Email Author Nick Murray

2012 Stories by Nick Murray

• DEEPER THAN RAP

  published April 25, 2012

  With their "History of Hip-Hop" series, the Rub mixed together the hottest rap songs of each year from 1979 to 2009 and blended three decades of... More >>

• WORKING FOR 

THE WEEKND

  published April 25, 2012

  First there were a couple of songs uploaded to a Tumblr. Then a Drake co-sign, then a hazy Xanax hangover of a mixtape, House of Balloons, one of... More >>

• NEVER SAY NEVER

  published April 11, 2012

  Esperanza Spalding's large ensemble r&b/soul/jazz fusion isn't the most offensive music out there, but that didn't protect her from the fury of a... More >>

• SOUND AND VISION

  published April 11, 2012

  Nine years ago, the Unsound Festival ambitiously attempted to bring together artists on the cutting edge of various genres—everything from... More >>

• FLOSSIN' SEASON

  published April 11, 2012

  With his five Cash Money records, Juvenile established himself as one of the best ever to do it, finishing Mannie Fresh beats with inventive flows... More >>

• GREEDHEAD IS GOOD

  published April 11, 2012

  Last January, Big Baby Gandhi took to Vimeo, uploading a four-minute freestyle that, according to the video's title, proved him to be "the best... More >>

• LYRICAL SPIRITUAL

  published April 11, 2012

  In 2009, two EPs—the first self-titled, the second Of Light—primed Planet Earth for Shabazz Palaces, an interstellar avant-rap duo led... More >>

• BLOW YOUR HEAD

  published April 11, 2012

  On the surface, an odd matchup: What does punk rock have in common with moombahton, the dance subgenre that Dave Nada accidentally invented when... More >>

• EVERYTHING BASED

  published April 4, 2012

  Lil B the rapper made his debut in 2006, kicking off the first verse of "Vans," his teenybopping rap group's proto-jerk ode to the hottest skate... More >>

• MEN-MACHINES

  published April 4, 2012

  More than 40 years ago, Kraftwerk, a German electronic group based around Florian Schneider, Ralf Hütter, and a revolving door of fellow... More >>

• THIS IS
 HARDCORE

  published April 4, 2012

  For the last 15 years, DJ Rekha’s Basement Bhangra party has exposed the city to the South Asian dance music and in turn exposed artists... More >>

• GLORY DAYS

  published March 28, 2012

  If the words "Bruce in New Jersey" don't sell this on their own, check out the title track on the Boss's new Wrecking Ball, an ode to the... More >>

• PARTY HARD

  published March 28, 2012

  In Santos' Party House, co-owner Andrew W.K. might have his own Chinatown hangout, a place where hipsters and their plus-ones can party... More >>

• HOUSE PARTY

  published March 28, 2012

  Over the past few months, the work of Junior Vasquez, the New York–based DJ/producer whose music has been moving bodies since the... More >>

• N.E.R.D. ALERT

  published March 21, 2012

  Of all the superstar-filled music festivals to appear out of nowhere in the second half of the 2000s, EMP is in some ways the most exciting. What... More >>

• DISCO! AT THE BOWLING ALLEY

  published March 21, 2012

  Five and a half years ago, Escort played their first show. Their debut single, the disco-reviving "Starlight," had been tearing up DJ sets for the... More >>

• STRIKE A POSE

  published March 21, 2012

  With events like a recent release party for Veronica Vasicka's Minimal Wave Vol. 2 comp and a New Year's Eve bash featuring Araabmuzik and Laurel... More >>

• EXTRATERRESTRIAL

  published March 14, 2012

  When drummer Greg Fox, Williamsburg's John Henry, joined Liturgy, he replaced frontman Hunter Hunt-Hendrix's drum machine and, hitting faster and... More >>

• COLOR BLIND

  published March 14, 2012

  Beginning with last week's "Racist Show-and-Tell," in which the members of rap group Das Racist judged a slideshow of racialized commercials... More >>

• CALIFORNIA DREAMING

  published March 14, 2012

  With everyone—from Fiona Apple to your sophomore-year roommate who used to get high and make beats on his laptop—heading down to... More >>

• WHO’S THE BAWSE?

  published March 7, 2012

  Even though Rick Ross’s Teflon Don (2010) had tracks produced by Kanye West and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, its two most important songs came... More >>

• DREAM ON

  published March 7, 2012

  This week, singer/songwriter/producer/critical darling Terius Nash comes to S.O.B.’s for two shows: Tonight, he performs as The-Dream, the... More >>

• STANDING OVATION

  published February 29, 2012

  When Young Jeezy was on the map way back in 2005, mixtapes still came as CDs, and only the best (his breakout Trap or Die, for instance) left city... More >>

• FREESTYLE FELLOWSHIP

  published February 29, 2012

  By now, everyone knows 1520 Sedgwick, the building in the Bronx where a young DJ Kool Herc threw the back-to-school party that is said to have... More >>

• CYBERPUNKS

  published February 29, 2012

  With their debut EP The Grid, Pop. 1280 of New York matched the dissonance of early Sonic Youth (particularly if you add some bass and slow those... More >>