The Architects, Keys to the Building (Anodyne). The brothers Phillips swing a wrecking ball into the ghosts of the Gadgits’ past and erect a new, frenzied, fist-pumping franchise in its place. Arthur Dodge & the Horsefeathers, Room #4 (Remedy). King Arthur gargles with bourbon and broken glass, rounds up the Horsefeathers for a bleary-eyed singer-songwriter stomp. Elevator Division, Years (Second…
Franz Ferdinand, “Take Me Out” (Epic). A rollicking mama-needs-a-new-pair-of-semi-ironic-Converse anthem capable of socking the ennui out of the most lethargic liberals. Modest Mouse, “Float On” (Sony). Lilting beauty from Seattle mopes that floats like a butterfly and stings like a … butterfly. The Killers, “Somebody Told Me” (Island). Gender confusion reigns supreme as former boyfriends are mistaken for former girlfriends…
In 2004, the line between indie and mainstream rock disintegrated even faster than Britney Spears’ quickie Vegas marriage. Vinyl obsessives mingled with white-hat-wearing fratheads at Modest Mouse shows, Taking Back Sunday debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard album chart, and Death Cab for Cutie earned O.C.-sanctioned buzz and a major-label record deal. Angular invaders from the U.K., sensitive troubadours…
Nirvana, With the Lights Out (Geffen). Containing everything but a heroin spoon, Lights Out turned out to be the real Cobain diaries. Tupac, Loyal to the Game (Amaru/ Interscope). A new post-mortem Tupac release is not generally cause for celebration, but with Eminem at the mixer, Loyal was a beyond-the-grave triumph. Ray Charles, Genius Loves Company (Concord); Ray: The Soundtrack…
J-Kwon, “Tipsy” (Arista). Finally, a shong dat explainsh wiff intricate detail why erre-body in da club ish shlurring derr muthafuckin’ wurrds. Juvenile, “Slow Motion” (Universal). Juve stops throwing $100 bills at the video camera long enough to serve up some smokin’ bump-‘n’-grindage. And, uh! We like it like that. Snoop Dogg, “Drop It Like It’s Hot” (Geffen). Snnnoooooooooopppppppp uses a…
Danger Mouse, The Grey Album (Independent). A mash-up messiah in a mouse suit slaughters sacred cows and sews the dismembered limbs back together. It’s alive! Just not exactly legal. Franz Ferdinand, Franz Ferdinand (Epic). Skinny Scots flip our kilts and toss our capers by making intelligent rock fun again. Or for the first time. Iron & Wine, Our Endless Numbered…
The early reviews for Beyond the Sea, the Bobby Darin biopic on which Kevin Spacey did everything save for feeding the crew and sweeping the set, have been so hateful that a latecomer to the bashing bash is tempted to head straight for the spiked egg nog and let the man pass without further abuse. (Which is not to say…
Catechism schism: A friend forwarded C.J. Janovy’s article about the Kings leaving the Catholic Church (“Pro Choice,” December 9). It is a great consolation to me to learn that I am not alone. I am the product of Catholic grade school, high school and college. My children attended religious education classes. My husband, whose Catholic roots are even deeper than…
Jimmy the Fetus Hey, kids, Jimmy the Fetus here, your guide to moral values in the Midwest, helping everyone see that what we learned in Sunday school really matters. Dear Jimmy: My biology teacher says there’s no way a fetus writes a newspaper column. What’s up with that? Sean Roeland Park Dear Sean: Keep this in mind, my young friend…
On this weekend in mid-November, Bartle Hall has become the world’s largest tailgate party, crammed with dealers pimping neon-lighted sports cars and TV-laden Hummers, vendors hawking kettle corn and daiquiris, and bikini-clad women sprawled across the hoods of cars. Inside the hall, more than 200 vehicles are parked bumper to bumper, surrounded by men who are tinkering with their stereos….
