Author Archives: Mark Humphrey

Girl Talk “Night Ripper” ILLEGAL ART (Out Of 5) Pittsburgh DJ Girl Talk’s new album, “Night Ripper,” is to dance parties what tequila is to a quiet night: a bombastic catalyst. Girl Talk (real name: Gregg Gillis) is known for creating mash-ups ““ that is, amalgams sampling songs together to create one cohesive track. It’s […]

I gave up on music television by the time I was about 10 years old. This occurred when I was sneaking an episode of “Beavis and Butt-Head” (which my parents didn’t allow me to watch) and the show shifted into a music video. I groaned that this was the worst part of every episode, yet […]

Muse “Black Holes and Revelations” Warner Bros. Records 2.5 paws Muse is one of the few bands that fans love and detractors hate for the same reason. The band is known for its bombastic live shows, with frontman Matt Bellamy attacking his instruments in the band’s extravagant stage set-up with the arrogant flair of what […]

Rachel Haden grew up in a household where music was as ubiquitous as Mom’s apple pie. As the daughter of jazz musician Charlie Haden, one would expect Rachel to have learned about music in a traditional fashion. However, in a household with so many varying musical tastes, this couldn’t have been further from reality. “My […]

Last week, in his latest bid to be the most visible retired individual this side of Michael Jordan, Jay-Z declared that he will be boycotting Cristal, the expensive champagne brand he has previously championed in his music and lifestyle, because of comments made by Cristal director Frederic Rouzard in a recent interview in The Economist. […]

When third-year Latin student Lissa Crofton-Sleigh decided last year that she wanted to pursue a minor in music history, she assumed the minor would be something interesting to supplement her studies and wouldn’t interfere with her plans to graduate on time. When the requirements for the minor changed this year, however, the increase in required […]

A few months ago, I was approached to write an ongoing column about television. My editors figured that the only thing I may spend more time doing than listening to music was watching television. Now, they reasoned, I could find an even better outlet for all of my neurotic viewing habits and disgustingly massive knowledge […]