Phra of Crookers talks about making you dance

Francesco “Phra” Barbaglia, the man behind Crookers, never flew out of his small town in Italy until he started touring the world a decade ago. These days, the Italian producer/DJ leaves the travel planning to somebody else and focuses on keeping everybody dancing until the lights come up. In advance…

The ten most disappointing metal albums

In the darkest recesses of the metal world, truly shitty albums lurk. Now, these albums aren’t necessarily 100 percent shitty (there may still be some redeeming music to be found), but they are certainly incredibly disappointing, particularly given the otherwise worthiness of their creators. Plug your nose and dive on…

The ten geekiest metal bands

Geeks love metal more than the computers on which they listen to it. They yearn for heavy metal that was forged by Orcs in the mountains of Mordor, smuggled halfway across the universe on Serenity and then discovered by Silver Surfer while scouting for delicious planets. These bands aren’t necessarily…

Meet Kev Kash, a promising new local rapper

Kev Kash is a rising talent from the local scene who has songs with the likes of Innerstate Ike, Myrical and Mr. Midas. Kash says 2Pac is his biggest influence, but he says his style is comparable to Lupe or Kendrick Lamar. We recently caught up with the rapper, who…

So what does Kind of Blue sound like to an admitted jazz novice?

A lifetime of music fandom and a voracious appetite for new things has given me a wide-ranging (if sometimes shallow) knowledge of musical styles, forms and history. Despite that, there are holes. Big holes. And some of those holes are, well, embarrassing. I’ve decided the time has come to fill…