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Body of Christ
An interview with the founder of seminal punk band X. [2]
Michael Henningsen

Roadkill
Exene Cervenkova's Auntie Christ is coming to Emo's on Sunday, August 17. [3]
Greg Beets

Garth Gantua
Four writers ponder Garth Brooks' trip to the Big Apple. What does it mean for country music? About the nature of celebrity? Did anyone even care about the music? [4]
John Bridges, Bruce Dobie, Beverly Keel, and Michael McCall

Big Country
Tish Hinojosa returns to Tucson. [5]
Gregory McNamee

Letters at 3AM
Despite what Phil Ochs may have thought when he killed himself, he did make a difference in an ugly world. [6]
Michael Ventura

Faerie Tales
When talking about scenes which have endured, nothing compares to Celtic. [7]
Christopher Gray

A Vision Shared
New Yorker Dick Connette and Austinite Sonya Cohen have combined to make a compelling document of American Music on Last Forever. [8]
Raoul Hernandez

Review: Last Forever
Review: Last Forever by Christopher Hess. [9]
Christopher Hess

Mixing Messages
Rapper Puffy Combs sends mixed messages with songs of mourning and violence. [10]
Michael McCall

World (of) Music
World music stars Zap Mama come to town. [11]
Michael Henningsen

Surf the Cumberland
Ronny & the Daytonas--Nashville's finest surf band. [12]
Daniel Cooper

The Upward Slide
Mississippi popster Neilson Hubbard attracts attention with a promising debut album. [13]
Mark Jordan

Turn Up That Noise!
An eclectic survey of recent recordings. [14]

Rescued From Obscurity
New releases from Swell and Sloan. [15]
Noel Murray

Record Reviews
New discs by Barry Black, Primal Scream, Radiohead, and more. [16]

The Drags, Various Artists: Live at the Laundromat
Reviewing the in sounds from way out. Featuring the Alibi Tru-Value Scale. [17]
Michael Henningsen

Rhythm & Views
Luna, Whiskeytown, Duke Robillard Band. [18]

Now What?
If you go gaga over the sultry smoothness of a symphonic glissando, just wait till you experience our transitions to cool and useful music links on the Web. [19]

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Punk. Say you want to know about the latest raving from Exene Cervenka's band Auntie Christ. Not only can you read an update on the band's status and recent album here, but we've also got actual raving from the former X singer in the form of this damned good interview. If Exene's convincing comments about individuality, politics, and the perils of our consumer culture are any indication, true punk hasn't been dead all these years, it's just been dormant.

Country. By comparison, country hasn't been dormant at all -- in fact, Garth Brooks is the nation's top-selling performer -- but the genre still doesn't command any respect. Though a joy to read, these five whopping stories about Garth's recent Central Park concert reveal that many will remain unable to take the singer's art seriously no matter how much he sells. Fortunately for Tish Hinojosa, not all country acts share Garth's fate. The Texas musician's unique, Spanish-flavored style (which you can read about here) has earned her respect, as well as concert gigs, all the way from Brussels to Guam. She may not be as successful as Garth, but her touring locations sure beat his.

Folk. If you prefer your folk music laced with social protest, Phil Ochs is the singer-songwriter for you. Though he died by his own hand in 1976, Ochs's works have just been rereleased as Phil Ochs: Farewells & Fantasies '64-'75. Interested? Check out Michael Ventura's touching liner-notes tribute, which say as much about music's place in history as they do about the man himself. If your folk preferences lean more towards style than politics, however, you'll want to read this long, detailed discussion about the work of Dick Connette, whose years studying old forms have led him to create his own hybridized version of the music. An album review sums it up succinctly. Then there's the "folk" that some say started it all: Celtic music. This in-depth article attempts to understand the tradition's enduring appeal.

African-American. Differences in African-American approaches to music can be as stark as, well, black and white. Take this bio/review of Sean "Puffy" Combs, in which the writer laments that despite the haunting murder of Combs' partner Notorious B.I.G., the popular rapper's music still glorifies violence. What could be more different from that approach than Zap Mama's pygmy-influenced world music, which is expressly designed to bring Africa to the West?

Those options are only the beginning: we've also got stories about old '60s surf-rockers Ronny & the Daytones side-by-side with articles about such up-and-coming 20-year-old popsters as Neilson Hubbard, and let's not forget reviews of albums by the likes of Swell, Joe Jackson, Frank Sinatra, The Drags, Primal Scream, and Radiohead. We just rock, what can I say?

Talk Back
If anything in this section offends, annoys or perturbs your senses, here's your place to scream like an angry punk rocker.

Soldiering On
Erykah Badu represents the best of a new pop-music trend toward the classic soul sound. [07-14-97]
Singer takes soul into the next millennium

Ono -- Oh Yes!
Yoko Ono talks about the Rykodisc reissue of 11 of her albums. [07-02-97]
Jody Denberg

Destinations Unknown
The Latest sounds from Trans Am, The Sea and Cake, and Ben Folds Five. [06-06-97]
Noel Murray