Like Common, Mos Def or Talib Kweli, Nas occupies that murky ground between commercial hip-hop and the brainier purveyors of its better nature. On his new album, “Untitled,” the highly acclaimed rapper steers away from settling juvenile street beefs to step up his comments on the hip-hop public’s level of political engagement. Continue reading
Long the beneficiary of overly generous indie-rock buzz, Canadian New-Wavers Wolf Parade has released a new album that gives greater justification for the hype. Continue reading
Sheryl Crow hit all the right notes and played nearly all her greatest hits at Wednesday night’s concert at Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis. But it was her two onstage guests who demonstrated that passion goes a lot further than professionalism into making a performance exciting. Continue reading
With their latest disc, alt-rockers Weezer try to lay claim once again to their legend as masters of power-pop hooks. Unfortunately, the new songs show a weakening vision of how to marry their high-art aspirations and dreams of stardom. Continue reading
San Francisco neo-folkies Vetiver have long paid tribute to their acoustic-music forefathers and mothers by sharing the studio and the stage with them. The group’s new, all-covers album, “A Thing Of The Past,” takes this hero worship a step further and in the process, makes them inspirations for the next generation. Continue reading
Emerging from a particularly rough period in their two-decade career, the Roots have just released a new disc that shows refocused intensity and renewed energy as the Philadelphia hip-hop crew seeks to finally capture what was once barely out of their grasp. Continue reading
Already stars of their own HBO show, New Zealand acoustic pair Flight of the Conchords are poised to breakthrough from comedic novelty to bonafide pop stars. But, if you think the Concords are just a joke band, their debut album will prove that joke is on you. Continue reading
Continuously outshone by Jack White and the White Stripes, the Ohio-based neo-blues duo the Black Keys is finally poised to claim the spotlight with their new, Danger Mouse-produced album. Oddly, they do so by largely shunning the blues. Continue reading
Years of bad albums and sagging sales have eroded R.E.M.’s standing in the rock world from alternative-rock giants to rock star has-beens. The group’s new album, “Accelerate,” kicks into high gear the effort to reverse this trend, but then it grinds to a screeching halt. Continue reading
With 40-year-old soccer moms and bohemian punk-rock lifers moshing together at the front of the stage, Los Angeles punk legends X returned to Madison on Friday night for what might have produced a snide snicker in their late ’70s scene: a reunion tour. Continue reading
Soundbytes Music Column 