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| BEST BREAKTHROUGH |
| My Morning Jacket |
 |
On their audacious new album, Evil Urges, My Morning Jacket veer between funk-metal grooves, Nashville crooning, classic-rock guitar heroics and more — sometimes all in the same song. The album, out June 10th, is the latest evidence that MMJ are aiming higher than almost any other band of their generation. And if their music is increasingly hard to categorize, that's the point, according to frontman Jim James. "People looked at Radiohead when they started, and were like, 'Oh, Brit-pop rock band,'" says James. "Now they're just fucking awesome, awesome weirdos. You can't put a label on them, and that's what I hope has been happening with us. Whether you love us or hate us, we're not any one type of band." Read More...
 |
 Click here to watch My Morning Jacket perform tracks from Evil Urges and discuss the making of five songs. |
Click here to watch My Morning Jacket perform "Highly Suspicious" at SXSW.
 |
Spring Album Preview: My Morning Jacket
MMJ Debut New Songs at SXSW
How MMJ Won Over Hippies and Hipsters
Album Review: Z
Album Review: OkonokosClick here to listen to
Okonokos |
Photo: Peter Yang at Dakota Studios
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| BEST FESTIVAL BAND |
| Radiohead |
 |
The best live band in rock played its greatest concert ever on June 17th, 2006, at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. "The performances are brilliant," says Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood, "because they are so relaxed." At Bonnaroo, Greenwood, singer Thom Yorke, drummer Phil Selway, and guitarists Ed O'Brien and Colin's brother Jonny covered every extreme in their studio catalog, from the violent double-guitar clang of 1995's The Bends to the haunted electronics of 2000's Kid A. But it was in the fresh, unfinished songs, later cut for 2007's In Rainbows, that Radiohead peaked that night. "In 'House of Cards,'" Colin says, "50,000 people threw their glow sticks in the air to this kick-drum beat and Thom's keening voice. In the film [of the concert], it looks like Thom walked into a party where he feels instantly at home." Some new songs sounded flat at that show, Colin admits. "But isn't that what people want to see — the next part of the story? They don't want some prepackaged supper-club band." Read More...
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The Future According to RadioheadRadiohead's Secret InfluencesAlbum Review: In RainbowsPhoto Gallery: Fifteen Years of RadioheadClick here to listen to In Rainbows |
Photo: Cochrane / PA Photos / Retna
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| BEST BAND T-SHIRTS |
| Rock's New Look |
 |
From Fall Out Boy's LOLcats-inspired design to Sonic Youth's celebration of their album Dirty and Peter, Jborn and John's self-explanatory tee, check out a gallery of merch-table must-haves for the discriminating rock fan. See the gallery...
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| BEST ROCK CLUBS |
 |
Stubb's Bar-B-Q
Austin
Capacity: 2,200
Adventurous booking (Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg, Wilco and Arcade Fire have hit the stage), killer barbecue and a massive PA all contribute to the party vibe that makes Stubb's the coolest outdoor club in America.
Photo: Cambria Harkey
The Orange Peel
Asheville, North Carolina
Capacity: 942
In the Seventies, the Orange Peel was a premier funk-and-soul club. Since it reopened five years ago, Bob Dylan and Smashing Pumpkins (who picked the spot for their nine-show reunion run last year) have gone out of the way to play the Peel — drawn by Asheville's bohemian vibe and attentive crowds.
Bowery Ballroom
New York
Capacity: 550
Perfect sound, clear sightlines and zero attitude make the Bowery
the best place to see a show in Manhattan. The indie-heavy club,
which opened ten years ago in a former discount shoe store, has
hosted legendary gigs by R.E.M., Coldplay, Sleater-Kinney and New
Pornographers.
Photo: Scott Gries/ImageDirect
The Magic Stick
Detroit
Capacity: 550
Pretty much every Detroit band — from the up-and-coming White
Stripes to the Detroit Cobras — has played the Magic Stick, a
funky, high-energy pool hall above the Garden Bowl bowling alley.
Local talent plays most nights, alongside national acts like Tokyo
Police Club and the Breeders.
The Norva
Norfolk, Virginia
Capacity: 1,500
Artists love the Norva, a renovated vaudeville theater that
features a backstage basketball court, game room, hot tub and
sauna. And with six bars, two smoking lounges and a giant,
crystal-clear sound system, concertgoers dig it too.
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| BEST JAM SESSION |
| Levon
Helm's Midnight Ramble |
 |
You'll need a good map to find the Midnight Ramble, Levon Helm's joyful, improvisational jam sessions that go down about once a month at his out-of-the-way barn in Woodstock, New York. For the past four years, Helm has invited artists including Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Allen Toussaint, Elvis Costello and Donald Fagen to sit in with his killer house band — and break out their favorite songs or just jam on old Dylan and Band tunes. Inspired by the traveling shows he saw growing up in Arkansas, the Band's former drummer began the Ramble after surviving throat cancer. Since then, the BYOB parties (admission: $150) have become the hottest ticket in town. "I love playing for them," Helm says of his fans. "Every song is a celebration. We've got so many great singers and players — that's what's so fun. We can go to the Beacon Theatre [in New York, where Helm has hosted several out-of-town Rambles] and play, but it just don't sound as good as this old barn." AUSTIN SCAGGS
Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
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| BEST LIVE BAND |
| Bruce
Springsteen and the E Street Band |
 |
"We're very on it right now," Bruce Springsteen crowed to Rolling Stone last fall about the music he was making with his E Street Band — and that was just in rehearsal. By the time he and his New Jersey troupers — saxophonist Clarence Clemons, pianist Roy Bittan, organist Danny Federici, guitarists Nils Lofgren and Steven Van Zandt, drummer Max Weinberg, bassist Garry Tallent, singer-violinist Soozie Tyrell and Springsteen's wife, singer Patti Scialfa — formally opened their 2007-08 tour in Hartford, Connecticut, on October 2nd, Springsteen, 58, was at a new peak in his performing life, combining the politically charged fury of his new album, Magic, with the joy of early-Seventies bar-wars songs like "For You" and "Thundercrack." He started almost every 2007 concert with the rock & roll preacher cry in Magic's "Radio Nowhere" — "Is there anybody alive out there?" — then stayed in resurrection gear all night, singing with deep authority and punctuating his vocals with barbed-wire Telecaster licks against the soul-train locomotion of his band. Read More...
|
|
Photo Gallery: The Vintage Photographs
Bruce Springsteen: The Rolling Stone Interview
Springsteen Parties Like It's 1978 During L.I. ShowClick here to listen to
Magic |
Photo: Getty Images
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| BEST MC |
| Lil Wayne |
 |
Lil Wayne has two primary passions: making music and smoking weed. Tonight, those have come into conflict. Wayne is sitting on his tour bus in New Orleans, having come back to his hometown for two concerts. He'd like to head into a studio to do some mixing for Tha Carter III, 2008's most anticipated rap album. But there's a problem. Wayne isn't allowed to smoke in the studio. So he stays on the bus, lighting blunt after blunt and watching Animal Planet on the TV. He'll sleep there tonight for the same reason: Wayne can't smoke in his hotel room either. Read More...
Click here to watch Lil Wayne's best freestyles
|
|
Album Preview: Lil Wayne
Listen to Lil Wayne's Favorite Rap ClassicsClick here to listen to Tha
Carter II Click here to listen to The
Leak |
Photo: Jonathan Mannion
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| BEST RADIO STATION |
| Indie 103 |
 |
More like the adventurous rock stations of the Seventies than its current ultracorporate competitors, Los Angeles' Indie 103.1 has challenged the city's alt-rock powerhouse, KROQ, with broader playlists, fewer commercials and DJs who have cool taste and a distinctive point of view. The station, which also broadcasts online at indie1031.com, gives listeners the early jump on artists such as Tokyo Police Club and Black Lips, and also offers up NPR favorites like Feist and Bright Eyes, and album cuts from veterans including Morrissey and the Smashing Pumpkins. The station's most popular shows are hosted by Henry Rollins, the Sex Pistols' Steve Jones, the Crystal Method and actor Danny Masterson, all of whom select their own tunes. "People wanna hear good music, and in the past few years, Indie 103 has become the only station that matters out here for good music," says Masterson, who hosts Feel My Heat on Monday nights with his friend Brent Bolthouse. "I think it's the best station on the planet, actually." JENNY ELISCU
WWOZ
90.7 FM wwoz.org
This listener-supported New Orleans station celebrates the city's glorious musical heritage, focusing on jazz, soul, blues and Cajun music.
