TRISTAN PRETTYMAN An intensely personal album deepens her connection with fans Singer-songwriter Tristan Prettyman shares the difficult aftermath of her breakup with fellow artist Jason Mraz on her recently released third album, Cedar & Gold. At first reluctant to sing about the personal trauma, she eventually embraced the opportunity to connect more deeply with her audience. “I wondered if it was going to be too much information,” Prettyman... 

PUBLIC ENEMY For founder Chuck D, rap has always been much more than just rhymes Chuck D would be spending his time clinking champagne glasses now that Public Enemy is to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But the man who led the charge to revolutionize hip-hop has always been on a serious mission. Those who knew him as a student at Adelphi University recall his passionate debates about politics, philosophy and music, some of which... 

MACY GRAY Honoring a music legend with a cover of a classic album  Macy Gray was on a mission to honor her personal hero, Stevie Wonder, by covering his iconic album Talking Book. The new record—which coincides with the 40th anniversary of the original’s release—features Gray interpreting classics from “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” to “Superstition.” But don’t call it a tribute record. “It’s a love letter and a big thank... 

UNCLE KRACKER A pop-rock hit-maker brings his feel-good groove to country music   His 2001 breakout single, “Follow Me,” was a pop smash. But in recent years, Uncle Kracker, aka Matthew Shafer, has shifted from funky post-grunge rock to country, working with producer Keith Stegall (Alan Jackson, Zac Brown Band) and signing with roots label Sugar Hill Records. What hasn’t changed is the Detroit native’s penchant for fun—a philosophy reflected... 

LINDSEY STIRLING HOMETOWN: Gilbert, Ariz. INFLUENCES: Bond, Vanessa-Mae, David Garrett ALBUM: Lindsey Stirling, out now WEBSITE: lindseystirlingviolin.com Lindsey Stirling is a fiddler who really could dance on a roof. The 26-year-old violinist, who was reared on masters like Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Mozart, has created her own style fusing classical with pop, house and hip-hop. Her spunky stage presence, top-notch technical chops and ninja-like... 

MICHELLE RENE HOMETOWN: Phoenix, Ariz. INFLUENCES: Fleetwood Mac, Ella Fitzgerald, Patsy Cline ALBUM: As yet untitled EP, out 2013 WEBSITE: michellerene.com As a teen, Michelle Rene performed at county fairs, music festivals and sports arenas in her hometown of Phoenix. She even hosted her own weekly live concert event, but a crowning moment came when she was named the best new act in country music’s largest talent competition, Country Showdown,... 

ERIN BOHEME HOMETOWN: Oshkosh, Wisc. INFLUENCES: Billie Holiday, Carly Simon, Dean Martin ALBUM: What a Life, out Feb. 5 WEBSITE: erinbohememusic.com Erin Boheme’s father introduced his daughter to the music of Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday, while her mom watched her sing to Al Green, Aretha Franklin and Earth, Wind & Fire. Erin soon followed her own passion for many styles, and began singing at weddings and private parties before landing... 

ZIGGY MARLEY Exploring the connection between his father’s legacy and his own artistry Although Ziggy Marley has won five Grammys and garnered widespread acclaim for his work as a humanitarian, author and producer, to many he will always be known as Bob Marley’s eldest son. Rather than distancing himself from his father’s legacy, Marley embraces the spirit and artistry of the legendary performer, who died in 1981. His new album, Ziggy Marley... 

HOLLY WILLIAMS Back on the highway and serving notice that she’s here to stay    It can be tough to live up to family legacies—and Holly Williams carries one monster pedigree. Her grandfather was legendary Hank Williams. Her father, Hank Williams Jr., is also a country giant, and her half-brother, cow punkster Hank III, has broken his own barriers. Is the long shadow of such success intimidating? “If anything, it’s been kind of a challenge,”... 

ATOMS FOR PEACE Amok [xl] When Thom Yorke needed musicians to back him on a 2009 solo tour, the Radiohead frontman laid the foundation for one of the more puzzling supergroups in recent memory. Among those he enlisted was Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, a perpetually shirtless slap-and-pop funkateer whose people-pleasing main band couldn’t differ more from Yorke’s. The other members—producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Paul McCartney), drummer... 

THE JOY FORMIDABBLE Wolf’s Law [Atlantic]  The sophomore effort from these Welsh alt-rockers offers guitars that crunch at heavy metal levels and vocals that soothe to the point of hypnosis. Mega distortion gives way to dreamy interludes and ethereal harmony, and frontwoman Ritzy Bryan’s voice conjures the drama and enchantment of Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan. On such tracks as “Tendons,” guttural bass lines drop to the depths of... 

