Music

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new CD by hip-hop artist Lyrics Born. It's called Same !@#$ Different Day.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the debut album by British 25-year-old Nic Armstrong and his band, the Thieves. The recording, The Greatest White Liar, has garnered attention with its mix of British rock and American blues.

From the trio Low, drummer Mimi Parker and singer-guitarist Alan Sparhawk. The two are husband and wife. The band made its debut in 1994 with the album I Could Live on Hope. Their most recent album The Great Destroyer (Sub Pop) is their seventh.

Rock historian Ed Ward tells us about the British band The Pretty Things, a band that was a spin off-of group of the early Rolling Stones. Last year they released the reissue, Come See Me: The Very Best of The Pretty Things.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Forever Hasn't Happened Yet the new CD by John Doe, formerly of the punk-rock band X.

Music historian Ed Ward remembers the Rock and Roll Trio, from the early 1950s made up of brothers Johnny and Dorsey Burnette and electric guitarist Paul Burlison. Their recordings have been collected on the Hip-O Select label.

Rock critic Ed Ward finds a forgotten chapter of American pop history: the 1940s sound of East Los Angeles. Hear original recordings of vintage Latin music collected on the new CD Pachuco Boogie, from Arhoolie Records.

DJ Kool Herc is the father of the breakbeat, the deejay practice of isolating and repeating "breaks," the most danceable portions of songs; breakbeats make up the foundation of modern hip-hop. Herc has written the introduction to the new book Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation (St.Martins, 2005) by Jeff Chang.

In the past several months, singer Marianne Faithfull has released two CDs: a two-disc set of her hits, and Before the Poison, which includes tracks written by PJ Harvey.

Roky Erickson was the front man for the 13th Floor Elevators, the first band to be called psychedelic. While they never became superstars, the Texas band's influence can still be felt today. Rock historian Ed Ward has a retrospective on Erickson's career.