Kasabian, 'Empire' (RCA)
Swaggering Brit-rockers have identity crisis on second album.
By Alyssa Rashbaum 10.19.06 3:00 AM
England's Kasabian call upon producer Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys, Paul Oakenfold) to send the druggy club sounds of their debut album to boot camp, backing nearly every track here with militant marching beats.
SHARE THIS:
Wooden Wand and the Sky High Band, 'Second Attention' (Kill Rock Stars)
Enigmatic singer/guitarist steps out of folkie shadows.
By Brandon Stosuy 10.19.06 3:00 AM
Since the early 2000s, James Toth, a.k.a. Wooden Wand, has recorded noisy, jazz-spiked floods of freak folk with his shadowy, Brooklyn-based band the Vanishing Voice. On a 2005 solo debut as Wooden Wand, his idiosyncratic songs approximated Roky Erickson breezily transmitting over a rusty shortwave radio.
SHARE THIS:
Slayer: Cut Like a Knife
November issue sneak peek! Check out this awesome image of a fan who literally bleeds for Slayer.
By Spin Staff 10.19.06 3:00 AM
Slayer fans are nothing if not devoted. Depicted here (see below for larger version) is a shot by Jeremy and Claire Weiss, snapped at this summer's Reading Festival in England. It runs across two whole pages in the Soundcheck section of Spin's November issue, which hits stands next week. Shocking, right?
SHARE THIS:
Chingy, 'Hoodstar' (Capitol)
Ludacris protégé reflects on life after "Right Thurr".
By Thomas Golianopoulos 10.18.06 3:00 AM
Despite Chingy's love for sneakers, freaky girls, and packed dance floors, the most memorable songs on his third album are decidedly buzz killers: "Pullin' Me Back" is a gloomy breaking-up-is- hard-to-do anthem crafted by superproducer Jermaine Dupri, and on the surprisingly candid "Cadillac Door," the St. Louis rapper laments lost friends.
SHARE THIS:
Brazilian Girls, 'Talk to La Bomb' (Verve Forecast)
Music sung in only one tongue can seem so 20th century.
By Evelyn McDonnell 10.18.06 3:00 AM
Languages roll off Sabina Sciubba's tongue with the same sexy insouciance that genres spring from her bandmates' fingers. On "Jique," the opening track of Brazilian Girls' second album, she mashes up Spanish, French, German, and oh yeah, English.
SHARE THIS:
Hem, 'Funnel Cloud' (Waveland)
Brooklyn folkies take road trip of the mind.
By Mikael Wood 10.17.06 3:00 AM
It's customary now for New York freak-folk acts to respond to city life with pastoral daydreaming.
SHARE THIS:
