Issue 29
So here you have it: a travel issue from your favorite music magazine. This time out, we're bringing you some music that you might actually hear when you go the places you go: our front cover stars Bloc Party gig in London and are touring like crazy for their new album Silent Alarm, while our back cover artist Kano rips London mics as well-he's the grime MC to watch for 2005. We're also bringing you a story on the kings of Japanese psych Yura Yura Teikoku, an update on the improbable insanity of Baltimore's regional music scene and a first-hand account of the mutations of Eastern Europe's ethnic folk music ...all of it real music happening in real places you can get to. We'd be heading out again if we weren't in the lab creating our next issue, the Spring Photography Special.
KNOX ROBINSON
Cover 1: Bloc Party
Ring The Alarm
"When I started to look at the world with observant eyes, I noticed things aren't always the way you thought they were going to be. You're not invincible, and the world is a dark, complicated place."
Cover 2: Kano
Golden Child
The urban massive is betting that Kano can win, can take grime off the anonymous white labels of underground record stores and put it on a poster to tape up next to their Ciaras and Aaliyahs and Sean Pauls.
Feature 1: Balkan Beat
Soundklatch!
"I want my DJ gigs to sound like the most ghetto street party you've ever been to. I spin Jamaican style—totally reckless."
Feature 2: Yura Yura Teikoku
Louder Than Bombs
"I don't like when music becomes like religion. It'd rather be hooting and hollering and smoking cigarettes and talking in the back."
Feature 3: Charm City
Bmore, Stand Up!
"You got a major label basically telling you, 'Don't bop, shake your ass.' But you don't shake your ass, you bop. So why would you come out there and shake your ass when you're at home you bop?"
Feature 4: Gypsy Hymns
Caravan
Photographer Yelena Yemchuk's cinematic reportage of gypsy youth from Ukraine, Turkey, Italy and Brooklyn is bound to astound with its powerful and arresting imagery.
+ GEN F:
M Ward / Amerie / Lou Barlow / Marisa Nadler / Maximo Park / Menomena / Nomo / Quan
+ FASHION:
On the grit tip, Harry Dean Stanton and friends get rugged and rustic in LA while couples put their love and their love of fine jewelry on display
+ VINYL ARCHEOLOGY:
The selectors from roots reggae shop Deadly Dragon NYC round up the finest Jamaican music from the edge
