Thievery Corporation
Thievery Corporation hearken back to the suave musical era of the 1950s and ’60s, when swizzle sticks and long cigarette holders were in vogue, and relaxing meant having a strong cocktail in very plush surroundings. While inherently down-tempo, Thievery Corporation (Rob Garza and Eric Hilton) toss in elements of nearly every musical genre, including Dub, [...read more]
Linkin Park
Naysayers predicted that this whole rap-rock thing would be dying a slow, silent death right about now, but it seems to be breathing just fine without needing to come up for air. Linkin Park are one of the most successful guitar-swinging, lyric-dropping scratch wizards to simultaneously glorify the big riff while bowing down at the [...read more]
Jamiroquai
Along with many other soul-jazz bands coming out of London in the ’90s, Jamiroquai (and groups like The James Taylor Quartet) gave critics a good reason to come up with a new genre for the burgeoning electronic sound in jazz. The result was “Acid Jazz” and Jamiroquai’s 1993 debut “Emergency on Planet Earth” became a [...read more]
3OH!3
While Denver’s Flobots were crafting organic, conscious hip-hop, their state-mates in the duo 3OH!3 had a different inspiration in mind: crunk. You might never have suspected that the style reached all the way to Colorado, but the dudes in 3OH!3 — Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte — clearly have established a Dirty South outpost up [...read more]
Nickelback
Nickelback, a post-grunge band from Alberta, are the first Canadian band since the Guess Who (in the ’70s) to have a No. 1 hit single in both Canada and the U.S. Since the mid-’90s, the group — singer/guitarist Chad Kroeger, bassist Mike Kroeger, guitarist Ryan Peake and drummer Brandon Kroeger (eventually replaced by Daniel Adair) [...read more]
The Ting Tings
Glitzy and sassy with a DIY spin, the Ting Tings are for hipsters who aren’t ashamed to unfold their arms, clap along and bust a move. Based at Islington Mill, a former cotton spinning mill near Manchester turned art and recording space, the Brit twosome of Katie White and Jules De Martino started playing off-the-cuff [...read more]
MGMT
MGMT (pronounced Management) are a restless electronic-rock duo. The two members — Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser — came together in 2002 while attending Wesleyan University in Connecticut as art students. In 2005, they released the catchy synth scrum “Time to Pretend,” which became an underground hit and led to their being signed by Columbia [...read more]
My Chemical Romance
In the new millennium My Chemical Romance brought the angsty punk sub-genre known as “emo” to the mainstream masses. With a sound and lyrical content fusing the teenage rage of early hardcore acts like Minor Threat with the gloomy introspection of the Cure and the Smiths and the over-the-top theatrics of Seventies arena bands like [...read more]
The Killers
What does it mean that one of the early 21st century’s best British bands is actually from Las Vegas? They might not fit into a convenient theory, but the Killers haven’t wasted much time since their formation in 2002: Even before their debut album, Hot Fuss, appeared on Island in mid-2004, they were already selling [...read more]
Three Days Grace
Toronto-based Three Days Grace are one of the innumerable metal bands that made the charts in the early ’00s. While they owe their success (and elements of their sound) to Creed, who seemingly broke the whole metal phenomenon open with a mixture of post-grunge vocals and heavy guitars, Three Days Grace nevertheless manage to cut [...read more]
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