Jabas Smith

James Iha Let It Come Down (Virgin Records) There are a couple of different reasons longtime band members make solo albums. One is fairly legitimate: to explore musical avenues that just don't fit on your band's itinerary. The other reason is more ego-based. When people like Mick Jagger, George Michael...

Hindsight through pop filters makes '60s and '70s sexual decadence seem like mere reductive nostalgia to a godless, TV-weaned generation--especially if one ignores the bra smoke of feminist politics and the embryonic gay-rights movement. The power of mass media dictates that recent history gets defined by way of pop-culture icons...

Some people can maintain their composure in a burning skyscraper. But the average record-company exec, faced with a few months of flagging album sales, is liable to run naked through the nearest strip mall, brandishing an AK47 and screaming threats in some twisted form of pig Latin. So, in 1997,...

Tito & Tarantula Tarantism (Cockroach Records) Tito Larriva is the very definition of a rock 'n' roll journeyman. His stints with influential but obscure L.A. bands like the Plugz and the Cruzados long ago established his credentials as a roots-rock true believer, a guy long on heart if a bit...

Portishead Portishead (Go! Beat/London Records) Portishead's 1994 single "Sour Times" was one of those rare tracks so arresting and so original that it makes other musicians slam on the brakes and rethink what they're doing. While nothing else on Portishead's debut album Dummy scaled those steep heights, the album sustained...