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Few musical commodities are quite so lucrative as a massive summertime hit, and just about this time of year, contenders begin doing the rounds of hip-hop-radio-station festivals to make their pitch. The acts hitting Jam’n 94.5’s annual SummerJam on Sunday at the Tweeter Center (617-931-2000) in Mansfield range from established hitmakers — producer-turned-solo-smash Kanye West, ubiquitous thug crooner Ja Rule — to hot up-and-comers like speed-rap phenom Twista, whose "Overnight Celebrity" has crossed over to the pop charts, and Trackboyz protégé J-Kwon, the St. Louis teenager behind the inebriated club banger "Tipsy." It’s certain that Mario Winans will sing his smash "I Don’t Wanna Know"; it’s at least possible that the identical-twin-sister act Nina Sky will sing their answer to it, "Time To Go," though the reason for their appearance is "Move Your Body," an irresistible dancehall-riddim hit that has the inside track on becoming this summer’s answer to Lumidee’s "I’ll Never Leave." Only a fool would miss the Ying Yang Twins, the flamboyant duo whose guest spot on Lil Jon’s "Get Low" landed them the appointment of crunk’s ambassadors to pop, through a guest slot on Britney Spears’s "I Got That Boom-Boom." Murphy Lee, Beenie Man, Akon, Ryan Duarte, and Cassidy are also on the bill. If sex and cred counted for as much as everyone seems to think, the Demolition Doll Rods should’ve been an easy sell during the Motor City rock renaissance: guitarist/singer Danny Doll Rod was a founder of Detroit’s most influential garage-punk band, the Gories, and the two women in his band usually take the stage in bikini bottoms and pasties, or less. If the Doll Rods remain Detroit’s best-kept secret, that’s partly because Danny wears the pasties too, and because the band’s primordial stomp remains several grades rawer than anything you’ll find on a White Stripes disc. Their incendiary third album, On (Swami), begins with songs titled "Take It Off" and "Get It On" and gets hotter from there. Danny and Margaret Doll Rod trade barbs like Ike and Tina, and Margaret’s raunchy rasp channels the primitive thump, grind, and moan of Howlin’ Wolf and Bo Diddley — albeit through the world’s loudest, crappiest amps. The current Doll Rods tour gets only as close as Ralph’s Diner (508-753-9543) in Worcester on Friday. Now that Rob Halford has rejoined Judas Priest, Ripper Owens fans — are there any? — will have to settle for seeing him front Florida metal classicists Iced Earth, who show up with Massachusetts thrash revivalists Beyond the Embrace at Lupo’s at the Strand (401-331-5876) in Providence on Wednesday. All-ages hardcore faves Stretch Arm Strong, Terror (who recently departed Massachusetts’s Bridge 9 imprint for Trustkill) and Between the Buried and Me hit the Palladium (800-477-6849) in Worcester on Friday. And Darker My Love, who’re signed to the Explosion’s Tarantulas imprint, play DJ Mark Vieira’s interstate "Blackout Bar" gigs at Bill’s Bar (617-421-9678) tonight (June 10) and at the Green Room (401-351-7665) in Providence on Sunday. BY CARLY CARIOLI |
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Issue Date: June 11 - 17, 2004 Back to the Music table of contents |
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The results are in, and tonight (June 3) you can join in the celebration of our annual FNX/Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll winners on Lansdowne Street (617-423-NEXT). The line-up includes the Violent Femmes, Chris Belew’s reconstituted Presidents of the United States of America, Juliana Hatfield, the Rapture, the Von Bondies, the Stills, Stellastarr, Elefant, Laguardia, Midtown, the Fire Theft, Just Jack, and a local punk showcase featuring the Lot Six, the Street Dogs, BMP winners the Unseen, the Explosion, and Runner and the Thermodynamics. Meanwhile, our sister paper down in Providence celebrates June 13 at the Call (401-751-2255) with performances by local faves the Stereobirds, Mastamindz, M80, and Immune.
Coming to the Green Room (401-351-7665) in Providence on Saturday and to T.T. the Bear’s Place (617-492-BEAR) in Cambridge on Sunday: a bi-coastal bill teaming two reigning heroes of experimental rock. The West Coast instrumental duo Hella feel like heavy metal without ever resorting to its sound: the drummer flails in a style that feels like one long, sweaty Animal fill, and the guitarist makes up his language as he goes along, peeling off blurry, fractured riffs and odd textures on tracks with titles like "Welcome to the Jungle, Baby, You’re Gonna Live." By contrast, East Coasters Need New Body are a collective that functions like a human sequencer. They build peculiar dance music by recontextualizing recognizable spare parts — Waits-ian junk blues, spy themes, Devo-ish new wave, dadaist poetry, hot jazz, electro, free jazz, hip-hop, bluegrass, show tunes — and giving the detritus a swift kick in the rhythm section. Their UFO (File 13) might qualify as the art-student mix tape of the year.
The Long Island girl-group trio Northern State flew the flag for Beasties-esque alterna-rap on their buzz-building 2002 EP Dying in Stereo (Star Time); on their full-length debut, All City (Columbia), which is due in August, the gals shout out to Gang Starr and feminism, lambast our current "bullshit war," and claim to have "smoked with John Kerry"! The disc features cameos by Hi and Mighty, Pete Rock, and the Roots’ ?estlove; on their sure-shot party jam "Summer Never Ends," the hook is sung by faux R&B loverman Har Mar Superstar. They’re on tour with the turntablist supergroup X-ecutioners, who on Tuesday will release another star-studded disc, Revolutions (Sony), and labelmates the Wylde Bunch, whose pop-rap confections are emboldened by a large and lively backing band. The bill hits the Asylum (207-772-8274) in Portland on Friday, the Living Room (401-521-5200) in Providence on Saturday, and the Paradise (617-423-NEXT) in Boston on Sunday.
The Providence rapper B-Lite is blind (well, that’s his story) and also white (conclusively). But he worships Satan, spits strangely entrancing rhymes (less old-school than, say, demented nursery-school), and performs with the weirdest X-rated PowerPoint presentation you’ve ever seen. Catch him at AS220 (401-831-9327) in Providence on Friday and at ZuZu (617-864-3278) in Cambridge on Sunday.
BY CARLY CARIOLIIssue Date: June 4 - 10, 2004
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