Interview Playboy.com May 2006 As ESPN readied Monday Night Football before this summer’s cable premiere, the network brass decided to record a new version of the iconic theme song, a program staple since 1989. They assembled a musical dream team for the session, including Little Richard, Aerosmith ax-slinger Joe Perry and Bernie Worrell and Bootsy […]
Interview XLR8R April 2006 Link In 1968, Hugh Masekela experienced what some would consider a career apex. The South African trumpet and flugelhorn player came to the US in 1961 to study at the Manhattan School of Music. Seven years later, his single “Grazing in the Grass,” which eventually sold four million copies, hit number […]
Article XLR8R April 2006 Link Anybody with a healthy nightlife has endured serious (and unnecessary) scrutiny while entering a club, whether it’s undergoing a popularity contest to pass through the velvet ropes or the rough security checks at crowded concerts. But a new security system being introduced this year adds a computerized–some would say creepy–edge […]
Interview Playboy.com March 2006 Link Atlanta was a hip-hop hotbed well before OutKast dropped “Bombs over Baghdad.” But nobody from the Dirty South is making as much noise today as T.I., who’s back in the spotlight this fall with the release of his sixth album, Paper Trail. In the ’90s T.I. made a quick study […]
Interview XLR8R March 2006 Link The premise behind The Brave and the Bold–putting post-rock innovators Tortoise in a studio with country-tinged singer Will Oldham (Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Palace Music)–sounds like an episode of an indie rock reality show. But after the assembled musicians finished the two-week-long recording sessions that produced the album, the combination turned […]
Interview XLR8R March 2006 Link In battle footage from his new DVD, Sunglasses is a Must (Audio Research, $17.98), 15-year-old turntable prodigy A-Trak ends a routine by lip-synching the cocky line “What do you have that could possibly beat me?” It was as legitimate a challenge then–when he was winning the 1997 DMC Championships–as it […]
Interview XLR8R December 2005 Link In 2002, Swedish musicians and longtime friends Malin Dahlström, Lisen Rylander and Lisa Nordström began formulating the idea for Midaircondo, a potent blend of electronic and acoustic improvisation. The scene could have been straight from a holiday greeting card. “We met at my house in the middle of winter,” says […]
Interview Stop Smiling February 2006 Link Hefty Records owner John Hughes III has always been a tinkerer. Even as a 10-year-old he sat creating primitive tape loops on a boombox. He’s been obsessed with the minutae of music ever since. This mindset has helped make Hefty, now celebrating its 10th anniversary, a small but successful […]
Interview Time Out Chicago October 13-19, 2005 Link Green Velvet Humorous, outrageously dressed alter ego of house jock Cajmere Style: Techno Chicago residencies: None, but I regularly play at Sound-Bar and Smartbar. First gig ever: In Baltimore with the singer Dajae in the early ’90s, probably ’92 or ’93. It just happened. I really don’t […]
Interview XLR8R October 2005 Link A dimly lit bar tucked into a Chicago side street, Danny’s Tavern normally draws a laid-back bohemian crowd. But on the first Wednesday of each month, Dante Carfagna and the Sheer Magic crew dust off some old vinyl and create a bass-heavy, funk-fueled ruckus. “I’ve never considered myself a DJ,” […]