Sales-wise, at least, 2004 was the year Nashville got its groove back. Heavy hitters such as Tim McGraw, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban and Shania Twain all dropped platinum records, but what has the city more excited than it’s been in years is the fact that it finally managed to anoint a couple of new stars. Kid Rock copycats…
The sight of six makeup-clad Norwegian satanists on the Ozzfest main stage this summer was a great sign for metal, if not the makers of Max Factor. During recent outings, metal’s biggest event of the year has been plagued by rote rap-rockers like Crazy Town, Papa Roach and Linkin Park, but in 2004, the underground began to reassert itself with…
Everyone knows all of Usher’s Confessions by now; everyone went to see Prince play “1999” for the very last time. Everyone knows all about Lil Jon and his penchant for hollering “Yayy-uuhhh!” With everyone paying attention to these superstars, a lot of other talented folks got drowned out, and not just Brandy. (She came out with an album this year!…
For hipsters, the coolest things are to be found twenty years ago, the most dreadful things ten years ago. So starting a few years back, we were deluged with ’80s electro and synth-pop, and we pretended to forget jungle ever existed. Electroclash, the first naive sortie by dance music into the cycle of retro-reinvention that rock and hip-hop have been…
In 2004, the line between indie and mainstream rock disintegrated even faster than Britney Spears’s quickie Vegas marriage. Vinyl obsessives mingled with white-hat-wearing fratheads at Modest Mouse shows, Taking Back Sunday debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard charts, and Death Cab for Cutie earned O.C.-sanctioned buzz and a major-label record deal. Angular invaders from the U.K., sensitive troubadours and…
It’s difficult to survey the hip-hop of 2004, more bloated and self-referential than ever, and not imagine the mythical AOR wasteland of the mid-’70s. Like rock before it, hip-hop has easily won a cultural acceptance once unthinkable, and our reward is a parade of Jadakisses and G-Unit solo projects, preaching empty and ultimately safe rebellion in the same way Boston…
Ever find yourself missing the word “alternative” as a concept, a signifier, a lifestyle? Nowadays, any dudes-with-guitars collective either has to do the Creed butt-rock thing, the whine-incessantly-about-your-ex-girlfriends emo thing, or the get-beat-up-incessantly-by-your-ex-girlfriends indie-rock thing. It’s harder and harder to find the best aspects of each combined: the fist-pumping intensity of the butt-rockers, the ludicrous melodrama of the emo kids,…
Britney got married. Ashlee was caught lip-synching. ODB died. Congress continued to wring its hands about the legality of downloads, which flourished anyway. Conservative groups condemned sex in popular culture, while Usher’s sultry Confessions shot to No. 1. A major label signed a guy who can’t sing, can’t dance and can’t write for an album of covers people bought because…
A couple of months ago, we were slooowly easing into our work day by reading The New York Times online when we came upon this passage that nearly caused us to spew out our discreetly laced coffee: “Ms. Frenkel was not on a date with Mr. Blumberg, in pursuit of a kinky threesome; she was on the clock. A 29-year-old…
Even a writer has to be reminded every once in a while not to believe everything he reads. For example, I recently received an e-mail from a regular reader informing me that he’d heard (at his Rotary meeting, no less) that the legendary Stephenson’s Apple Farm Restaurant had closed. So I made a quick phone call to the historic east…
At the risk of sounding like Ebenezer Scrooge, I have to say that the magic of Christmas was nearly ruined for me after two frightful meals at the Crayola Café this month. I know what you’re thinking: Why in the hell would he go back to that kid-friendly dinette after giving the colorful but crummy joint a negative review…
THU 12/23 For his full-length debut disc, Misadventures in Radiology, melancholy melody master Andrew Morgan recorded hundreds of takes in what was essentially a tribute to Miles Davis’ painstaking process. He arranged some of the tunes at Elliott Smith’s New Monkey studio, layering orchestral overdubs in the spirit of his symphonic-pop soulmate. Still, after years of perfectionist production, the native…
ONGOING Look no further for evidence of suburban sprawl than the new Palazzo 16 megaplex in south Overland Park. The most elaborate theater in the area (even more so, dare we say, than Cinemark on the Plah-za?), the Italian-themed “film experience” boasts a lobby called “The Village,” complete with a burbling fountain and numerous columns and murals. And the…
SAT 12/25 This year, sports TV offers an assortment of less-than-family-friendly Christmas grudge matches. The NBA decks the brawls with the Detroit Pistons vs. the Indiana Pacers, whose last meeting generated a melee that spilled into the stands, and the Los Angeles Lakers matchup against the Miami Heat pits the league’s most famous philanderer against a former teammate accused of…
