Most Popular
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The Talk of the Green Iguana
Will American voters elect the first gay vice president in November?
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The She-Zebra
Will Erin Meehan be the first female ref in the NFL?
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Are We There Yet?
Jeez, can we just embrace the electric car already?
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Guitar Zero
Maybe the next generation won't even play instruments. Clapton and Hendrix? So passé.
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Accidental Hit Man
Sure, Paul Brandreth talks like a wiseguy. But is he a cold-blooded killer?
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Your Mom Thinks He’s Hot (6)
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Man-Child in the Promised Land (5)
Pop star Sean Kingston hopes the party's just begun
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The Talk of the Green Iguana (3)
Will American voters elect the first gay vice president in November?
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Guitar Zero (2)
Maybe the next generation won't even play instruments. Clapton and Hendrix? So passé.
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Shooting the Moon (2)
Aim high or aim low, you're bound to hit something, even if it's the sleep button
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Cheat Sheet to Langerado
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Licensed to Chill
How the Beasties went from hip-hop pranksters to musical renaissance men
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Paul Potts
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Not Your Father's N Word
Eight months after its "burial," the world's most dangerous epithet is more popular than ever in hip-hop
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Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
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Sun-Sentinel Monkey Business
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Why Was Melissa Britt Lewis Killed?
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Owen Wilson, Hat Visit FTL
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R.E.M. Disappoints at Langerado
07:33PM 03/10/08 -
Last Night: Ani DiFranco at Langerado
04:00PM 03/10/08 -
Concert Review: Blitzen Trapper at Langerado
02:54PM 03/10/08
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Recent Articles By Jonathan Zwickel
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Sunshine Daydream
The Open Grass Music and Art Festival
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Feathers
Synchromy (Hometapes)
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Comets on Fire
Avatar (Sub Pop)
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How You Philling?
Phil Lesh
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Metal Bird
Pelican
National Features
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Houston Press
"It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"
For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.
By Chris Vogel -
SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
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The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
By Nadia Pflaum -
Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
I'm not sure why, but when the term progressive is slapped in front of a musical genre, the resulting phrase is instantly rendered trite and meaningless. Some bands, though, push so hard against the envelope that they effectively embody forward motion, building momentum from nothing more than a unique creative spark. Example: Kansas City's Deep Thinkers. The duo of MC Brother of Moses and DJ/producer Leonard D. Stroy jack into some kind of alt hip-hop matrix, channeling the intellectual power of positive rap through a head-spinning filter of jazzy drum 'n' bass, glitch, and polyglot world fusion. Stroy's production is flawless, melding wicked turntablism with the fluttering future beats of Roni Size and Amon Tobin. His two instrumental suites ("Slideshow" and "Kiss the Sky") are full-on brilliant in their stylistic breadth and wicked execution. Brother of Moses takes on the politics of style issued by social critics like Mr. Lif but butters it with a laid-back Midwestern delivery à la Cleveland's Five Deez. A more aggressive rapper might stand out better against Stroy's hummingbird breaks, but in the end, Moses makes more noise by speaking softly. Together, these two birth a serious debut and put the stigma of progressive to rest.
