Music

The Big Hurt: Pratt falls

Plus Ringo shills, Yanni sucks
Spencer Pratt, one of the vacuous props on MTV's realityesque moron drama The Hills , has his beady eyes set on a rap career.

By DAVID THORPE | June 08, 2009

Providence's Best Music Poll 2009

Vote for your favorite Providence and national bands
Vote for your favorite Providence and national bands

By PHOENIX STAFF | June 03, 2009

Weird and wired

A small band of electronic music acts take on a rock ’n’ roll city
It is, of course, difficult to attach a single sound to a city. And Providence is no exception.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 03, 2009

Jay Berndt resurrects the Revival Preachers
No, there will not be country-fried rockabilly renditions of Kilgore Smudge tunes at the Blackstone when ex-Kilgore frontman Jay Berndt resurrects the Revival Preachers (myspace.com/jayberndt) in what will be only their second show since 2005 (the boys reconvened for a wedding party in March).

By CHRIS CONTI | June 02, 2009

Bit players

Anamanaguchi are a shock to the systems
What do you get when you cross NYU music-technology majors just out of their teens, vintage Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy gear, traditional rock-and-roll instruments, a mysterious, robot-building fellow named José with half a middle finger on one hand, and a shadowy underground network of info-spreading Swedes? No.

By MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG | June 05, 2009

Busdriver | Jhelli Beam

Anti- (2009)
For a guy whose layered rhymes are less accessible than Hilary Duff's muff, Busdriver designs relatively people-friendly hip-hop.

By CHRIS FARAONE | June 02, 2009

Busta Rhymes | Back on My B.S.

Universal Motown (2009)
Increasingly surrounded by Soulja Boys and Lil Waynes, Busta Rhymes has of late taken on the look of hip-hop's Father Time.

By MIKAEL WOOD | June 02, 2009

Green Day | 21st Century Breakdown

Reprise (2009)
If anyone had suggested, circa Dookie 15 years ago, that Green Day would one day carry the torch for the classic rock opera . . . well, no one would have.

By JEFF TAMARKIN | June 01, 2009

Sonic Youth | The Eternal

Matador (2009)
This is Sonic Youth's first release on Matador Records, a retirement home for long-in-the-tooth indie-rockers, after two decades of major-label albums and one celebrity-curated Starbucks hits compilation.

By MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | June 01, 2009

Bachelorette | My Electric Family

Drag City (2009)
Annabel Alpers's debut album for Drag City (as Bachelorette) seems wholly devoted to her first uttered ground rule: "Daydream: Make sure it's good stuff."

By MICHAEL BRODEUR | June 01, 2009

Passion players

Rap-rock vets Mastamindz stay the course
"If music is your passion, then promote it. Get people to your shows. I honestly think people don't push themselves enough."

By CHRIS CONTI | May 27, 2009

Marco Polo and Torae | Double Barrel

Duck Down (2009)
Duck Down has reached beyond its Brooklyn-grounded rap roots in recent years, signing such acts as Kidz in the Hall and Boston's Special Teamz.

By CHRIS FARAONE | May 27, 2009

Dirty Projectors | Bitte Orca

Domino (2009)
You're going to be hearing a lot more about this album than you might actually hear from it. Why? Because it's far simpler to succumb to a lulling, repetitive chorus of praise than it is to surrender to the pull of Dave Longstreth's often uncertain seas.

By MICHAEL BRODEUR | June 10, 2009