Allen Sloan Torpie

Haggis What's Up Haircut? (Epixuti) In a live setting, Haggis is a source of pure astonishment. The group's hard-driving guitar-rock--while taking some influence from punk and the early '90s grunge revolution--initially seems kinda plain and conventional. Before you know it, though, you find yourself bowled over by this band's overpowering...

Although Pie Gomez is too humble to admit it, his band was initially conceived--much in the tradition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein--as the local MC's personal creation. Six months ago, this local lyrical mad scientist awoke from musical hibernation and pieced together seven musicians--each from unlikely and unrelated circumstances--to spawn a...

Phonoroyale Radio Flavored In pop music, context is everything. Five years ago, when guitarist Jack Randall and singer Mary Katherine Spencer decided they wanted to form a vintage jazz combo, the idea seemed like pure novelty. In 1997, musical tastes have caught up with--or slowed down for--Randall and Spencer, and...

"We have three songs about pimps," says Josh Prior, bassist/vocalist for hot young funksters Yoko Love, as he runs a hand through his spiked, metallic-blond hair. "Every time I hear a really serious, fuckin' slammin' funk bass line, I see that pimp from I'm Gonna Git You Sucka with the...

Ska came first. Not reggae. But Rasputin died easier than the misconception that it's the other way around. As the popularity of ska continues to swell--both for traditional ska acts like Hepcat and the Pie Tasters and ska-flavored pop tarts like No Doubt and Goldfinger--so does the myth that the...