Hyphy, the exuberant form of hip-hop native to the San Francisco area, was plenty visible last year, even if it didn't quite break into the mainstream.
Rapper E-40, the Godfather of Hyphy, scored a hip-hop hit ("Tell Me When to Go") and a pop hit ("U and Dat"). And ghost riding - in which a driver leaves his seat to pose alongside or on top of his moving car - threatened to go from a semi-secret Bay Area hyphy tradition to tabloid sensation.
Listeners wondering what they've been missing could do worse than to buy Hyphy Hitz, a scattershot compilation that gathers some of the scene's biggest names and tracks. Although there are some puzzling choices - most notably the inclusion of Da Muzicianz and Twisted Black, two TVT Records acts from Georgia and Texas, respectively - this CD captures hyphy's flamboyant appeal pretty well.
The playful pioneer Mac Dre (who was shot and killed in 2004) and the croaky veteran Keak da Sneak (who popularized the term "hyphy") show up, as do such younger acts as DB'z ("Stewy") and Dem Hoodstarz ("Getz Ya Grown Man On").
The basics of hyphy - sparse 1980s-inspired beats, zooming bass lines, cheerful chants - may seem pretty cartoonish, but successful subgenres have been built on far flimsier foundations.
One of the best tracks, "Super Sic Wit It," features Mistah F.A.
B. and Turf Talk, each of whom has eagerly anticipated CDs due this year, and that's reason enough to be hopeful for hyphy's future.
- Kelefa Sannehk, The New York Times
Label: Mr.
Bongo Records ( )
If you like: Cheesy, low-budget 1970s cinematic funk
The resurfacing of the two albums from the early 1970s by the Incredible Bongo Band, now fused on the mind-blowing Bongo Rock, supports the theory that every album will eventually surface on CD.
Three things make the Incredible Bongo Band - a high-kitsch conspiracy of studio musicians - notable. Two tracks - "Bongo Rock" and "Apache" - are heavily sampled cornerstones of hip-hop.
Members include such notables as drummer Jim Gordon, beat-crazy bongo czar King Erisson, guitarist Glen Campbell, pianist Michael Omartian and saxophonist Steve Douglas.
Finally, there is the music - an explosion of wah-wah guitars, dueling drums and bongo fury distilled into an a-go-go combination of lounge-bound jazzbo funk, demented surf music and B-movie cheese.
The arrangements are tongue-in-cheek brilliant, and the songs are, strangely, perhaps even irritatingly, appealing.
Bongo Rock is not everyday listening, but when it's called for, accept no substitute.
Ghostface Killah manages to sound invigorated with each new album even as his Wu-Tang Clan colleagues struggle to produce music free of a rap veteran's pessimism.
He also seems intent on keeping a high profile - just nine months after he released the furiously dazzling Fishscale comes More Fish, another dark joyride where dice games turn violent and greedy women are wily.
Ghost may offer a sage voice amid the grime, but the new disc features less of the twisted imagery that made Fishscale tingle with adventure. He shares microphone time with admirable deputies the Theodore Unit and his teenage son, Sun God. But the results, although fine, still leave fans wanting verses from Ghost, whose virtuosity is all but unmatched in modern hip-hop.
The street noir eventually gives way to such stellar tracks as "Back Like That" with Kanye West and "You Know I'm No Good" with British singer Amy Winehouse, surprising sentimental strokes amid otherwise thrilling hardcore raps.
- Brett Johnson, The Associated Press
If you like: North Mississippi All Stars, Subdudes, Curtis Mayfield
Winston-Salem native Greg Humphries spent years trying to live up to the predictions of national stardom as the guiding light of Dillon Fence, one of Chapel Hill's most-loved power-pop bands.
But time has shown that it's Humphries' continuing role as the soul-singing dynamo of Hobex - a band that totes a soul man's manifesto within a jam-band aesthetic - that best suits his natural instincts as a singer and songwriter.
His deep-Dixie soul stylings are the heart of Enlightened Soul, a disc that reflects the funky essence of Hobex's live show - overdubs are nonexistent as a no-frills production serves the magic of the moment.
"Free The Music" and "You Set Me Free" perfectly convey the warmth of Humphries' voice and the pimp-roll groove of a band letting its soul shine bright. Forays into more rustic territory prove a dodgy, acquired taste.
But such distractions are forgivable when weighed against the stronger songs and performances that make Enlightened Soul an album aptly named. Stardom - who needs it?
If you like: Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Merle Haggard
Wayne "The Train" Hancock's tireless pursuit of his anachronistic vision - he plays both country and western - has turned him into a time-capsule honky-tonk hero among people who find New Nashville a bit too sterile.
Hancock's latest album, Tulsa, continues to chase the ghosts of Hank Williams ("Drinkin' Blues") and Bob Wills ("Tulsa") without ever embracing self-conscious imitation. Hancock's better-geriatric-than-generic approach may be unapologetically old-old-school-hard-swinging guitarists, floor-walking doghouse bass, no drums, steel guitar (not pedal steel) - but to his credit he never swerves from what comes to him naturally. As such, he less apes than adds to what, in his hands, is a still-vital tradition.
His songs are clever and terrific, and his musically savvy band swings and bops hard behind Hancock, who sounds like Williams as he weaves tales of heartbreak and lonely highways and professes his undying love of Western swing.
It's a hopped-up joy ride from start to a finish.
- Ed Bumgardner, relish staff writer
Switchfoot's third major-label release, Oh!
Gravity, benefits from a bright, modern-rock sound, filled with indie-rock spirit, which sounds ready for radio.
Singer and songwriter Jon Foreman doesn't like what he sees in the world today - greed and avarice are among his favorite targets - but he doesn't so much complain as he uses his spiritual grounding to rise above such hollow pursuits with brains and humor. For instance, on "American Dream," Foreman quips: "When success is equated with excess, the ambition for excess wrecks us.
This ain't my American Dream. I want to live and die for bigger things."
Bassist Tim Foreman and drummer Chad Butler are rock solid, and Jerome Fontamillas (keyboards) and Andrew Shirley (guitars) decorate upbeat music with intelligence and wit.
Such standout songs as the snappy title track, the driving "Dirty Second Hands," the cheeky "Amateur Lovers" and the lilting "Yesterdays" make this an outstanding album in every sense.
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