CARRIE RODRIGUEZ Give Me All You Got [Ninth Street Opus] A classically trained violinist, Carrie Rodriguez possesses firm command over another instrument: a sultry, Texas-cured soprano voice. Her engaging vocal style is best served without garish musical adornments or modern studio tricks, and on her fifth album, she smartly plays to her strengths, laying out a generous spread of mostly quiet acoustic songs. The simple restraint exercised by Rodriguez... 

KID ROCK Rebel Soul [Atlantic] On his ninth studio album, Kid Rock lightens up. He’s never exactly been a brooding singer-songwriter, but after stepping up his game with 2010’s Rick Rubin-produced Born Free and dabbling in politics during last year’s Mitt Romney campaign, he seems ready to fling off the fedora and let his hair down. He leads listeners right into the party with “Chickens in the Pen,” a solid Southern rock foot-stomper. He’s... 

RICHARD THOMPSON Electric [New West]  Recorded in a few days at producer Buddy Miller’s Nashville home, Electric sounds more live than Thompson’s Dream Attic(2010), an actual live album. Perhaps it’s because he didn’t overdo it in the studio. Thompson has said that he and his trio banged out the recording with minimal fuss, and the lack of embellishment does these songs good. Fortunately, austerity doesn’t come at the price of substance,... 

GREEN DAY ¡Tré!  [Warner Bros.]  After diving into political and social commentary with concept albums in 2004 and 2009, Green Day lightened the mood in 2012 with a trilogy of less weighty records, released a few months apart. ¡Tré! wraps the triptych in characteristic fashion: There are no grand philosophical statements or particular points of view, just punchy pop songs that echo elements of the band’s career to now. “Missing You,” “Amanda”... 

RA RA RIOT Beta Love [Barsuk] Beta Love is an eccentric marriage of styles coexisting harmoniously, against the odds. This Syracuse quartet has moved from broody indie chamber-pop toward vibrant synth-pop, and the jolt that comes from the opening notes signifies more than just the newfound prominence of keyboards: It’s a complete reevaluation of their songwriting. This restructuring could be attributed to the departure of cellist Alexandra Lawn... 

WANDA JACKSON  Unfinished Business [Sugar Hill] At 75, Wanda Jackson has nothing left to prove. Since emerging in the ’50s as a female Elvis, she’s weathered fallow periods, but the Queen of Rockabilly has never really disappeared. In 2009, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and two years later, Jack White stepped up to produce The Party Ain’t Over, a problematic album that said as much about White’s ambitions as it did... 

MILES DAVIS QUINTET Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2  [Columbia/Legacy] What a difference a couple of years makes.  The Miles Davis Quintet documented on the first volume of this series—recorded in 1967 in various European locales—was, by many accounts, the quintessential Miles Davis outfit, as well as one of the most incendiary and innovative jazz ensembles ever. With Wayne Shorter on saxophone, Herbie Hancock on keyboards, Ron... 

CHIEF KEEF Finally Rich [Interscope] Taken out of context, the songs on Chief Keef’s big-league debut aren’t terribly remarkable. The Chicago rapper slurs his way through slang-heavy lines about liquor, drugs, money, guns, jewelry, foreign cars and occasionally the validation and security that come with success. He’s blunt and boastful, an unrepentant gangsta who found internet fame while under house arrest. The interesting thing: Keef is just... 

SCOTT  WALKER Bish Bosch [4AD] Scott Walker’s output has been sporadic over the last 30 years, but he always makes the music of nightmares. On his first album since 2006, he interrupts stretches of silence with disjointed moments of off-kilter musicality. Bish Bosch is full of mechanical sounds—from the industrial hammering intro of the opening track to guitars that sound like television static and the repeated motif of sharpening knives. Hitchcockian... 

GRAHAM PARKER AND THE RUMOUR Three Chords Good [Primary Wave] Reunion albums naturally make listeners nervous. A record might be good, or it might be embarrassingly lame. Or it might be Three Chords Good, the first new record by Graham Parker and the Rumour in more than 30 years. Rich and exciting, it sounds at first like a long-lost gem. Then the words sink in. While the venom of Parker’s punky New Wave-era work hasn’t disappeared, it’s tempered... 

RAVI SHANKAR Tenth Decade: Live in Escondido [East Meets West] In light of Shankar’s death on  Dec. 11, 2012, Tenth Decade will likely stand as the final major release from an iconic musician who bridged East and West like no other. Filmed at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido, Calif., in October 2011, the nearly 90-minute performance finds the master sitar player—91 at the time, sporting a full gray beard and using a cane as he... 

