Culled from unfinished and previously unworthy archival material, Michael Jackson’s new posthumous compilation is a pop séance. Timbaland and J-Roc’s studio mastery only marginally improved some of the unfinished demos that come with the deluxe edition of Xscape (Epic). Most…

Dotun Akintoye Perfect Pussy Dotun Akintoye Perfect Pussy Dotun Akintoye Dotun Akintoye Perfect Pussy Dotun Akintoye Perfect Pussy Dotun Akintoye Perfect Pussy Dotun Akintoye Perfect Pussy [ 4/25 ] …Throwing and thrown around before finding myself side stage, the environment…

Dotun Akintoye Dotun Akintoye Dotun Akintoye Dotun Akintoye Dotun Akintoye Dotun Akintoye Dotun Akintoye After Chuck Cleaver introduced them briefly — “Thanks, we’re Wussy” — the first sounds were three electric guitars gently playing, joined by John Erhardt’s pedal steel…

Neal Santos It’s an old rap brag; Ryshon Jones has forgotten more rhymes than most MCs have thought of. In his case, it’s because he can trace his work back to the first mixtape he distributed in seventh grade, and…

Xiu Xiu | C+ They’re still avant-garde only if Jamie Stewart’s navel constitutes a movement by itself. On Angel Guts: Red Classroom (Polyvinyl), Xiu Xiu burrows deeper into analog synths, programmed drums, distortions and dissonance. Occasionally, they stumble onto beauty…

Hovering somewhere in the Philly-Brooklyn nexus, transported back and forth by sound and ley lines that only young punkish artistes care to know, Swearin’ —led primarily by Allison Crutchfield and Kyle Gilbride, and fresh off their second record, Surfing Strange…

As a reprise of once-seminal shtick, The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (Interscope/Shady/Aftermath) isn’t half bad. Eminem begins with a late-career triumph (“Bad Guy”), stunts on old enemies (Dad), apologizes to others (Mom), sticks it to bitches specific and general, drops…

Mark Stehle “I never even thought about doing it with dudes,” says bassist Allegra Anka. There’s a beat before her bandmates, lead singer/guitarist Augusta Koch and drummer Kelly Olsen burst out laughing in Koch’s South Philly living room. She’s talking about…

Dotun Akintoye Wale Dotun Akintoye Wale Dotun Akintoye Wale Dotun Akintoye Wale Dotun Akintoye Wale Dotun Akintoye J. Cole Dotun Akintoye J. Cole Right before he breaks it down “for the ladies” with “A Love Hate Thing,” “Bad,” and “Lotus…