WSOU
89.5 FM wsou.net
Run by students, Seton Hall University's WSOU plays the loudest of
the loud in alt-rock, metal, hardcore, punk and prog, from
Meshuggah to the Mars Volta.
KEXP
90.3 FM kexp.org
Reggae, rockabilly and twang specialty shows mix with a spot-on
indie-rock playlist at this long-running Seattle community station,
now also in New York at 91.5 FM.
WRAS
88.5 FM wras.org
Georgia State University's high-wattage student-run station has had
one of college radio's most credible indie-rock playlists since
back when college radio mattered.
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| BEST METAL BAND |
| Mastodon |
 |
"The Mastodon was this pre-historic, lumbering beast," says Troy Sanders, singer-bassist of the Atlanta metal crew. "It matches the idea of the music we want to create: just a powerhouse." Masters of virtuosic, twisted riff attacks, Mastodon are the kings of the current metal scene — drawing everyone from stoner dudes to urban hipsters at their unhinged live shows. In 2006, the band hit its stride with Blood Mountain, a concept album about a mountain inhabited by ogres and dwarves. (The band digs a conceit: 2004's Leviathan was based on Moby-Dick, and the next record — due out this year — explores czarist Russia.) And the group's sound ranges way beyond Slayer and Metallica: "Iron Tusk" features Beethoven-esque guitar, and "Megalodon" is laced with bluegrass.
The band's favorite gig was in 2001, when Mastodon were denied
entry into Canada. They sought out the closest venue to blow off
steam, ending up at a bar in Fargo, North Dakota. After convincing
the bartender to let them play an impromptu show, Mastodon cleared
the room. "No one gave a shit about us," says Sanders. "But we had
so much pent-up energy, we probably played the best set ever."
KEVIN O'DONNELL
Music Video: "Colony of Birchmen"
Music Video: "Crystal Skull"
Music Video: "Blood and Thunder"
Music Video: "Capillarian Crest"
Music Video: "Seabeast" |
|
Album Review: Blood MountainClick here to listen to
Blood Mountain |
Photo: Ryan Russell
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| BEST ROOKIES OF 2008 |
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These scarily talented Miami prodigies — lead singer and guitarist Gabriel Garcia is only fifteen — play a tuneful brand of metal that's been AWOL since the Reagan years. Catch their nuclear-hot twin leads and banshee shrieks on this summer's Rockstar Mayhem tour. |
 |
| "Shockwave" |
| Two unwashed hippie freaks straight out of Wesleyan play deliriously catchy psych-pop with a wicked sense of humor and heavy grooves. On their cool-ass debut, Oracular Spectacular, they come off like the Flaming Lips' snarky little siblings. | 
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| |
| "Electric Feel" |
Click here to watch MGMT introduce themselves as they visit the zoo.
|
Record-exec-turned-singer Santogold (born Santi White) makes futuristic pop for the skinny-jeans set. She raps like M.I.A. ("Creator") and skanks like Gwen Stefani ("Shove It") on her debut album, out on tastemaker label Downtown Records/Lizard King on April 29th. |
| |
| "L.E.S. Artistes" |
Click here for Santogold's introduction to herself, watch her perform live and find out how she got her nickname.
| In a year, these preppy Columbia grads rocketed from playing frats to SNL, thanks to their literate, globe-trotting rock. Their first disc, Vampire Weekend, has already sold more than 150,000 copies — that's an indie smash. | 
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| |
| "Oxford Comma" |
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| BEST ALBUM COVER DESIGNER |
| Brian Roettinger |
 |
Flipping through the forty-five page booklet that comes with No Age's album Nouns, you get a vivid portrait of the L.A. experimental rock band's typical tour. In one shot, a stack of speakers and amps lay on the rain-soaked concrete, looking like they might tip over. In another, a packed crowd pumps their arms in the air while one lone girl holds her hands over her ears. A slightly blurry photo shows a young couple making out, post-show, in a storage room, just beyond the reach of empty bottles and cans. For any punk band who's ever played a house party, this is what life looks like: unsteady and up-close and loud as hell. And Brian Roettinger has turned that life into art. "We wanted it to be about nouns: places they've played and people they've seen and things they've done," says the designer, who went on the road with No Age to create the packaging for Nouns. "That's much easier to do it in sort of a multi-page document than one single image."
Roettinger's sleeve designs often feel like art collections. His
cover for Liars' self-titled album comes with ransom-note-style
liner notes and a matching tote bag. His series of five No Age EPs
combine stark images — one shows the broken car windshield
where No Age's guitarist wiped out while skateboarding — with
each letter from the band's name spelled out on the back. Once,
Roettinger even created twenty-four different sleeves for a
seven-inch split between No Age and Liars, a new design for each
city on the bands' co-headlined tour. And his handmade artistry is
every bit as punk-rock as the music. "The hardest thing to do with
digital music is create a desire to purchase it," says Roettinger.
"So I had the idea to change the focus: someone buys a book or a
catalog, and they just get a CD. Maybe that will make people want
to buy records again." MELISSA MAERZ
Roettinger's series of five No Age EPs:
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| BEST PRODUCER |
| Danger Mouse |
 |
Brian Burton didn't get much sleep last night, and it's all Beck's fault. On a Wednesday morning in early March, Burton is trudging toward a Starbucks near his Los Angeles recording studio, where he wrapped up a session for the next Beck album just a few hours earlier. "Some of it was fun, some of it wasn't," is all he will say about the evening's work. Inside the coffeehouse, Burton — who is better known as the virtuosic, boundary-breaking producer Danger Mouse — orders a ham, egg and cheese sandwich but no coffee. He never drinks it. A caffeine boost "seems too easy," Burton says, eyes bleary behind aviator shades: He has been working almost nonstop for the past few years, only recently starting to take weekends off.
Danger Mouse is the perfect hitmaker for Obama's America —
a hip-hop fan whose life was changed by the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix
and Pink Floyd. "Hip-hop was what I knew really well," Burton says,
drinking Vitamin Water back in his studio's control room. "But it's
not what inspired me to make music. It was the older rock stuff I
started to hear." His sound blurs the line between samples and live
instruments, slipping warped hip-hop beats under the orchestral
twang of Ennio Morricone, the analog punch of the Beatles and the
unhinged freedom of psychedelic rock. Singer-rapper Cee-Lo and
Burton just released The Odd Couple, their second album as
the experimental rock-R&B duo Gnarls Barkley. The album may not
spawn a hit on the order of 2006's smash "Crazy," but its
futuristic combination of fractured robo-beats and go-go-booted
Sixties textures does manage to sound like no other music in recent
memory. "My initial audience is Danger, and Danger alone," says
Cee-Lo. "He has impeccable taste. I aspire to impress him." Read More...
Ten
Essential Danger Mouse Tracks
Pelican City Remix of Neutral Milk Hotel's "The
Fool"
On one of his earliest projects, Danger Mouse takes a horn-packed
track from his Athens, Georgia pals and drops a rolling beat behind
it.
Danger Mouse & Jemini's "Ghetto Pop
Life"
In 2003, Burton released his first production under the Danger
Mouse moniker: an indie hip-hop collaboration with experienced New
York MC Jemini.
The Grey Album, "Encore"
Danger Mouse became a household name in 2004 for blending the
Beatles' White Album with Jay-Z's The Black
Album. The results were stunning, though litigious.
