Believe it or not, the Residents have been gracing the world with their unique form of music/performance art for 30 years! In celebration, the anonymous Bay Area eyeballs have much in store, including the release next week of their most melodic record in years: Demons Dance Alone. We are privileged …

“Streamies” buy more CDs than other people, but they want to hear it first, according to Jon Iverson in Stereophile: It will probably be years before we can determine the actual effects that Napster and other online file-trading networks have had on the music business. Conflicting evidence suggests that swapping …

Little Axe – guitarist Skip McDonald and famed producer/remixer Adrian Sherwood – have a fascinating recent CD on Fat Possum, Hard Grind. In a recording world full of bizarre hybrids – from metal-rap to industrial-lounge – Sherwood and McDonald have created a surprisingly successful and organic new slot: “dub-blues.” Wedding …

MCA/Chess has recently put out four classic “two-for” blues collections originally released in the ’60s under the titles The Real Folk Blues and More Real Folk Blues, by Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Howlin’ Wolf: the very heart of the Chess blues roster. Muddy Waters is …

The Eels have a recent CD, Souljacker, their fourth. They should be happy, but E, the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist who leads the band, is rarely, if ever, happy. He has the soul of a Russian. At their best, E’s Eels combine rocking rhythm, deft expression of the tragic, and a melodic delicacy …

Please see part 1 here, and part 2 here. Iggy Pop The Velvets, Stooges, and the Dolls were the most important of the ’70s pre-punk bands, and Iggy Pop, after leaving the Stooges, has soldiered on through very long and winding road of punkish, angular hard rock – his signature …

Please see part 1 here. Toots and the Maytals Toots Hibbert is second only to Bob Marley in reggae history as singer and songwriter. Career spans early-’60s ska to today. Gritty, soul-dripping voice along the lines of Otis Redding. Should be next reggae Rock Hall inductee (then Jimmy Cliff). R.E.M. …

Last March, in conjunction with the Rock Hall Induction ceremonies, Cleveland.com conducted a readers poll: Who should get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? The results are here. Cleveland.com Managing Producer Johanna Hoadley and I did a special episode of the Cool Tunes radio show to play music …

You would never guess Norah Jones’ age from her voice: a melodious alto blend of Billie Holiday compression (she fills the notes like ideal air pressure in a tire), Diana Krall easy self-possession, and a hint of smoky Dusty-in-Memphis grit. I first heard the voice last year on the brilliant …

This is noble and all: Eelpie.com and TheMusic.com have joined forces with The Who and Trinifold Management to bring you exclusive live recordings on CD of shows from the 2002 tour of North America by The Who. The band is aware that many of the shows on this tour will …