Oliver Wang
Oliver Wang is an culture writer, scholar, and DJ based in Los Angeles. He's the author of Legions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews of the San Francisco Bay Area and a professor of sociology at CSU-Long Beach. He's the creator of the audioblog soul-sides.com and co-host of the album appreciation podcast, Heat Rocks.
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In 1968, the British singer flew to the U.S. after signing with Atlantic Records. Her acclaimed recordings from this period are collected in Dusty Springfield: The Complete Atlantic Singles 1968-1971. -
Rampart Records documented L.A.'s Eastside Sound during a fertile period of interracial collaboration from the 1960s through the early 1990s. Now, some of that music has been reissued.
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Hip hop duo Gang Starr broke up in the mid-2000s and in 2010, MC Guru died. So fans were surprised by the announcement of a new, posthumous album called One Of The Best Yet.
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The 1972 concerts at The Apollo were recorded but, inexplicably, never released — until now. They show a side of Brown content to turn the show over to his collaborators.
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Maybe this is all part of some performance-art piece we've been unwittingly sucked into. But either way, it seems to be working.
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Steven Ellison has built an impressive reputation among critics and fans in the know for mixing hip hop, jazz and electronica into something original. But even for the aforementioned followers, the new album from Ellison — better-known as Flying Lotus — is a surprise. It's all about death, not as something to be mourned but as a journey to be anticipated.
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R&B singers Nicole Wray and Terri Walker both had promising starts to their careers more than a decade ago, but neither became a household name. Now they've teamed up and traded in slick, hip-hop influenced styles for a decidedly throwback feel.
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Nicole Willis is a retro soul singer from Brooklyn. Her really tight band, the Soul Investigators, is from Finland. The group sounds like it's from Memphis – and it's one of Oliver Wang's favorites of the year so far.
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Motown's success has made its musical catalog one of the most recognizable in American history. Oliver Wang says it takes some guts to tackle these iconic tunes, but the producers have pulled it off.
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In the world of English-language hip-hop, some rappers use nicknames. But one Los Angeles musician creates entire alter egos. Rapper and producer Otis Jackson, Jr., has recorded under the names Madlib, Malik Flavors, Quasimoto and his real name.
