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Music Features

Up for the challenge

Rhythmafia: a new breed of mashup
Rhythmafia have been on the scene for about four years, and in that relatively short time the Providence natives — Rob Cinami (drums and backup vox), Jamie Kearns (guitar), Zack Chagnon (bass), and frontman Sam Montes — have successfully delivered a blatantly unique sound through the course of three albums.

By CHRIS CONTI | August 25, 2009

The Big Hurt: Checking the Billboard Hot 100

Who charted?
As usual, I won't be able to make it through the full 100, but seven is just as good, right?

By DAVID THORPE | August 25, 2009

Bacdafucup, indeed!

Remember Onyx? They’re still pissed.
There was a moment between the late ’80s and the early ’90s when hip-hop was cheerier than diaper commercials.

By CHRIS FARAONE | August 11, 2009

Covering the bottom end - and the bottom line

Newport Jazz comes back with a bang
The biggest news made by the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals the past two weekends was that they happened at all.

By JON GARELICK | August 14, 2009

The Big Hurt: Pop eroticism, faux sincerity, and sperm motility

Music News in Brief
I am a man who loves a good corporate doofus, and this week's glistening-prize-hog-doofus quote goes to TOM WELCH , Wal-Mart's senior music buyer, who manages to make Foreigner sound even squarer than Foreigner.

By DAVID THORPE | August 05, 2009

Best Music Poll 2009: Anything goes

The underground: saved, salvaged, or savaged?
The underground: saved, salvaged, or savaged?

By DANIEL BROCKMAN | July 30, 2009

Best Music Poll Concert + Winners

The results are in
View the winners to Boston Phoenix's Best Music Poll; then take part in the live concert on August 1, 2009

By PHOENIX STAFF | August 03, 2009

The Big Hurt: Oddest proposal

Music News in Brief
"Wasn't nothing strange about your daddy," said Al Sharpton to Michael Jackson's children. "It was strange what your daddy had to deal with."

By DAVID THORPE | July 14, 2009

VIDEO: Michael Jackson's memorial service

Watch video of Michael Jackson's memorial in LA
Thousands attend Michael Jackson's memorial inside the Staples Center in LA

By PHOENIX STAFF | July 10, 2009

Raw brah

Why you need to shut up about Asher Roth
"My experience in college was that blunts started killing my lungs. I had to switch to joints. I mean, I was smoking like five or six blunts a day."

By CHRIS FARAONE | July 10, 2009

America’s Best New Bands 2009

Our picks for the best new artist from each state in the union
Our picks for the best new artist from each state in the union

By PHOENIX STAFF | July 10, 2009

The block is hot

Jumping genres at Providence Sound Session '09
The summer sun has arrived just in time for the "premier genre-defying summer music festival" known as Sound Session '09, a weeklong block party and musical melting pot for the masses kicking off on Sunday, July 5 and culminating in the climactic, carnival-style parade trough downtown on Saturday, July 11.

By CHRIS CONTI | June 30, 2009

Reaction Jackson

How to mourn a mess
There was Michael the living, breathing, singing performer and Jackson the commercial spectacle. We surrendered to the former, he to the latter.

By MICHAEL BRODEUR | July 06, 2009

Interview: Michael Jackson's autobiographer

Stephen Davis, ghostwriter of Moon Walk, remembers the King of Pop. And his monkey.
"This was still a 30 year old black kid when I was working with him," Davis says, still incredulous at Jackson's death. "And the guy who just died looked kind of like a 60 year old white woman in garish lipstick. Kind of like the Joker."

By CARLY CARIOLI | July 06, 2009

The Big Hurt: Durst pantsed, Michaels smooshed

Music news in brief
"This isn't a reunion, this is a comeback," quibbled the red-hatted irrelephant in a BBC interview.

By DAVID THORPE | June 23, 2009

Cult classic

The Church need you to come to their party
"Everybody who knows anything about us knows that we completely transcended the '80s."

By DANIEL BROCKMAN | June 24, 2009

Hail, Deer Tick!

The Providence rockers are poised for a breakthrough with Born On Flag Day
Heady days for Deer Tick.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 17, 2009

Mixed emotions

The beautiful mood swings of Camera Obscura
When at the end of the title track of her band's new My Maudlin Career (4AD) Camera Obscura vocalist/songwriter Tracyanne Campbell coos "I don't want to be sad again" over a bed of ethereally jaunty chamber pop, you'd be wise to take that with a grain of salt.

By DANIEL BROCKMAN | June 18, 2009

The Big Hurt: Parse and labor

The week in unhelpful headlines
I think music-news headlines are now officially my favorite part of pop music.

By DAVID THORPE | June 15, 2009

Trail of tunes

Music al fresco at summer fests
The best summer music festivals take something from the season: the smell of the surf, the sight of the mountains, fireworks, lawn seating — or, at least, fried dough.

By CLEA SIMON | June 09, 2009