EL PERRO DEL MAR Pale Fire [The Control Group] Sarah Assbring, the Swedish artist behind El Perro del Mar, continues to evolve her sound, and after beginning the move away from acoustic arrangements on her last album, she completes the shift to electronica on her fourth full-length. Though synthesizers aren’t new to El Perro del Mar’s catalog, the sound of Pale Fire is more obviously electronic, as heard in the intentionally programmed sound of... 

CHRIS STAMEY Lovesick Blues [Yep Roc] Having spent much of his career in the producer’s chair, Chris Stamey fittingly applies lessons learned behind the scenes to this, his first solo album in seven years. Following a recent reunion with his seminal power-pop band the dB’s, Stamey ups the musical ante on Lovesick Blues. The album is lushly arranged and brimming with emotion, and Stamey adds a personal perspective to the radiant pop approach that’s... 

FREE ENERGY Love Sign [Free Energy Records] These Philadelphia rockers started strong on their 2010 debut, a ridiculously catchy collection of power-pop riffs, handclaps and harmony vocals. They’ve only gotten better on the follow-up, a joyous set of songs about dancing all night and making out. It sounds simplistic, but there’s greater nuance on Love Sign. With help from producer John Agnello, the band toys with slower jams and makes room for... 

CLINIC Free Reign [Domino] On their self-produced seventh album, these Leeds art-rockers trade intensity for laser-like focus. Something intangible pushes the songs forward, despite seemingly loose constructions. While Free Reign marks the return of Clinic’s trademark fuzzy guitars—lacking on their previous album, the mostly acoustic Bubblegum—the sound is less bristly than on earlier efforts. It’s also more psychedelic, with vintage organs... 

SALLY SHAPIRO Somewhere Else johanagebjorn.info/sally.html Relative to modern EDM, the ’80s-born sound known as Italo disco is more suave and sophisticated than it is sweaty, though the goal is still to make bodies move. On their third album, the Swedish duo of singer Sally Shapiro and producer Johan Agebjörn venture beyond the subgenre, making successful forays into lush, drowsy synth-pop. They occasionally get back to their roots but even when... 

OVERMOUNTAIN MEN The Next Best Thing overmountainmen.com The past has much to teach us, and whether exploring U.S. history (“Alexander Hamilton”) or the lives of regular folks, Overmountain Men are eager students. They’re also schooled in traditional American music, though Avett Brothers bassist Bob Crawford and singer-songwriter David Childers aren’t dogged bluegrass re-enactors. The standout title track is a dark, smoldering thing, and trading... 

GLISS Langsom Dans officialgliss.wordpress.com This L.A. trio’s song titles are telling. “Blur” describes the guitars—gorgeously bleak and distorted—while “Waves” sums up those wonderful washes of bittersweet synth. “Weight of Love” is the thematic centerpiece, a measurement not easily calculated. Like sometime tour mates the Raveonettes, Gliss makes music that’s both heavy and weightless, filled with big sounds yet fitted with... 

GEORGE KILBY JR. Six Pack georgekilbyjr.com A jammer from way back, this Alabama-born, New York-based blues ’n’ roots vet must have loved cutting “Something I Can’t Find,” the first tune on this six-song EP to feature an extended guitar break. Kilby also gets an audible kick out of trucking country-style through Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love,” trading licks with banjoist Andy Goessling. But he’s even better on the four tighter tracks,... 

TODD MAY Rickenbacker Girls myspace.com/toddmay Rock nerds will read the title and think of the jangly guitars beloved by the Byrds, Tom Petty and countless power-pop bands. Those influences likely apply, but May is actually referencing Ohio’s Rickenbacker Air Force Base. Growing up nearby, he chatted up pilots’ daughters worldlier than he was, and here, he sings songs about girls in motion. May himself is constantly on the move, jumping from... 

BEING THERE Breaking Away facebook.com/beingthereband The thrill of being young and confused and knowing a few chords belongs to no decade or country, and in that sense, there’s nothing unusual about this London foursome. Like fellow U.K. group Yuck, whose self-titled 2011 debut marked something of an indie-rock paradigm shift, Being There does fuzzy, pleasantly disaffected ’90s-style alternative. The reference points are mostly American—Dinosaur... 

LACY JAMES Circle of Swallows mereminne.com When she’s not crafting the kinds of eclectic, electro-tinged earth-child folk fantasias heard on this, her second album, James choreographs her own modern dance troupe. That might explain songs like “Dancing out of the Dark” and lines like “dancing animals / entwining animals / in cuneiform and ruin,” though really, Swallows defies easy explanation. James sets bold, mystical lyrics to clattering... 

