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Music Features

Smoothed out on the R&B tip

Mary Bee and David Gonzalez’s Fiesole
"Seeing Mary Bee interact and talk on a daily basis is totally different from hearing Mary Bee sing — it's like night and day," writes producer David Gonzalez.

By CHRIS CONTI | February 03, 2010

The Big Hurt: Everybody hurting

Warning: Scorpions content
The music industry's response to the Haiti disaster has been pretty great, since it's given some huge names a chance to complete the vital circuit between the public's heartstrings and their wallets.

By DAVID THORPE | February 02, 2010

Bring on the major leagues

Fairhaven are officially on the hunt
There ain't enough lighter fluid in your Bic to keep pace with Fairhaven's piano-driven anthems on their full-length debut Origins.

By CHRIS CONTI | January 27, 2010

The Big Hurt: Billboard Top Hip-Hop and R and B songs

Who charted?
This week, a jolly traipse through one of Billboard 's most artistically fecund charts: "Top Hip-Hop and R&B Songs." What wonders await?

By DAVID THORPE | January 26, 2010

Interview: Ozzy Osbourne

The belles lettrist tells all
Long before he bit the heads off bats and doves, Ozzy Osbourne worked in a cheerless abattoir in the hardscrabble Aston section of Birmingham, England, where for 18 months he held such titles as "cow killer," "tripe hanger," "hoof puller," and "pig stunner."

By LANCE GOULD | January 29, 2010

Tight but loose

Jangly + angular = Glowkid
I had never come across the adjective "jangular" until I visited the Glowkid website.

By CHRIS CONTI | January 20, 2010

The Big Hurt: Falling down the rabbit hole

Music news in brief
Lee, Hoppus, Wentz, Avril, and 3OH!3 fall down the rabbit hole

By DAVID THORPE | January 20, 2010

Making a beautiful racket

RHD-RI presents Thunder In the Bucket
Where else could you see the Blizzard of '78 and I, Destroyer share the same stage?

By CHRIS CONTI | January 13, 2010

Shout it out!

Sharks Come Cruisin’ corner the punk rock/sea shanty market
Sharks Come Cruisin' founder Mark Lambert is a Warwick native with a penchant for reworking and penning sea shanties from centuries past, often revised with rollicking punk flare — all thanks to the golden pipes of Quint, the shark-obsessed skipper in Jaws .

By CHRIS CONTI | January 06, 2010

Swing, etc.

10 must-hear jazz discs
The music may suffer plenty of economic slings and arrows these days, but it's still full of thrills galore. As usual, it's looking outside of its orthodoxy for invigorating ideas. Here are titles you truly need.

By JIM MACNIE | December 29, 2009

Local flavor

Andrew Martin serves up fresh Ocean State Sampler
Local journalist and acclaimed hip-hop scribe Andrew Martin has corralled a flavorful roster of Rhody-based rap talent on the Ocean State Sampler , 10 exclusive tracks available for free download.

By CHRIS CONTI | December 30, 2009

Beyond Dilla and Dipset

Can hip-hop deliver in 2010?
With a semi-sober face I'll claim that hip-hop in 2010 might deliver more than just posthumous Dilla discs, Dipset mixtapes, and a new ignoramus coke rapper whom critics pretend rhymes in triple-entendres.

By CHRIS FARAONE | December 29, 2009

The future is now

No teleportation, but lots of rad new albums
Even with all the promise of the new year ahead, it's hard not to feel a little stiffed in the Future of Mankind department. Here it is, 2010, and there's nary a flying car to be seen.

By MICHAEL BRODEUR | January 04, 2010

Local heroes, ’09 edition

From Suicide Bill & the Liquors to Roz Raskin & the Rice Cakes
The Rhode Island music community flourished in 2009, with new full-lengths from the Coming Weak, California Smile, and the pride of Cranston West and official big-leaguers Monty Are I, who released Break Through the Silence in September.

By CHRIS CONTI | December 22, 2009

2009: The top 10 in pop music

Music you need to own
Hmm, lots of women, a few old dudes, and some African banjo (not to be confused with Steve Martin's Hollywood banjo).

By JIM MACNIE | December 22, 2009

Best unsung albums of 2009

The cocky and the cock-blocked
These days, it's not so easy to feel useful as a music critic.

By MICHAEL BRODEUR | December 22, 2009

Pouring it on

Six Star General’s raucous Take Your Teeth Out
Like most of us around here, 75orLess Records founder and Six Star General frontman Mark "Slick" MacDougall would like to put 2009 to bed.

By CHRIS CONTI | December 16, 2009

Pop music for picky people

Stalemate’s eclectic ways
Lincoln-based quartet Stalemate host their CD release party at the Blackstone on December 23 in honor of their sophomore effort, We Will Carry You Out to Sea .

By CHRIS CONTI | December 09, 2009

Same old song

Reissued and remastered CDs give classic releases a fresh face
Most music fans can probably be forgiven, at this point, for being doubting Thomases at the alleged demise of the major-label music industry.

By DANIEL BROCKMAN | December 08, 2009

High tide

Thrashing surf-rock from Cliffs & Bangers
Newport’s Cliffs & Bangers bring their lightning-rod brand of surf-rock to the 201 this weekend behind their spring ’09 release Short Tracks No Brakes , and the downtown crowd better be prepared for some hair-flailing headbanging.

By CHRIS CONTI | December 02, 2009