Danger Doom's "A.T.H.F. (Aqua Team Hunger
Force)"
In 2005, Danger Mouse teamed up with MF Doom for The Mouse and
the Mask, an experimental hip-hop album inspired by the
Cartoon Network's stoner-friendly Adult Swim lineup. LISTEN
Gnarls Barkley's "Smiley Faces"
Danger Mouse demonstrates his love of Sixties-style production on
this organ-heavy track from St. Elsewhere, his first LP
with Cee-Lo as Gnarls Barkley. LISTEN
Gorillaz's "DARE"
Danger Mouse replaced Dan the Automator in Damon Albarn's Gorillaz
project, and on the 2005 album Demon Days he proved he
could work up a damn fine disco groove. LISTEN
The Rapture's "Pieces of the People We
Love"
Danger Mouse provided dance-punk band the Rapture with a few tunes
for their 2006 album Pieces of the People We Love,
including this moody title track. LISTEN
The Good, the Bad & the Queen's
"Herculean"
Damon Albarn enlisted Danger Mouse's talents once again, for 2007's
The Good, the Bad & the Queen, where he conjured a
dark, dubby mood for the first single. LISTEN
The Black Keys' "Oceans & Streams"
In 2008, Danger Mouse helped Akron, Ohio two-piece blues punks the
Black Keys amp up their sound on Attack & Release. LISTEN
Gnarls Barkley's "Charity Case"
Danger Mouse steers Gnarls Barkley towards Sixties psychedelia once
again on their 2008 release The Odd Couple. LISTEN
Photo: James Dimmock
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| BEST NEW ROCK BOOKS |
 |
By Eric Clapton
By Crystal Zevon
|
In one of the most unflinching examinations of the rock &
roll life ever, Warren Zevon's ex-wife Crystal paints a harrowing
picture of a brilliant mind ravaged by alcohol — using
excerpts from the late singer-songwriter's journals and interviews
with friends including Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen. |
By David N. Meyer
| The definitive account of Gram Parsons' life — and early death. From the country-rock pioneer's wealthy, wildly dysfunctional family through his symbiotic friendship with Keith Richards, Meyer deftly illuminates one of rock's most elusive figures. | 
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By Zachary Lazar
|
Blending fact and myth, novelist Lazar casts the Rolling
Stones, the Manson family and avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger
as characters in his dizzying, foreboding shadow history of the
Sixties. |
By Jonathan Gould
| Not so much a biography as a fascinating, sharply argued history of the cultural forces that made the Fab Four's oversize lives possible — and the world they left permanently altered in their wake. | 
|
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| BEST NEW REGGAE |
| Mavado |
 |
If you think reggae died with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, think again. Jamaica's latest star, Mavado, combines hip-hop-influenced beats with ominous minor-key vocals about street life and salvation. "I started singing when I was four or five years old, and people always wanted me to sing more," says Mavado, who grew up in Cassava Piece, a rough dirt-road section of Kingston. Over the past few years, the 27-year-old singer — who has a heavily scarred face and dark, bloodshot eyes — has catapulted to the top of Jamaica's MC circuit on the strength of songs such as the taunting "Real McKoy." Last year, he released his debut album, Gangsta for Life; his thuggish style has won him fans in the U.S., where hip-hop stations have started playing tracks like "Weh Dem a Do" and "Last Night." Jay-Z was so impressed that he cut a remixed version of Mavado's "On the Rock," stepping out of his comfort zone to rhyme in a hyperspeed flow. Mavado recently played a number of U.S. shows and was surprised to discover how many fans he has here. "The fans in the U.S. are more hyperactive," he says, "because they don't see Mavado that much." EVAN SERPICK
|
| Click here to listen to "Weh
Dem A Do" |
Photo: Martei Colquitt
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| BEST REUNION |
| Led Zeppelin |
 |
"They went onstage not only like they were Led Zeppelin, but Led Zeppelin with something to prove," says drummer Jason Bonham, an obsessive fan since boyhood who had the best seat in the house — behind the kit, in place of his late father, John — for the band's first full-length concert since 1980, at London's 02 arena on December 10th, 2007. Despite months of rehearsal with guitarist Jimmy Page, vocalist Robert Plant and bassist John Paul Jones, Bonham confessed he felt "nauseous right before we went on." But as soon as Zeppelin opened with "Good Times Bad Times" — a song they never played live in its entirety — "we were all in. We weren't going through the motions anymore." The most hysterically anticipated show of last year and arguably the biggest rock reunion ever, Zeppelin's performance was a total victory, covering the hits and deep corners of their catalog. The show was also rich in the improvised thrills that were a hallmark of the band's Seventies gigs. Even in rehearsals, Bonham says, songs "changed every day. The main structure was always there, but Robert would pitch the melody differently. Jimmy would change a guitar part." Page, Plant and Jones have all said they are open to more shows, and promoters say it could be the biggest tour ever. But Plant is touring with Alison Krauss this summer, and Bonham insists he doesn't know when or if it will happen. "I keep away from the politics of it," he says. "If there is anything I've gained from this, it's that I have three new friends to talk to — not as if they're my uncles." And if the phone call comes? "I'm there." DAVID FRICKE
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| BEST AFRICAN BAND |
| Tinariwen |
 |
In 1964, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib's father was killed by the Malian army, reportedly for aiding rebels fighting against the government. Ibrahim, now forty-eight, fled for Algeria and started playing music as a way to bide his time until he was old enough to seek revenge. "I dreamed of avenging my father," Ibrahim says. "I found solace playing guitars I made from sticks and oil cans."
It took Ibrahim more than a decade to get a proper acoustic guitar in his poverty-stricken part of Africa. When he did, he formed Tinariwen, who have become famous for a fluid, riff-heavy style of desert rock that carries the torch for African bluesmen like Ali Farka Touré and speaks to the struggles of Ibrahim's long-exiled Tuareg tribesmen. (A settlement with the Malian government allowed the Tuareg tribes to return home in 1991.) "We've listened to lots of stuff — Arabic music, Rabah Driassa, Led Zeppelin," Ibrahim says. "Our music mixes all that together, like a desert stew."
The band will tour Europe this summer, and has attracted fans
like Bono and Robert Plant. "I'm singing about my love for the
desert," Ibrahim says. "I'm singing about our desire for peace and
prosperity. That's it, really." CHRISTIAN
HOARD
| |
| "Cler Achel" |
Click here to watch Tinariwen perform "Whole Lotta
Love" with Robert Plant
Click here to watch Tinariwen perform
"Ammassakoul" with Carlos Santana
Click here to watch Tinariwen perform live at the
BBC Folk Festival 2005
Click here to watch Tinariwen perform "Chet
Bhogassa"Photo: Getty Images
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| BEST NEW MICHAEL JACKSON |
| Chris Brown |
 |
Chris Brown was pegged early as the next Michael — or at least the next Usher — after his first single, the supersyncopated "Run It!" hit Number One in 2005. Four more Top Ten hits followed, but what really brought on the Jacko comparisons was Brown's dizzying performance at the 2007 MTV VMAs, where his Super Mario-like dance moves made Justin Timberlake "feel old" and (almost) made up for Britney Spears' catatonic opener. "When I was younger, I was in it just for girls," says Brown. "But as I got into it, I wanted to show people I could become a great artist." This fall, Brown will begin work on his third album. "I'll be almost twenty, so we can get a little dirty," he says. "But not R. Kelly dirty." BRIAN HIATT
Chris Brown's moves
in Lil Mama's video for "Shawty Get Loose""Wall to Wall,"
"Billie Jean" and "Kiss Kiss" Medley at the 2007 MTV VIdeo Music
Awards
"Thriller" Tribute at the 2006 World Music Awards"Run It" at the
2007 Grammy Awards |
|
Chris Brown Ponders Music, Movies and Calls Michael Jackson a Dream
CollaborationClick here to listen to
Exclusive |
Photo: Ture Lillegraven
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| BEST HITMAKERS |
| Stargate |
 |
When Ne-Yo met the two Norwegians who would go on to produce his biggest hits, he couldn't hide his surprise: "He looked at us and said, 'You guys make this music?'" recalls Mikkel Eriksen, one half of the R&B production team Stargate. Since 2006, Eriksen and his partner, Tor Erik Hermansen, have produced and co-written ten Top Ten hits, including Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable," Rihanna's "Unfaithful" and "Don't Stop the Music," and Ne-Yo's "So Sick," along the way reviving a pre-hip-hop style of R&B, with richer chord progressions, deeper melodies and even guitars. "All of these songs have something in common," says Hermansen. "When you take away the drums, there are actually songs there."
