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Camilo Lara's second album continues the project he started on Mejico Maxico -- painting an aural picture of today's Mexico in full, vibrant, endlessly knob-twiddled sound samples. But where his first album felt like artfully composed background music, Piñata stands out for its combination of inventive sampling and actual grooves. Lara's at his best when he enlists the help of rappers on songs like "El Microfono," which provides a human anchor to the sonic pastiche and closes with a Cafe Tacuba sample. — Sarah Bardeen
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From the early '80s on, a label showcasing the burgeoning punk-inspired scene in Christchurch, New Zealand, essentially pointed the way for any band that was part of the nascent indie rock movement. 
All of our life we've been kicked around, we've been put in jail, we've been shot at, we've had dynamite thrown at us. Then, you don't want us to have nothing.
Last week, right here in this little space, we posited that there are (at least) two kinds of singers in the pop world. First, there are the belters, musical heavyweights who sing out, showing off all that those impressive instruments are capable of. We recapped the musical history of powerhouse vocals, touching on genres (like R&B and country) that have been friendly to such brassy boldness and melismatic acrobatics, as well as those in which bigger vocal figures have struggled to fit in. See our 
There's a short paragraph in Ed Ward's "Italo-American Rock," an excellent essay that I first encountered in the original edition of The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, that encapsulates many of the key points I want to make about this thing called East Coast Horn Rock:
Heavy metal was always about technology (as in 
Beyonce! Gaga! Rihanna! Estelle! The boldface names of pop have been busy bees in the last couple weeks, dropping singles you're sure to be listening to for months to come. But don't let the big stars blind you to the up-and-comers, who are eagerly awaiting your attention — and absolutely killing it in the process. In short, single-phile is not wanting for exciting subject matter this time around. (Did we mention there's a new Beyonce single?!) So listen up as we break down your new favorite songs (and assess the likelihood that they'll succeed).
Spoiler alert! The Dove Awards won't be televised until Sunday night, April 24, but the cute little dove-shaped statues were handed out in Atlanta on Wednesday. If you're like us, you think waiting is for suckers, so tune in to Rhapsody right now as we reveal the big winners and the show's top moments. 
We here at Rhapsody would like to offer our condolences to New York City art-rockers TV on the Radio. "We are very sad to announce the death of our beloved friend and bandmate, Gerard Smith, following a courageous fight against lung cancer," reads 
Everybody knows about 
In the pop world, there are two kinds of female singers. You've got your belters, big voices capable of melismatic acrobatics that are in the business not so much of singing as of making bold, brassy vocal statements, honey. And then you've got your baby voices, ladies who can break your heart and turn you on with just one small, subtle coo. OK, so there are way more types of pop singers, but lately, it seems like the charts have been overrun with vocalists who adopt one or the other of those two singing strategies. So we decided to break them down — then pit them against each other in an Epic! Singer! Showdown!
As the sun shyly reintroduces itself, the alluring pull of summer becomes a strong tug at the heart. Visions of warm weather, barbecues at water's edge and a general sense of relaxation pervade mind and body. And with summer comes an insane amount of music festivals. But where are they? Who is playing at them? Which ones, if any, are family-friendly?
So many great new releases have come through the various channels of world and Latin in the short time 2011's been alive. So many, in fact, that we've pared them down to a Top 10 of the Year — so far. (And we didn't even quite manage to keep it to 10.) Now, that should tell you something about how this year's shaping up in the world of world and Latin. Saving the Latin pop for another time (or see our recent Latin-only 
Let's face it: Aubrey 
Here on Rhapsody's The Mix, we have the habit of emphasizing albums over singles. But when it comes to electronic music, that strategy kind of misses the boat, given that dance music, in particular, is a singles genre. 
