Tag: Vol. 25 No. 7

Tjinder and Avtar Singh use satire to attack Asian stereotypes head-on, starting with their band’s name, Cornershop. Their songs are full of shrewd political commentary, and deal with racism, politics, and pop culture, sometimes all at once. Their single “England’s Dreaming” name-checks the Sex Pistols, Morrissey, and Public Enemy as it takes on the “racist, […]

In the 30s listeners could turn for variety to “all-girl” jazz orchestras–full-fledged big bands that usually camouflaged some pretty fair musicianship under the banner of “novelty act.” These days, of course, no one would countenance the use of “all-girl” as a descriptive; Diva, a jazz orchestra comprising women only, get around the problem by punningly […]

Growing up near 47th Street in Chicago, trumpeter Malachi Thompson reveled in the sights and sounds of a music scene very different from today’s–one that positively buzzed with Chicago heroes and visiting superstars working their way across a skein of now-legendary south-side clubs. Now Thompson hopes to retrieve some of those glory days, leading the […]

Emerging last year as a guest rapper on Nas’s “Life’s a Bitch,” AZ has quickly scorched the R & B charts with his debut single, “Sugar Hill,” a vivid and desperate plea to escape Brooklyn’s ghetto. The tune’s blunt delivery plays off a thick, almost sultry groove and a swirl of laid-back female vocals without […]

There’s nothing particularly spectacular about Bush League All-Stars, which is exactly why their recent debut album, the Bob Weston-recorded Old Numbers (Pop Narcotic), sounds surprisingly fresh. Dispensing with indie rock’s de rigueur obscurantism–lo-fi production, extraneous noise, antinarrative lyrics, suppression of melody, etc–this quartet from Columbus bashes out country-tinged rock filled with a bluster and passion […]