy en día los podemos apreciar con un estilo de rock alternativo e indie rock que se podría clasificar entre más estilos.
Continue readingJimmy Angel: The Yankees, Mommy and the Mob
Every dream 79-year-old Rock ‘n Roll idol Jimmy Angel ever had growing up was to be a New York Yankee, not a legendary Rock star. But when his baseball career with a Yankees farm team was cut short by an injury, the pressure to support his mother who he humbly referred to as Mommy couldn’t be solved by a simple day job.
Continue readingAlbum Review: Tv Girl – French Exit
TV Girl started as a collaboration between Brad Petering and Trung Ngo before becoming Petering’s solo act in 2013. Petering casually refers to French Exit as a solo album “Depending on how you look at it,” which is an odd line considering this follows a 15-track mixtape a couple of years ago titled The Wild, the Innocent, the TV Shuffle. The album’s Bandcamp page goes on to advertise “12 songs about lost lust, too much love and not enough.”
Continue readingHigh Art Hip Hop: Lyrics Born Rock With Chali 2na
As we all know, hip-hop has a revolving door of rappers. With contemporary artists being chewed up and spit out faster than you can say Lil Jon, the probability of a career spanning multiple decades is highly doubtful. Notable East Coast emcees such as KRS-One, Mos Def and Talib Kweli are among the few that can claim years of longevity. Lyrics Born (real name Tom Shimura), however, has been at it since the early ‘90s and is still going strong with his latest release, As U Were. Growing up in Berkley, Shimura had a hard time getting his hands on good hip-hop. Fortunately, he crossed paths with future label mates, Gift of Gab (Blackalicious) and Lateef the Truthspeaker (Latyrx) while attending school at UC-Davis where the idea for Quannum Projects was born. In addition to putting out their own records, the three entrepreneurs started putting out material by artists like DJ Shadow, Lifesavas and Pigeon John under the Quannum moniker. As Lyrics Born, Shimura has reveled in plenty of success with his funk and soul-infused hip-hop, something he learned as a college radio DJ in California.
Continue readingAlbum Review: Ty Segall – Manipulator
Laguna Beach native Ty Segall has exploded with popularity since he started popping up in lo-fi garage rock bands around Orange County in the early 2000’s, and now, Segall’s solo career is on fire after releasing 2008’s self-titled debut. With an affinity for fuzzed-out guitars, surf rock and ‘60s-inspired psychedelic garage rock, Segall has proven to be on the front lines of the recent garage rock surge. Fortunately for Segall, he made the move to San Francisco before MTV’s reality show, Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, landed on his front door. It transformed his hometown into something unrecognizable to him. Fortunately, that’s beginning to change.
Continue readingAlbum Review: Operations – EP 1
In terms of comparisons, Operators are probably closest in sounds to Handsome Furs. Not to be confused by the hard rock band of the same name, Operators sport a peppy electronic sound that splits the difference evenly among its songs between clean, exciting beats and softer, fuzzier sounds. It mostly works quite well, and with the different types of ideas and sounds Boeckner experiments with on the album, it’s exciting to anticipate what he’ll do with the next Operators release, especially if that release is enabled by the expanse and budget of a full-length album.
Continue readingFeeling the Vibe – Vibe Squad Talks Business with The BandWagon
Considering the music Aaron Holstein makes, you’d never guess the man behind VibeSquaD is a trained multi-instrumentalist with a background in jazz. The talented Colorado-based music producer emits sounds that can make your ears bleed with its pounding bass, swirling synthesizers and relentless energy—just don’t call it dubstep. His infusions of funk, hip-hop and other polyrhythmic textures into his electronic concoctions defy categorization. Combined with his eccentric stage persona, Holstein is in a world of his own.
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