and make it a good one
Pick Hits Rudresh Mahanthappa & Steve Lehman Dual Identity | Clean Feed Two alto saxmen, rising stars at least according to Downbeat 's critics, in a free-jazz quintet mediated by guitarist Liberty Ellman. Mahanthappa has sopped up Coltrane and the Karna...
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Jazz Consumer Guide: Mocking Traditions, or Joining Them
"I didn't watch the whole thing—I know what state the union's in," says Gil Scott-Heron, sizing up his reflection in his living room's enormous TV—it's half the size of the wall, glossy, and incongruous in the 60-year-old's small, cluttered Harlem apartment. He doesn't see so well, he...
More here: Rebooting Gil Scott-Heron's Untelevised Revolution (The Village Voice)
When a guy named Romeo points at your girl, who is sitting right next to you, and purrs, "He can't be your man, 'cause I'm your man," you can assume you're in big trouble. "He can't be your papi , 'cause I'm your papi ," this impossibly suave interloper adds, triggering the eve...
More here: Tales From Aventura Land (The Village Voice)
Below is a selection of New Times music writers' favorite local albums from 2009. This is by no means exhaustive and appears in random order. For the full list, visit Crossfade, New Times ' music blog, at blogs.miaminewtimes.com/cros...
Continue here: A Year in South Florida SoundsA Year in South Florida Sounds (Broward-Palm Beach New Times)
This Fort Lauderdale-based act usually plays small Broward and Palm Beach County venues like the Bubble and Propaganda, so this outing below the Miami-Dade County line is rare. Although the band is technically a three-piece, Sweet Bronco's driving force is curly-haired Chris Horgan, who still pla...
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Sweet Bronco (Broward-Palm Beach New Times)
This year was such a good one for heavy music, I wound up having to cheat when putting this list together. I couldn't settle on just ten albums that kicked my ass the hardest in 2009; there were dozens of candidates. The best I could do was 14, so each of my top four slots are ties. Ma...
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The Year's Top Ten List for Metal Features Four Ties (Broward-Palm Beach New Times)
Let's go ahead and skip to the song wherein Rihanna imagines herself as a suicide bomber. "Fire Bomb," it's called. Surly power chords. Syrupy keyboards. Slow-burn anthemic grandeur. A triumphant sense of righteous fury. Very Pat Benatar. Love is a battlefield. Or, in this case, a tomb. S...
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Sympathy for Lady Vengeance: Rihanna's Rated R (The Village Voice)
In the winter 2003 issue of the lamentably defunct magazine Sound Collector Audio Review , writer/critic Mike McGonigal gushes about two recent compilations of "raw gospel"—a strain of church music so fiery, gritty, and raucous it seems to emanate from below. Though enthusiastic throu...
Continue here: The Raw Revelations of Fire in My Bones (The Village Voice)
Though devoutly worshipped by fans, jazz drummers don't often lead groups; the late Art Blakey's long-running Jazz Messengers are a prominent, if rare, exception. But all of a sudden in 2009, a clutch of drummers/composers are cutting records that demonstrate a broad range of approaches to music,...
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The Great Jazz-Drummer Takeover of 2009 (The Village Voice)
"I am very disappointed in Brad Paisley," some yokel named Jack wrote in the comments section of Country Music Television's blog in September, a couple of months after the star performed at the White House with Alison Krauss as part of an educational workshop on country music. "He's never been tr...
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Brad Paisley Is Ready to Make Nice (The Village Voice)