Both thirty-five, Hermansen and Eriksen grew up as hip-hop and
R&B fanatics in Norwegian suburbs where most kids were
listening to Euro-pop and American rock. "When you're a kid and you
see something new emerge, like a whole new culture, it can make a
really big impression," says Hermansen. "I would assume Ahmet
Ertegun felt the same when he heard American jazz." When they met
one of their heroes, Jimmy Jam, at the 2007 Grammys, they told him
that they'd been studying his records for fifteen years. "Well,
guys," Jam replied, "you graduated." BRIAN
HIATT
Stargate's
Greatest Hits
Photo: Steven Shugerman/Getty Images
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| BEST COUNTRY LOLITA |
| Taylor Swift |
 |
Imagine a secret laboratory in Nashville, where Hayden Panettiere's DNA is spliced with Dolly Parton's. The resulting creature, a faster, blonder, longer-legged Carrie Underwood, would be a lot like Taylor Swift. Her debut, Taylor Swift, has sold almost 3 million copies — and she rules MySpace, with 40 million page views. The eighteen-year-old country-pop sensation — a one-time Abercrombie and Fitch model raised on a Christmas-tree farm in rural Pennsylvania — is equally appealing to tween girls (who can relate to TRL-dominating songs like "Teardrops on My Guitar") and grown men (those legs). "I don't care how people look at me," says Swift. "As long as they look at me." Read More...
|
| Click here to listen to
Taylor Swift |
Photo: Melinda Norris
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| BEST DIY REISSUES |
| Beatles Remasters |
 |
The Beatles' albums came out on CD in 1987, but fans have long complained that the early digital technology used to remaster the recordings left them sounding hollow and thin — and that the official remasters are way overdue. That's where Purple Chick comes in — a secretive fan (or group of fans) who has been quietly remastering classic discs like Revolver and A Hard Day's Night, and releasing the digital files for free online. How is this possible? The Beatles' CDs sound so bad that carefully digitized tracks from pristine vinyl copies are noticeably better — with crisper highs, a fuller soundstage, and more realistic reproduction of instruments and voices. And the Purple Chick editions are superior to the originals in other ways, too: The Sgt. Pepper collection contains the original record in mono and stereo, and four discs' worth of studio outtakes; the White Album comes in a whopping twelve-disc version, including alternate takes, studio chatter, demos and fascinating jams. So how do you get this stuff? Google is your friend: Try searching "purple chick and megaupload" to get started. ANDY GREENE
Compare the two versions of this Revolver track:
| "And Your Bird Can Sing" (Original) |
| "And Your Bird Can Sing" (Remix) |
Photo: Spencer/Camera Press/Retna
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| BEST SONGWRITER |
| Conor Oberst |
 |
Finishing a song is still my singular favorite feeling in the world," Conor Oberst says, "more than records or shows. The creation of a song is what drives me."
Such passion shows throughout Oberst's songbook, which he began creating as a frail, spectral thirteen-year-old in Omaha, Nebraska. Visceral documents of self-unraveling like "Padraic My Prince," "We Are Nowhere and It's Now" and "Lover I Don't Have to Love" — the last featuring lyrics like "Love's an excuse to get hurt/And to hurt" — deliver an emotional wallop in part because they seem at once offhand and unbearably intense. In Oberst's vision, death, loneliness and social decay are themes at the heart of every day; he doesn't need to look far to find them — or to channel them. "Everything has been done by intuition and happenstance," he explains. "I still have no idea what I'm doing, or why I'm doing it. It just kind of keeps happening. For me, at this point, it's about accepting it all, letting it all go and moving forward." Read More...
OBERST ESSENTIALS
"Padriatic My Prince" from Letting
Off the Happiness LISTEN "The Calendar Hung Itself" from
Fevers and Mirrors LISTEN "Nothing Gets Crossed Out" from
Lifted LISTEN "Lover I Don't Have to Love" from
Lifted LISTEN "Bowl of Oranges" from Lifted
LISTEN "Lua" from I'm Wide Awake, It's
Morning LISTEN "First Day of My Life" from I'm
Wide Awake, It's Morning LISTEN "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" from
Digital Ash in a Digital Urn LISTEN "We Are Nowhere and It's Now" from
I'm Wide Awake It's Morning LISTEN "When the President Talks to God" (2005
Single) LISTEN
"Four Winds" from Cassadega
LISTEN "Soul Singer in a Session Band" from
Cassadega LISTEN |
|
King of Indie Rock
Rock's Boy Genius
Recapping Conor Oberst's Wild Seven Nights At New York's Town
HallClick here to listen to
Cassadaga |
Photo: Bill Sitzmann
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| BEST PLAN TO SAVE THE RECORD BIZ |
| Bill the
ISPs, Make File-Sharing Legal |
 |
With sales down more than $5 billion since 2000, the record business desperately needs to generate some cash. One of the most radical ideas is picking up steam: Why not have Internet service providers charge customers five to ten dollars a month — and let them file-share to their hearts' content? With an estimated 538 million people using the Internet worldwide, according to Nielsen Online, this cash infusion could float record labels for a long time. "ISPs, telcos and tech companies have enjoyed a bonanza . . . off the back of recorded-music content," U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, said to a roomful of artist managers at an industry conference in January. "It is time for them to share that with artists and content owners."
The idea, which ex-Geffen Records technology executive Jim Griffin has pushed for years, is starting to catch on within the record industry. Warner Music Group has brought in Griffin as a consultant to pursue this plan and others; his proposal involves dumping the ISP-generated money into a pool and splitting it among labels, songwriters and artists.
But will ISPs go for it? "This is not something we're looking at," says a rep for Philadelphia-based cable giant Comcast. And many who oppose the idea refer to it as a tax. "Never gonna happen," says Gary Stiffelman, attorney for Justin Timberlake and Eminem. "There's no motivation for the ISPs to come up with the money. And you think this government is going to pass another frickin' tax for the right to use the Internet?" Still, many in the business can't resist doing the math: If ISPs pay labels ten dollars a month for each of, say, 90 million users, that's $10.8 billion in yearly profit. "It's a great idea," says a prominent artist manager. "Desperate times call for desperate measures." STEVE KNOPPER
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| BEST FESTIVAL |
| Bonnaroo |
 |
Coachella might have Cameron Diaz in the VIP tent, and Lollapalooza might draw more fans, but Bonnaroo — where 80,000 congregate each summer in the wilds of Manchester, Tennessee — is the ultimate over-the-top summer festival. (The seventh edition kicks off June 12th, with Metallica, Pearl Jam and Jack Johnson.) From the freewheeling camping area — where you can buy everything from moonshine to mescaline — to legendary sets by everyone from Wilco to Ornette Coleman, Bonnaroo is super-fan-friendly. And artists love it too. "We've played at noon — that was hot and crazy and scary — and we've played on Sunday, when everyone was fried from partying," says My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James. Last year, Phil Lesh camped out in his RV, and this year, the Kings of Leon will drive down from Nashville even though they're not on the bill. "We make it a point to go down there with a whole posse of friends," says James, whose band will play a late-night set following Metallica and Chris Rock. If that trio doesn't sell you on Bonnaroo, listen to Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips: "I like Coachella and Lollapalooza, but as far as the magnitude and the weirdness, Bonnaroo is the one." AUSTIN SCAGGS
Wilco's Jeff Tweedy Swings a Baseball Bat at Bonnaroo
2007
The Smoking Section: Special Bonnaroo 2007 Edition Advertisement
| BEST FRINGE FESTIVALS |
 |
Wave-Gotik-Treffen
Leipzig, Germany, May 9th-12th
Mingle with the pale and gloomy masses — and get rocked by Christian Death, the Old Dead Tree and dozens more — at the world's biggest goth gathering. While there, stop by the viking and pagan markets — and score a shot of absinthe at the concession stand.
Sidi Rock Festival
Sidi Kacem, Morocco, February 23rd
This metalfest went on hiatus after authorities in the Muslim
monarchy arrested musicians for Satanism in 2003. But Sidi was
headbanging again in '08, with headliners Hammerhead and Damned
Creation.
MerleFest
Wilkesboro, NC, April 24th-27th
Now in its twenty-first year, folk legend Doc Watson's annual fest
— held on a local college campus — mixes classic acts
such as the Levon Helm Band with younger groups like punky roots
rockers the Avett Brothers.
