Alec Hanley Bemis

2005: WHAT IT IS Prez Jay-Z When news hit in January that Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter would become Def Jam Records’ new CEO, it was greeted with skepticism. The world of hip-hop entrepreneurship has always been left to the best self-promoters (P. Diddy, Russell Simmons), and as one of the most......

The Strokes spring a leak! The Strokes bear much responsibility for the aught-defining indie-rock vogue — though they’ve been signed to a major label the whole time. Four newly leaked tracks from their forthcoming First Impressions of Earth,though, sound like efforts to ditch that cred — and jettison their good......

A look at the hype that shapes our world. North American Hallowe’en Prevention Initiative, “Do They Know It’s Hallowe’en?” (Vice Records) All-star musical collaborations go hand in hand with tragedy, and this is a satirical poke at the phenomenon — ring-led by Nick Diamonds (ex-Unicorns), produced by Steven McDonald (ex-Redd......

Our incredibly intuitive resident futurist muses on what’s crackin’ in pop culture. Beck’s “Girl” video In the second video for Beck’s listless new album, Guero, directors Motion Theory borrow inspiration from Mad magazine illustrator Al Jaffe’s fold-in back covers: An automobile, a homeless man’s sandwich board and entire city blocks......

A more or less monthly column in which our eerily intuitive pop-culture snoop predicts the names, records and concepts about to go pop! R. Kelly “Trapped in the Closet (Chapters 1-5)” (Jive) This five-part song is a radio serial-style cliffhanger about a man who goes home with a strange woman......