When it comes to adventures in music, you can do a lot worse than Coachella - a kaleidoscope of bands and fans spanning all manner of genres and scenes. Rhapsody sent its rock editor, 
When it comes to adventures in music, you can do a lot worse than Coachella - a kaleidoscope of bands and fans spanning all manner of genres and scenes. Rhapsody sent its rock editor, 
When it comes to adventures in music, you can do a lot worse than Coachella - a kaleidoscope of bands and fans spanning all manner of genres and scenes. Rhapsody sent its rock editor, 
I used to make mix CDs for my girlfriend. This was years ago, when I had a girlfriend and also back when, believe it or not, people actually made mix CDs for each other. This is a lost art. I think now they just plug their iPods into each other's brains or something, right? Anyway, I used to make these mixes. In the beginning, if I made a mix, I would put a good, cool novelty song on there amid the classic rock, indie noise and pre-punk blah blah blah; like 
Things ain't what they used to be, and this ain't the Summer of Love. By 1968, the drugs were getting uglier, the draft was still in full swing, bikes were getting badder, and music was growing heavier by the minute.
TV shows like American Idol and Glee have made big production and big voices big business again, but what's wrong with simply picking up a guitar and pouring out your feelings in a song?
I can't confirm this, but around Rhapsody HQ, I believe I'm known as the dude who enjoys churning out insanely sprawling playlists week after week. It's true — I possess a sense of thoroughness that borders on clinically diagnosable obsessive-compulsive disorder. Yet when it comes to certain artists, maniacal thoroughness is the only way to properly sum up their careers, sounds and myriad contributions to music. 
Catch up on the latest and greatest in alternative and indie music, with our Top 15 must-hear albums from the past month (or so). We've got indie all-stars like 
Coachella 2011 sold out in record time. If you weren't quick enough (or rich enough) to snatch tickets, here's your next best thing -- a playlist featuring nearly every act (that would be over 160 of 'em), including headliners 
For the uninitiated, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a sprawling, three-day musical festival held in California's Inland Empire, not far from the mythical Palm Springs. It's a uniquely Californian event: a blend of hip modern music, green culture and, as scholar Erik Davis would put it, "creative hedonism" — all-night party camping, neon hula hoops, sweaty drum circles, freaky light installations, dreadlocks, etc.
"These are my famous last words!" screams Dave Grohl at the outset of 
The world of pop music is both a monarchy and a meritocracy. On the one hand, you have your queens and kings — pop royalty who need no last name, artists like 
Initially formed in Minneapolis in 1994 as an outlet for cassette-only recordings, Rhymesayers have grown from a modest rap collective to perhaps the biggest indie rap label in the country (albeit distributed by Warner Bros.' Independent Label Group). In some ways, Rhymesayers earned that distinction just by being the last brand name standing because the indie rap scene is a shell of its former turn-of-the-century glory. But its roster of multiracial musical revolutionaries, from albino Muslim Brother Ali to crustcore emcee P.O.S., have loyal audiences, too. In 2008, flagship artist Atmosphere saw their 
"These are my famous last words!" screams Dave Grohl at the outset of 
Today, when people talk about pop music they usually mean diva dance pop or that special mix the 
Here at Rhapsody, none of us were high school age back in 1965, so we can only imagine what a genuine go-go was like. Our thoughts turn to the scene in Malcolm X when his assassins tour the Audubon Ballroom during a youth dance the night before he was killed, casing the joint while kids shuffle and stomp to 
RCA's infamous Studio B was the place to record in the '60s, '70s and '80s, hosting a veritable Who's Who of music. Everyone from 
What do belching brass lines and thrashing guitar licks have in common? How about jovial Balkan wedding bands and drunken, debauched N.Y.C. punks? Well, actually, quite a lot (and not all of it has to do with Eugene Hutz, Elijah Wood or Borat). 
On 2008's 
If you're a regular reader of The Mix, then you know Rhapsody's aims with our 
Whether the genre is still evolving in any significant way remains to be seen — and may not be clear until we can look back with decades of hindsight, truth be told — but 2011 is certainly already shaping up as a productive year for heavy metal. Below, with three months down, behold a lucky 13 of the year’s more visible releases so far, ranging from hardcore crossovers to hair-metal holdovers to Satanic ambiance to Gothic atmosphere to numerous dark and diverse shades of heaviness and metallurgy in between.
There's always been a restlessness to 
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