Sauti za Busara
Zanzibar, Tanzania, February 7th-10th
The tropical island off the coast of East Africa is one of the most
beautiful places in the world — and it hosts top African
acts, including Mali's Bassekou Kouyate (who won Album of the Year
at the BBC Awards for World Music), Senegal's Seckou Keita and
Kenya's Eric Wainaina.
Photo: Katja Buchholz/Getty Images
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| BEST METAL ALLOYS |
 |
Why metalheads love them: The band's sound has evolved from jaw-dropping instrumental complexity to more experimental and melodic ground. Plus, their live shows are the most horrifying on the road today (in terms of attendees being scared of the stage diving, fire-breathing band), and make Slipknot's storied early gigs look like Hannah Montana concerts.
Why everybody else will: Their openness to dabbling in stronger melodies shows a band comfortable with huge choruses that's more willing to create suspense with ups and downs rather than a dozen straight punches to the face.
Key Track: "Milk Lizard" LISTEN
Sunn O)))
Why metalheads love them: The rotating guest cast
of underground metal heroes and pure decibels — plus fans can
brag about their impressive attention spans.
Why everybody else will: Pure ambient distortion — going to a SunO))) performance is the equivalent of an aural massage; who doesn't love a nice noisy rubdown?
Key Track: "It Took the Night to Believe" LISTEN
The Sword
Why metalheads love them: Frontman J.D. Cronise's
multitracked howl brings to mind vintage Ozzy, and the guitar tones
are delightfully skuzzy. It's music to listen to while growing a
badass metal beard.
Why everybody else will: Even through the wall of distortion and fantasy lyrics, the songs are pretty damn catchy, and the band's straightforward approach turns what could be pure dork static into something deliriously fun.
Key Track: "The Sundering" LISTEN
Meshuggah
Why metalheads love them: The sheer pummeling
force, the instruments that refuse to adhere to time signatures and
lyrics like "Lacerating pains of degeneration speed through your
trembling mind."
Why everybody else will: Meshuggah's brand of insanity is more fascinating than off-putting, and the deceptively complex tunes allow for plenty of discovery once the initial "What the hell was that?" shock wears off.
Key Track: "Combustion" LISTEN
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| BEST INDIE HIP-HOP |
 |
The blind, albino and Muslim MC raps about his life like a fiery preacher ("I saw myself as a bastard tagalong/Harassed and spat upon"), scoring a Conan appearance.
| |
| "Watcha Got" |
|
Bass-heavy beats and effortless flow inspired by 1980s icons like EPMD earned the Chicago duo a slot on M.I.A.'s tour and a guest spot on Lil Wayne's "Gettin' It." |
| |
| "Black Mags" |
| On his Prince of the City mixtapes, the Pittsburgh MC spits hot hyper-speed rhymes like he's not even trying, and gives his native city a rep in the rap game. | 
|
| |
| "Say Yeah" |
|
The son of Nigerian immigrants in Washington, D.C., Wale's quick-wit raps ("So slightly passed 'em, like the letter 'n' ") impressed DJ Mark Ronson, who's producing his debut. |
| |
| "W.A.L.E. D.A.N.C.E." |
| The Cleveland rapper with a killer sing-song flow got a major boost at South by Southwest, where he showed up higher-billed acts like Chromeo and Kid Sister. | 
|
| |
| "Day 'N' Nite" |
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| BEST DRUMMER |
| Jason Bonham |
 |
Jason Bonham knew he had graduated from being a replacement for Led Zeppelin's original drummer, his late father John Bonham, to full partnership with guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant and bassist John Paul Jones in Zeppelin's 2007 reunion when, in rehearsals, Jones stopped greeting him with a mere "Hey, Jason." "He would put his hand on my shoulder, squeeze my neck and go, 'How's my drummer today?'" Jason, 41, says happily. "That was a wonderful transition."
For Jason, who was fourteen when his father died in 1980, Zeppelin's historic comeback show at London's O2 arena on December 10th — and the fresh, focused power Jason brought to iconic thunder such as "Black Dog" and "Kashmir" — was a chance to show off what he learned in drum lessons from his dad in the Seventies. "He said, 'Don't run before you can walk,'" Jason recalls. "'If you can groove, that's your main thing. If you can make that exciting, then the rest comes.'"
When asked if he is a better drummer now, as a result of the practice and learning that he put into that Zeppelin show, Jason answers with a confession: "Right up to the last minute, I was struggling with detail. I was trying to replicate what my dad did. It was ruining my fun. Then someone said, 'Why not be Jason Bonham? And John Bonham will come naturally.' It was that simple. I went into the last two days of rehearsal and played without thinking, 'I'll do the fill from '73 into '75.' I just played from the heart.'
"I'm not technically minded — I couldn't describe what I
play," Jason says of his attack and technique. "I'm a jukebox
drummer, as my dad taught me. We'd put the jukebox on, and I'd play
along to music. I play to what I hear. I have a small bag of
tricks. But on that night," he adds, referring to the Zeppelin
show, "I managed to do the tricks all at the right time." With, he
notes, one exception: "I came in two bars too soon in 'Dazed and
Confused.' Jimmy stared at me — 'What are you doing?' But I
got it back. And it was cool." DAVID FRICKE
Photo: Putland/Retna
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| BEST PUNK BAND |
| Against Me! |
 |
In case there's any doubt that Against Me! are the definitive punk band of the Bush-Cheney era, consider this: The Gainesville, Florida, band's furious anthems are so closely tied to the outrages of the past eight years — "Condoleezza, do you get the fucking joke?" bandleader Tom Gabel howls on 2005's "From Her Lips to God's Ears (The Energizer)" — that Gabel is worried about how they'll come off in, say, an Obama administration. "I don't know how the end of the Bush regime is going to affect the band," he says. But in reality, it feels like Against Me! are just getting started. In the past decade, they've transformed from solo acoustic project to underground punk faves to major-label rock contenders whose fans include Bruce Springsteen: They recorded their latest and best album, New Wave, with Nevermind producer Butch Vig. With its plus-size guitars and beyond-punk sounds (including a dance beat on one tune), it's their London Calling, or at least their Tim. Read More...
|
|
Against Me! Get "Clarity"
Breaking Artist: Against Me!Click here to listen to New
Wave |
Photo: Max Vadukul
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| BEST TRIBUTE BAND |
| Zappa Plays Zappa |
 |
Zappa Plays Zappa is total truth in advertising: a fantastic band led by guitarist Dweezil Zappa, dedicated to performing the music of his late father with exacting precision. "People think they know everything about him because they've heard 'Don't Eat the Yellow Snow,'" says Dweezil, 38, referring to his dad's comic 1974 single. "They don't." In fact, a Zappa Plays Zappa show is usually more than three hours long, as the band zigzags through every era of Frank's three-decade legacy. That spread also means militarylike preparation for a tour. "Frank typically rehearsed a band for three months," says Dweezil, who spent a few months mastering "The Black Page" — a daunting piece originally written for percussion — on guitar. Zappa Plays Zappa will have a busy '08, with a U.S. tour that kicks off in June and includes their Bonnaroo debut. "Most of the band didn't have a background in Frank's music," Dweezil notes. "Now they enjoy it. That's the audience I was hoping for. Once you hear this music, the more you want it." DAVID FRICKE
Dweezil Zappa
Plays "Pygmy Twylyte" WATCH"Call Any
Vegetable" (Live) WATCHPhoto: Michael Mesker/Zappa Family Trust
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| BEST DJ |
| Flosstradamus |
 |
Chicago's Flosstradamus are the perfect DJs for impatient Web surfers accustomed to having the entire history of recorded music at their cursor-tips. "We're like MP3 bloggers, but with skills," says twenty-six year-old Curt Cameruchi (a.k.a. Autobot). Armed with four turntables, two laptops, two mixers, two sequencer/samplers, a Serato MP3 "scratcher" and more than 5,000 tracks, Cameruchi and twenty-four-year-old Josh "J2K" Young craft brain-frying live sets that fuse jiggly Windy City club music, gritty crunk, cheesed-out R&B and the occasional indie-rock remix: a Flosstradamus gig features blends of Michael Jackston and Justice, Full Force and Bloc Party, Daft Punk and Jay-Z.
