Having successfully fused music and politics from their start, inspiring both moshing and young minds in the process, Rage Against the Machine emerge in peak form with merely their third album in seven years. Guitarist Tom Morello is one of the most distinctive and innovative players of his era, and his foil, vocalist/lyricist Zack De La Rocha, is as unrelenting and inspiring as ever on The ...
Manufacturer: Epic
His second album finds Eminem struggling to contain the pressures of success. And he's dealing it with it disgracefully. The Detroit rapper's multiple identities are more mixed up than ever, with Marshall Mathers fighting for prominence against his alter egos: Eminem, Slim Shady, Kenneth Kaniff and his public image. Don't be fooled by the album title: apart from the eponymous "Marshall Mathers" ...
Manufacturer: Polydor Group
If the Game's G Unit-fuelled debut--the most anticipated CD of early 2005--is supposed to be the Answer like Iverson, then what was the question? Well, when an emcee gets to rifle through 50 Cent's Rolodex to hand-pick top flight producers Timbaland, Just Blaze, Kanye West) it's a can't miss scheme, right? In this case, uh-huh. "Westside Story" is Game's opportunity to remind crunk-come-lately's ...
Manufacturer: Plastichead
The joke of Licensed to Ill's cover--that the Beasties could crash their jet into the side of a mountain and keep on tickin'--serves as a good metaphor for a career that even some of their 1986 admirers thought might be over after the one-time-only shock of this full-length debut. That thousands of funk-junkie wannabes have since failed at re-creating its groove, breaking-the-law vibe, and ...
Manufacturer: Mercury Records Ltd (London)
Motion, the debut album from DJ Jason Swinscoe's Cinematic Orchestra, is a future jazz classic. Each track perfectly marries mood and substance, mixing shuffling percussion and galloping drum breaks with chilled pianos, melancholy strings and live jazz horns. Heavy acoustic basslines mingle with samples of old blues singers and twinkly electric piano solos. It's a dark, late night brew that ...
Manufacturer: Ninja Tune
Manufacturer: Rapster
Manufacturer: UMTV
Manufacturer: Hall Of Justus
Manufacturer: Warner