THE NIGHT MARCHERS  Allez Allez swamirecords.com John Reis is no dummy. As frontman for Rocket From the Crypt and Hot Snakes, the San Diego punk swami has wrecked stages around the world, and he knows his brand of garage rock is gnarlier and more inventive than most. Hence, “Loud, Dumb and Mean,” a highlight of his second Night Marchers album, is false modesty—a declaration of idiocy from a foursome whose warped, pointy riffs and skewed rhythms... 

JIMBO MATHUS White Buffalo jimbomathus.com Back in the ’90s, while leading Squirrel Nut Zippers, this Mississippi native scored a novelty hit with “Hell,” a hot-jazz tune that snuck onto alt-rock radio. A decade after the Zippers’ demise, Mathus isn’t doing anything quite as radical or conceptual. White Buffalo is a genre record, the genre being Southern—a sweaty, twangy sound informed by country, folk, gospel, soul and good ol’ rock... 

PARADOX Tales of the Weird myspace.com/paradoxbangers After a quarter-century of raging, give or take some periods of inactivity, Paradox is still spoiling for a fight. On their sixth album, the German thrash mainstays wage war against the government (“Brutalized”), the media (“Brainwashed”), mental illness (“Fragile Alliance”) and the idea of war itself (“Escalation”). They wield the typical heavy metal weapons—shamelessly brazen... 

ALY TADROS The Fits alytadros.com On her second album, Tadros is nothing if not elusive, a storyteller determined to kick dirt on her footprints and throw us off the trail. Then, she’s always been tough to pin down. The Texas native spent time in Egypt, Spain and Mexico before settling in Austin, and she brings to her harrowing fingerpicked jazz-noir songs echoes of each country. One minute, she’s vulnerable and needy, imploring, “Say that you’re... 

TUNDE OLANIRAN The Second Transgression tundeolaniran.com When Prince has nightmares, the background music—and you know there’s background music—probably sounds something like Tunde Olaniran’s dark and delirious 21st century R&B. On his second in a series of five EPs, the perpetually project-hopping singer-producer fits rap verses, soulful vocals and bizarre samples—those are Chinese schoolchildren on “Brown Boy”—over paranoid... 

GREGG AUGUST Four by Six greggaugust.com Two bands—a quartet and sextet, as the title implies—give life to this bassist-composer’s singular sound. August digs the choppy start-stop riffs, but he leaves space to swing, encouraging his cohorts to do likewise. Jazz newbies, take heart: The stroll down “Strange Street” ain’t so strange.  Read More →

TED RUSSELL KAMP Night Owl tedrussellkamp.com All the best 21st century troubadours live in L.A., and this alt-country Cali cowboy is as good as any. Kamp’s loose drawl makes him sound slightly haggard—maybe even tipsy—and that works for both the sad ballads and boozy barroom hoots.  Read More →

JAMAICAN QUEENS Wormfood jamaicanqueens.com Hip-hop production has grown pretty inventive in recent years, and Detroit duo Adam Pressley and Ryan Spencer—formerly of the band Prussia—have been paying attention. Here, starchy indie rock meets the woozy bump of modern rap, neither sound spoiling the party.  Read More →

DUOLOGUE Song & Dance duologuemusic.co.uk As U.K. kids reared on Radiohead, Muse and Coldplay come of age, count on hearing more bands like this London quintet. Just don’t expect the same mastery of melancholy stadium pop and glitchy electro-rock. Emotional and experimental, Song & Dance is an impressive debut.  Read More →

X-TIVITY FACTOR Hard and Powerful xtivityfactor.com Manuel Marino makes electronic music under many guises, and as X-tivity Factor, he delivers driving beats and synth lines with a slightly noirish New Wave sheen. Had the folks behind the Drive soundtrack wanted aggressive, not atmospheric, Marino might have been their man.  Read More →

“The Senate Music Group, LLC hosts annual star-studded Pre-Grammy gala at  The Conga Room at L.A. Live FEB 7, 2013 Doors open 9pm at The Conga Room in LA Live. It’s going to be a great night! Special performance By Neyo’s new Recording Artist RAVAUGHN Music Provided By World Famous DJ Aktive DJ Aktive   About The Senate Music Group, LLC The Senate Music Group, LLC, is a collective alliance of extremely talented music... 

NEAL SCHON With his solo efforts, the Journey ace guitarist explores many musical roads By Russell Hall  Neal Schon is not one to rest on his laurels. Despite selling upwards of 80 million albums with classic-rock behemoth Journey, the guitar virtuoso continues to be driven by a restless creative spirit. “In Journey I sort of ride with the flow,” he explains. “It seems to work better if I do most of the more experimental stuff on my own.... 

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