Flosstradamus distinguish themselves not just with track selection, but with the way they tweak, fiddle,and freak every cut — it sounds like the songs are being ripped up and sewn back together again in real time. "In the blog era of DJing, everyone has everything," says Young, whose older sister is underground rapper Kid Sister. "Now, you have to set yourself apart with your performance, and by creating your own stuff."
After forming in 2006, Flosstradamus started out small: their
first regular gig was for twenty friends at a dive bar with $1 shot
specials. Now, you'd be lucky to get in, as their "Get Outta the
Hood" night at the Chicago dive bar TKPUB attracts long lines. And
thanks to some well-seeded mixtapes (seek out the "3 Peat Mix") and
ingenious mash-ups (Sigur Ros meets Twista), the duo have become an
in-demand touring act, playing nearly 200 gigs since the beginning
of 2007. But even with a full-length album in the works, loads of
remix requests and a busy summer touring schedule, Flosstradamus
remain steadfastly low-key. "We're not wearing Dolce & Gabbana
shades in the club," says Cameruchi. "We're just nice Midwest
dudes. It's to our advantage, I guess. People appreciate niceness."
MICHAEL ENDELMAN
| |
| Flosstradamus' Guest Mix for Modular Records' BangGang Podcast |
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
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| BEST DIGITAL TURNTABLE |
| Crosley Keepsake |
 |
There are lots of ways to get your vinyl records onto your iPod, but few of them are appealing. Among the options: You can pay a service to convert vinyl to MP3 files, or, if you're a techie, you can connect your record player's stereo output to your PC's sound card. The easiest and most stylish solution is to use the Crosley Keepsake USB Turntable, which connects directly to any computer and comes with Audacity open-source software that converts songs into MP3s. At $150, the Keepsake is pricier than some USB record players, but it can play records through internal speakers and fold up in a black or tan briefcase styled like the portable phonographs of the Fifties. Music-geek bonus: It plays 33s, 45s and 78s (!). ROB LEVINE
Photo: Crosley Radio
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| BEST BOOTLEGGER |
| America's Top Taper |
 |
An hour before Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood take the stage at Madison Square Garden in February, Mike Barnard (not his real name) is examining the security guards outside the arena. Many look carefully inside people's bags and pat the fans down, but an older female guard seems distracted. Engaged in a conversation with a co-worker, she's hardly looking at the throngs pouring past her. Barnard quickly makes his move. She barely glances inside his book bag as he calmly passes through the turnstile. The only thing inside the bag is a black cap, but a careful pat-down would have revealed $5,700 worth of recording equipment concealed under his armpit. Read More...
Photo: Michael Pirrocco
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| BEST NEW REISSUES |
 |
Johnny B. Goode: His Complete '50s Chess Recordings
After fifty years of shoddy compilations, Berry's entire 1950s Chess catalog — a whopping 103 songs — is finally available. Five minutely different takes of "Sweet Little Sixteen" may be too much for some, but hearing the rock pioneer labor over classics like "Johnny B. Goode" is like reading early drafts of the Declaration of Independence.
One Hell of a Ride
|
Beginning in 1954, this 100-song set is the first one that spans Nelson's entire fifty-year career — from his "Crazy" days through more recent work with Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash. LISTEN |
Let It Be
| A solo home demo of "Answering Machine" and a cover of T. Rex's "20th Century Boy" are two highlights of the bonus material on the Replacements' definitive album. | 
|
Life of Contradiction
|
The "Father of Reggae" — and a major influence on Bob
Marley — Higgs' seminal 1975 album is back on shelves with
two additional tracks and vastly improved sound quality. LISTEN |
The Joshua Tree
| A killer 1987 Paris concert DVD makes this set worth the price alone, but fourteen bonus tracks — especially "Wave of Sorrow" — show U2's masterpiece could have been a double album. | 
|
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| BEST SCENE |
| Baltimore |
 |
Darkroom Productions' Juan Donovan and
Jamal Roberts sparked the city's rap scene with their Wire-inspired
Hamsterdam mixtapes and later licensed music for the show. Deep
Flow Studios owner Amotion hosts a rap show on public TV. Electronic party-starter Dan Deacon
founded the Wham City collective, staging eclectic rock shows, art
installations and theater with bizarre names like Shoot Her! A
Jurassic Park Play. Dream-rock duo Beach House buy organs at
local thrift shops. Proprietors/residents of Floristree, the
unlicensed space where Deacon and others play. Double Dagger, one of many edgy acts
hatched at the Mary-land Institute College of Art. Record mecca Sound Garden hosts B-more
acts and has deep punk and metal collections. Normal's is crammed with esoteric books
and music; avant-garde artists play the adjacent venue, Red
Room. Golden West Cafe is the late-night
post-show hangout. Headbangers at Talking Head, named after
native son David Byrne's band (Frank Zappa and Tori Amos are also
locals).Check out all the photos described above in Rolling Stone 1051. Read about more Baltimore artists and hear their music here.
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| BEST MUSIC BLOGS |
 |
Nah Right: The definitive source
for hip-hop — even Kanye reads it. Nah Right debuts new jams
by everyone from Lupe Fiasco to Ghostface, and labels often leak
audio and video clips directly to the site.
The Take-Away Shows: This
French Webcast (an offshoot from blogotheque.net) features
exclusive clips of bands performing bare-bones sets in unlikely
settings: Arcade Fire do "Neon Bible" in a freight elevator,
Yeasayer harmonize a cappella on the Paris metro and R.E.M. play on
a wooden bridge in Georgia.
Gorilla Vs. Bear: You
know an MP3 blog is good when all the other sites re-post the same
songs it highlights. GVB was among the first to get behind
buzzed-about artists like White Denim and Santogold, and its
year-end best lists feel like guides to next year's artists to
watch.
Benn Loxo Du Daccu: Vampire
Weekend's indie-rock interpretation of Afro-pop was influenced by
reading Benn Loxo Du Taccu, a critical guide to Senegalese dance
music, Nigerian funk tunes and other types of African music. In
turn, BLDT was the first blog to sing the New York band's praises,
before indie stalwarts like Pitchfork caught on.
Aquarium Drunkard: Named
for a line in a Wilco song, Aquarium Drunkard specializes in
alt-country, indie-rock and classic-rock gems, running the gamut
from live Buffalo Springfield tracks to M. Ward's SXSW set. Blogger
Justin Gage also gives non-wonky history lessons on niche genres
such as krautrock — check out his entry on Neu!
Soul Sides: West Coast music
critic, college professor and vinyl hound Oliver Wang posts sharp
minitutorials about all the groovecentric esoterica you didn't know
you needed to hear. Recent picks: Greek film composer Mikis
Theodorakis, the Sixties Latin boogaloo fad and the Great White
Cane, Rick James' pre-"Super Freak" band.
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| BEST FASHION DESIGNER |
| Cassette Playa |
 |
The way fashion designer Cassette Playa sees things, ravers are a clan just like the Aztecs or the Amazonians. "The whole basis of a rave culture is about losing yourself and becoming part of a tribe," says the twenty-seven-year-old London native, who has styled artists such as M.I.A. and Dizzee Rascal. With paw-print fabrics and evil-looking animal masks, Cassette Playa's fashions do have a certain wrath-of-Technocticlan vibe — the orange she uses was even inspired by Aztec art. But her signature Day-Glo colors and pixelated patterns are also tailor-made for London's music scene, where glowstick-waving artists like Klaxons and Shitdisco are bringing back warehouse parties and Nineties-inspired fashions. "I draw really heavily from ancient hunting rituals, but my collection was also inspired by Eighties and Nineties skate culture," she says. "I wanted to bring that ancient Shamanic vibe to the city today."
Born Carri Munden, Cassette Playa got her first big break when she was hired at Euphoria, a west-end clothing shop where M.I.A. also worked. "We were the only two weirdoes in the area, so we connected," Cassette Playa says. When M.I.A. needed a tracksuit for her "Galang" video, Cassette Playa designed it, and she went on to contribute artwork to the cover of M.I.A's album Kala. Since then, her pixilated prints and voluminous shapes have been seen on everyone from Klaxons to grime artists such as Ruff Sqwad and Afrikan Boy, and her glow-in-the-dark T-shirts are currently selling out in boutiques around London.
