Album Reviews M.I.A.Arular (XL)Arular, the long-awaited debut album from M.I.A., opens with a 30-second language lesson that has the MC, Maya Arulpragasam, sounding like a cockney Harry Belafonte parodying that two ...   More

Album Reviews Shonen KnifeBurning FarmYama-no AttchanPretty Little Baka Guy712(Oglio)BANANAS AND BARBIE TOGETHER AGAIN WITH THE RELEASE OF THE FIRST 10 YEARS OF JAPANESE SUGAR-PUNK TRIO.Shonen Knife was one of Kurt ...   More

Album Reviews Stereo TotalDo the Bambi(Kill Rock Stars)BERLINERS DO BAMBI, PROVE THAT FRENCH AND GERMAN CHEESE JUST TASTES BETTER.François Cactus is French and Brezel Göring is German, which doesn't qui ...   More

Album Reviews Louis XIVIllegal Tender(Pineapple/Atlantic)SUN KINGS CRIB SEXY ROYAL 'TUDE FROM QUEEN AND THE STOOGES,CONSTRUCT CHEEKIEST ODE TO WOMANHOOD SINCE "CALIFORNIA GIRLS."When Louis XIV's Jason Hill spatters ...   More

Album Reviews Ol' Dirty BastardThe Osirus Mixtape(JC Records)FRIENDS OF ODB DIG UP SOME GOOD DIRT ON HIS FIRST POSTMORTEM RELEASE.When Russell Jones, a.k.a. Ol' Dirty Bastard, collapsed and died in a recording stud ...   More

Album Reviews OptimoHow To Kill the DJ [Part Two](Kill The DJ/Tigersushi)EVIDENTLY, THE MOST CONSISTENTLY FATAL TECHNIQUE IS TO CRUSH HIM UNDER MOUNTAINS OF BIZARRE VINYL.There are a couple of philosophies of DJ mi ...   More

Album Reviews The Fiery FurnacesSelf-titled EP (Rough Trade)LINGUISTICALLY OBSESSED BROOKLYN SIBLINGS SPARE THEIR LISTENERS' ACHING BRAINS-A LITTLE.The Fiery Furnaces' Blueberry Boat was the densest, chewiest album ...   More

Album Reviews Terry Allen's debut, Juarez, originally released in 1976, was thankfully reissued in 2004 to claim its place as one of the greatest albums ever recorded in any genre. And if that's not enough of a pre ...   More

Album Reviews Stare into the crystal ball, children, if you dare.There are few things quite as useless as trying to predict the path of popular and underground music. Just look at this year: Who'd have guessed in 2 ...   More

Album Reviews Jay-Z and Linkin ParkCollision Course(Warner Bros.)ALBUM AMAZINGLY SPELLS OUT EVERYTHING THAT'S WRONG WITH MUSIC INDUSTRY...WITHOUT EVEN TRYING.Technically, Collision Course is a mash-up. The first in ...   More