Next up, Cassette Playa will design a shoe for Nike, due out this summer. She's also preparing to release her next line, which is filled with references to YouTube, text messaging and circuit-bending. "I'm really into the idea of 'crossing over,'" she says. "In the Eighties, everyone was convinced that with virtual reality, no one would be able to realize the difference between reality and computer gaming. You can see that happening now, when people play World of Warcraft for hours and hours. My work is about that matrix: stepping into the gaming world with no way to get back out." MELISSA MAERZ
Check out photos from Cassette Playa's Spring/Summer 2008 fashion show
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| BEST JAM BAND |
| The Word |
 |
Robert Randolph was a star in a small world — a virtuoso of sacred-steel guitar, a wild style of Pentecostal-church music — when he was invited to play on the 2001 album The Word with organist John Medeski and the North Mississippi Allstars. "I was only supposed to do a couple of songs," Randolph recalls. "But once we got in there. . . ." The album's improvisations on old spirituals became the birth of a remarkable band also called the Word, with ecstatic locomotion and soloing by Randolph and guitarist Luther Dickinson. "Those guys thought they were just cutting another album," Randolph notes. "I told them, 'It's going to be around for a hundred years.' " The Word tour infrequently (the principals have their own bands), but when they do, they don't bother writing set lists. "It's about translating a feeling in the room," Randolph says. "If a set worked in Chicago, that doesn't mean it will work in Minneapolis." DAVID FRICKE
Live on Late Night with Conan O'Brien WATCH
Live in New York City WATCH
Live in New York City WATCHLive in
Washington, D.C. WATCHPhoto: Big Hassle
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| BEST ROCK MOVIES |
 |
U2 3D
The Irish superstars have released concert films for every tour they've done back to 1987. So when U2 hit the road in 2005, they were determined to do something different. What they wound up with — the first 3-D concert movie ever — is a technical and artistic feat unlike any other rock-concert film before it. Shot over eight nights during the group's March 2006 South American leg, U2 3D is a 360-degree immersion into a perfectly realized concert — one minute you're shoulder to shoulder with the Edge, the next you're dropped into the thick of the frenzied pit.
"When we come into town, Rattle and Hum is often playing the night before the show," says U2 manager Paul McGuinness. "Twenty years on, it'll be U2 3D — I'd rather they saw that anyway."
Runnin' Down a Dream
Despite the four-hour running time, this Peter Bogdanovich-directed
doc never bores. Using old home movies, archival concert clips and
interviews with the likes of Eddie Vedder and Roger McGuinn, it's
the definitive account of Tom Petty's life, from his Florida
childhood to his thirtieth-anniversary tour with the Heartbreakers
in '06.
Control
Sam Riley's portrayal of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis is so
spookily dead-on that this biopic almost feels like a documentary.
Director Anton Corbijn — who shot the post-punkers during
their career — filmed parts of the movie in Curtis' hometown
of Macclesfield, England, for added realism. Little footage of the
real Curtis exists, but this is the next-best thing.
Shine a Light
After years of scoring scenes to "Gimme Shelter," Martin Scorsese
finally went out and made a movie about his favorite band. Filmed
over two nights at New York's Beacon Theatre in 2006, the
masterfully shot film captures the Rolling Stones unearthing
rarities like "She Was Hot" and jamming with Buddy Guy, Jack White
and Christina Aguilera.
Photo: 3ality Digital
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| BEST PROG-ROCK BAND |
| The Mars Volta |
 |
The Mars Volta specialize in explosive soundscapes and wild, anarchic live shows. Their songs can be two-minute punk bursts or twenty-minute excursions into Latin jazz, funk, metal and atonal noise — including shout-along choruses with lyrics like, "Exoskeletal junction at the railroad delayed!" "It's the pop narrative," says singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala. "It's just not pop the way some venues or avenues of art define what pop is." Guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez clarifies: "It's perverted pop." The killer riffs and hooks explain how a band that cites German art rockers Can as a key influence ended up with three Top Ten albums. "Our bridges may be long, but there's rarely a time when we don't do the chorus," Rodriguez-Lopez says.
Over the course of their first three studio discs, the Mars
Volta became ever more experimental — their third, 2006's
Amputechture, pushed fans to the limit with long stretches
of atonality and only one song under six minutes. But they pulled
back from the brink with this year's The Bedlam in
Goliath, focusing on punk riffage and wowing fans with their
ability to make complex music accessible. "We love pop's
architecture," Rodriguez-Lopez says. "Here's this structure that's
been used all throughout history. How far can we take it? What can
it be?" EVAN SERPICK
The Mars
Volta Key Tracks
"Roulette Dares (This is the Haunt)"
LISTEN
Metal riffs, psychadelic explorations and a killer hook made this
track — from 2003's De-Loused at the Comatorium
— an excellent introduction to the Mars Volta.
"Cicatriz ESP" LISTEN
No studio cut compares to their dizzying gigs, but this ecstatic
forty-three-minute jam from the 2005 live album Scabdates
comes closest.
"Wax Simulacra" LISTEN
In under three minutes, this punk blast from Bedlam sums
up everything awesome about the band.
Photo: Ross Halfin
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| BEST RECORD STORES |
 |
Amoeba Music
Los Angeles
Prepare for an embarrassment of riches when you walk into Amoeba Music on L.A.'s Sunset Strip — a 35,000-square-foot warehouse packed with more than a million LPs, CDs and DVDs. Amoeba's L.A. flagship (the others are in Berkeley and San Francisco) also offers free in-stores from acts like the Raconteurs and PJ Harvey, an expert staff that knows the eclectic stock inside out and a vast and ever-changing collection of used CDs. "When you come in here, it's almost like a treasure hunt," says Amoeba exec Ilene Barg. "If you have twenty dollars, you can walk away with a big stack of music."
Dusty Groove
Chicago
Though this Chicago shop's Website allows fans everywhere to browse
its vintage funk, soul, hip-hop and jazz LPs, those who live in
Chicago get an added perk: Dusty Groove lets you order from its
perpetually updated site and then swing by the store to pick up
your purchases.
Waterloo
Austin
Waterloo not only offers all the best indie and mainstream releases
but proudly promotes a huge array of Texas roots and rock bands
from Ray Price and Joe Ely to Okkervil River and Spoon.
Other Music
New York
Other Music is going twelve years strong as downtown Manhattan's
best-curated record shop — complete with a killer array of
psych rock, No Wave, electronica, French pop and much more.
Vintage Vinyl
Fords, New Jersey
Love punk, emo and metal? The staff here could have told you about
My Chemical Romance or Taking Back Sunday before they broke, and
the store still draws top Warped Tour acts for free gigs and album
signings.
Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
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| BEST GUITAR HERO BAND |
| DragonForce |
 |
With more than seven minutes of insanely fast guitar shredding, DragonForce's 2006 song "Through the Fire and Flames" is hardly hit-single material — but it has nevertheless been on iTunes music store's Top 100 for the last twenty-three weeks. Credit Guitar Hero III, which uses the epic track as the game's ultimate challenge. "There's just so many notes," says GH III lead designer Alan Flores, adding that it took three times longer than usual to program the song into the game. "It's brutal." YouTube is overflowing with clips of kids banging away on their plastic guitar controllers at carpal-tunnel-syndrome-inducing speed — and even the guy who really played all those notes is impressed. "I'm definitely worse on the game than the real guitar," says the British band's guitarist, Herman Li, who got into music when he became sick of video games. "When I see those YouTube clips, I think, 'I wish I could do that.'"
Click here, hereand herefor clips of Guitar Hero III players mastering "Through the Fire and Flames."
Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
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| BEST HEADPHONES |
| Ultrasone Edition 9 |
 |
If high-fi audio is dead in an era of lousy MP3s and lousier earbuds, someone forgot to tell Ultrasone. With ear pads made of cushy Ethiopian sheep leather, these super-deluxe, super-expensive ($1,500!) headphones feel as good as they sound. And they sound pretty damn great, with a huge soundstage and hypnotically three-dimensional bass. Start saving — and ripping your music at way higher bitrates — now. BRIAN HIATT
Photo: Michael Pirrocco
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| BEST SECRET WEAPON |
| Crystal Taliefero |
 |
If you've been to big classic-rock shows over the past twenty-three years, you've seen Crystal Taliefero: She has sung and played guitar, sax and percussion with John Mellencamp, Billy Joel, Bob Seger, Elton John and Bruce Springsteen. Taliefero, who grew up playing R&B and dreamed of one day being a backup singer for Luther Vandross, has instead become the go-to side?woman and onstage foil for the world's most famous arena rockers — with a distinctively powerful voice and boisterous stage presence worthy of a frontwoman. "Every artist that I've had the pleasure and honor to work with was a rock & roller," says Taliefero. "I can't explain it, but maybe rock works for me because I was always a little crazy anyway." It all began with Mellencamp, who discovered Taliefero playing with a band while she was studying music at Indiana University; despite neither knowing nor caring much about rock, she left school to tour with him. When Mellencamp quit the road for a while, he lent her $3,000 ("I love that man," she says) and she moved to New York, where she hooked up with Joel and Springsteen. Taliefero eventually moved to Nashville, and toured with Garth Brooks. But now she's back on tour with her old friend Joel. "My thing is, have fun, but don't get complacent," Taliefero says. "You're not VIP, you know? You're just a guest." BRIAN HIATT
Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images for ACMA
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| BEST GUITAR TECH |
| Dallas Schoo |
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In late 1986 guitar technician Dallas Schoo was faced with a difficult decision: stay on the road with hair metal band Mr. Mister or sign on with U2 for their forthcoming Joshua Tree tour. The decision wasn't as easy then as it sounds now: Mr. Mister had two massive radio hits and a successful tour going, and an intensive sit-down interview with all four members of U2 hadn't endeared him to the new group. Bono had pressed him hard about his religious views and Larry Mullen Jr. pushed him harder about his drug habits. Unable to decide, Shoo turned to legendary concert promoter Bill Graham for advice. "He said 'Listen dude, drop everything you're doing,' " Schoo says. " 'These kids are going to be mega.'"
It was the best advice Schoo has ever gotten. Over the past twenty years, he has been by The Edge's side at every single concert and recording session, making sure his fleet of fifty-plus rare guitars are in perfect working order. During U2 downtime he's gone on tour with Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam — though last year Edge decided he needed him 365 days a year and made him a full-time employee. U2 are currently recording their long-awaited new album in Dublin with producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and Schoo is one of a small handful of people in the studio for every single take. "Bono will often say, 'Here's the lyric to the track we want to work on tomorrow,' " Schoo explains. "He'll say, 'Have a guitar sound for Edge that might reflect this attitude.' "
When U2 are on tour, Schoo's role is even more vital. "I lose
about two pounds per performance," he says. "If something goes
wrong with Edge's guitar there's only one person in that 80,000
seat stadium that's going to get him going again — and that's
me. If Edge goes out, the whole thing stops." To avoid any such
mishaps, Schoo tests all the guitars onstage before U2's
performance each night. It's a lengthy ritual that has made him a
cult figure amongst hardcore U2 fans who chant his name as he
checks the gear (they've even created an online fan community
devoted to him). Though the constant touring leaves him time for
little else, Schoo says he's willing to make the sacrifice.
"There's a hundred dudes and a hundred chicks right behind me ready
to do this," he says. "When you sign on for this it takes your
life." ANDY GREENE
Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images
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| BEST MODERN SONG LYRICS |
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1. "If they ask why we left in the first place / Say we were young and we were so in love and I guess we just needed space / And we heard about this place / Called the United States" (The Hold Steady, "Killer Parties," 2004)
2. "Put a motherfucker on ice like the Maple Leafs / That's a hockey team and I ain't on no hockey team / But I'm a champion, so where's the fucking Rocky theme? / Damn, rest in peace Apollo Creed" (Lil Wayne, "Upgrade U," 2007)
3. "Spaceships don't come equipped with rear view mirrors" (Andre 3000 in UGK's "Int'l Playa Anthem," 2007)
4. "I need something strong to distract my mind / I'm gonna look at you till my eyes go blind" (Bob Dylan, "Mississippi," 2001)
5. "I wish I could buy back the woman you stole" (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Y Control," 2003)
6. "Three-fourths of her body always covered in clothes / That's why I'm eating her candy and sucking her toes" (Cappadonna on Ghostface's "Jellyfish," 2006)
7. "Your famous friend, well, I blew him before you" (Franz Ferdinand, "Do You Want To," 2005)
8. "Her stories are boring and stuff / She's always calling my bluff" (Interpol, "Obstacle 2," 2002)
9. "I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow / I hope it bleeds all day long / Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises / "We're pretty sure they're all wrong" (Mountain Goats, "No Children," 2002)
10. "Ain't no shame, ladies, do your thang / Just make sure you ahead of the game" (Missy Elliott, "Work It," 2002)
11. "We do what we like and we like what we do!" (Andrew WK, "Party Hard," 2002)
12. "Cool, calm, just like my mom, with a couple of Valium inside her palm, / It's Mr. Mischief with a trick up his sleeve, to roll up on you like Christopher Reeve" (Eminem, "Purple Pills," 2001)
13. "I ain't gonna compromise my Christianity" (Destiny's Child, "Survivor," 2001)
14. "You spend the first five years trying to get with the plan / And the next five years trying to be with your friends again" (LCD Soundsystem, "All My Friends," 2007)
15. "You can meet me on an aeroplane / Or in the back of the bus / You can throw me like a boomerang / I'll come back and beat you up" (Ashlee Simpson, "La La," 2004)
16. "For shizzle my nizzle used to dribble down in V-A" (Jay-Z, "Izzo (HOVA)," 2001)
17. "From all the bitches / The one I wanna be is music" (CSS, "Music Is My Hot Hot Sex," 2006)
18. "I got soul, but I'm not a soldier" (The Killers, "All Things That I've Done," 2004)
19. "If I could talk to myself like I was someone else / Then maybe I could take your advice / And I wouldn't act like such an asshole all the time" (Bright Eyes, "Going for the Gold," 2002)
19. "I know you have a heavy heart / I can feel it when we kiss / So many men stronger than me have thrown their backs out trying to lift it" (Bright Eyes, "Lua," 2004)
20. "I'm going to Wichita!" (White Stripes, "7 Nation Army," 2003)
ROB SHEFFIELD
Photo: Lucy Hamblin
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| BEST VIDEO DIRECTORS |
| Jonas/Francois |
 |
Jonas/Francois are the bridge between Kanye West and his rivals. Last year, the Parisian filmmaking team directed the breakthrough video for Justice's "D.A.N.C.E.," a much-blogged-about clip where the letters and graphics on hipsters' T-shirts shape-shift. When "D.A.N.C.E." was nominated for MTV's Video of the Year along with Kanye West's "Stronger," it was a face-off between nemeses: West had been at odds with Justice ever since they beat him for Best Video at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards and West stormed the stage to rant about the injustice. So before Jonas/Francois hit the awards ceremony, Justice's manager gave them a pep talk. "He would show us Justice's award, like a sign for good luck," says Francois, 25. "He'd say, 'Bring another one to the office.'" Jonas/Francois didn't win, but they got a better prize: West asked them to direct the video for his song "The Good Life" — it features him wandering through their childlike cartoon backdrops, scribbling around his head in Schoolhouse Rock-style fonts. Now even Madonna has snapped up Jonas/Francois: in their new video for her single "4 Minutes," she and Justin Timberlake appear as animated superheroes trying to save the world. So how are these two former art-school kids handling the leap to the major leagues? "We used to have video clip projects with real budgets," says Jonas, 25. "That story makes us smile now."
"D.A.N.C.E.""Stronger""The Good
Life""4
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Best Breakthrough: My Morning Jacket
Best Band T-Shirts: Rock's New Look
Best Jam Session: Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble
Best Live Band: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Best Album Cover Designer: Brian Roettinger
Best New Michal Jackson: Chris Brown
Best DIY Reissues: Beatles Remasters
Best Plan to Save the Record Biz: Bill the ISPs, Make File-Sharing Legal
Best Tribute Band: Zappa Plays Zappa
Best Digital Turntable: Crosley Keepsake
Best Bootlegger: America's Top Taper
Best Costume Designer: Cassette Playa
Best Prog-Rock Band: The Mars Volta
Best Guitar Hero Band: DragonForce
Best Headphones: Ultrasone Edition 9
Best Secret Weapon: Crystal Taliefro