Apologies to all geniuses not mentioned. This includes dead people, people who might be dead soon, retired people, anyone who had a hit on classic rock radio, anyone who had a video on television, anyone who was mentally ill and recovered, anyone new with a good press agent who hasn't yet been mentioned, first pull up then pull down, anyone I skipped during Google Fu, Patti Smith, guitar players who shred, what me worry, obstinately slow-playing guitar players, all bluesmen, everyone doing alt.country, everyone doing crunk, everyone sipping syrup, if swallowed do not induce vomiting...
SEYMOUR BUTTS DAILY LEDGER
Seymour native preserves state hip-hop history
Susan Hunter, Editor June 30, 2004
Former Seymour resident Eothen Alapatt has produced a compilation of early Connecticut hip-hop.
SEYMOUR - The words of Seymour High School 2004 Salutatorian Jessica Almonte come to mind when describing former SHS graduate Eothen Alapatt, 25, who has moved to Los Angeles to manage his own record label, Now Again Records.
Alapatt's father said, "Some people associate hip-hop with drugs and violence and not as a musical genre. Stones Throw and Now Again Records are not about that; instead their records celebrate the American genius for creativity, which can only flourish in a great democracy like ours."
THE CENTRE DAILY TIMES: Omaha rock makes its mark -- it's genius!
By Tara Godvin
The Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. - When the band Tilly and the Wall takes the stage, you're going to hear guitars, keyboards, hymn-like vocals plus thigh-slaps and a woman tap-dancing on hollow boxes and metal discs to create different tones.
Omaha, once known as the homeland of corn-fed beef, is now the nation's capital of idiosyncratic alternative rock.
"There is so much talent and, sort of, genius just pouring out that whole little incestuous ... scene," said Jonah Bayer, music editor of the Alternative Press music magazine.
Wichita Geniuses Take Their Label's Music Machine on t'Road
The date: 29th June 2004
Artists: Her Space Holiday, Brave Captain, Weevil We Love Proper Indie Labels! You do too...
Wichita is one of our favourite labels, not just because Mark Bowen is one of the nicest people in the music industry, but because of all the beautiful and brilliant music they've championed first and stuck to their guns with until the world relents and realises their genius. We're not talking any ol' bands. We're talking Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bright Eyes, The Bronx, The Cribs, The Pattern and pretty soon we'll be adding Bloc Party to that list too...
ANGRY COUNTRY
Brent Rowan: A Genius & Guitar Great Moves Into the Producer's Chair
By Lorie Hollabaugh - CMA Close-Up News Service
"Greatness with integrity" is a high bar to set. Brent Rowan, one of the most recorded session guitarists in Nashville, is off to a roaring start as a producer with that lofty goal.
"Brent is a genius."
NPR (audio) - Jun 27, 2004
Alexandra Patsavas ... I caught them live at the Cochella Music & Arts Festival, and I saw them ... as well as My Bloody Valentine and the Super Furry Animals, really genius guitar pop.
L.I. GENIUS, 15, PENTAGON'S YOUNGEST SECRET WEAPON: Plays with Smashmouth, too.
By ANDY SOLTIS
June 28, 2004 -- A 15-year-old Long Island student has become the youngest person ever to receive a Ph.D. fellowship from the Pentagon.
Alia Sabur turned down a NASA fellowship in favor of a $150,000 Department of Defense fellowship, and picked a sophisticated project for the Pentagon.
"What is unique about her is that she can do cutting-edge research and be a prodigy in both science and music," said her mother, Julie Sabur.
Alia also enjoys the distinction of being the only teenage con- cert clarinetist to perform with the rock band Smash Mouth.
MTV: Fozzy Get Serious — Really! — On New LP with crunk MC! It's genius!
[Rotten joke metal band] Fozzy hooked up with the crunk MC early this year after they found out he's a huge wrestling fan, a big Jericho supporter and a fan of Fozzy's first two discs (see "Fozzy Get Crunk With Bone Crusher On New Album").
"He's not your typical rapper," Jericho said. "His voice is very heavy. He could be singing for Slayer or Testament. I'm not all that familiar with the rap world — Young MC, Ice-T and Ice Cube is about as far as I go. But Bone Crusher was almost like a musical genius.
The Minnesota Daily Crapper: THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS -- but only one GENIUS!
The New Pornographers is a band made up of musicians who all have other bands and solo projects. Though this group is the most well-known of any of their projects, The New Pornographers take long breaks in order for everyone to dabble with other musical muses.
While the band rests, two members have recently put out solo Records: Carl Newman as A.C. Newman, and Daniel Bejar as Destroyer.
Not to say A.C. Newman sounds like ABBA. He actually sounds closer to the Kinks with his sweetened rock ’n’ roll.
His songs are not doing anything especially new or revolutionary, but his hooks are so infectious that “Slow Wonder” sounds refreshing and unlike any record you already own.
Conversely, Destroyer seems more like a true solo project. Daniel Bejar sounds as though he locked himself in his bedroom or basement for months eating only pretzels and drinking Tab cola. And it results in genius insanity.
SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND: Artist: THE ZUTONS -- Genius!
Reviewer: EDWARD GOMEZ
CALL out the instigator, because there’s something in the air.”
The big question, however, is – where do The Zutons go from here? It’s tempting to remark that the future looks bright for these kids but how many times have we seen bands make promising starts only to then fade into obscurity? Dave McCabe has the talent for sure but only time will tell the extent of his genius.
The Honolulu Star Bulletin: HOLLERTRONIX -- Pure Genius!
Call it eclecticism, "mash-up," or straight-up turntable alchemy. When hearing the funky chit-chatter of Missy Elliott's "Gossip Folks" piggybacking The Clash's "Rock the Casbah," or Debbie Deb's 1983 electro-pop hit "Lookout Weekend" shifting seamlessly into The Cars' "Just What I Needed," it's impossible not to marvel at how the incorporation of such divergent sounds routinely spawns entirely new and wicked grooves. As the fearless Philadelphia DJ outfit Hollertronix has discovered, it's actually the surest way to bring down the house.
To see a dancefloor of thugged-out roughnecks and booty-bouncing hoochies gettin' busy to a crunked-up version of The Cure's "Love Song" is to witness the pure genius of Hollertronix.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Nellie McKay -- Cole Porter/Eminem-esque Genius!
Athumbnail of Nellie McKay's 2004: The 19-year-old New York chantoozie's double-CD debut appears on Columbia Records to thunderous hosannas. It charts in Billboard. Rock-critic eminence Robert Christgau says almost no one under 40 approaches McKay's gift for cabaret; she is compared with Cole Porter, Randy Newman, Eminem and Doris Day.
Everyone from Diana Krall to Norah Jones has drowsily answered the bugle call. McKay shares the Tin Pan Alley yen -- she never saw a black-and-white screen star she wouldn't ape -- but she's got spunk. Teen-feminist, hyperverbal, ambitious, kid-genius spunk.
NME -- Razorlight -- They're potential geniuses!
With everyone from the 'The Big Issue' to the 'The Observer' and of course the NME recognising the potential genius of this band, Razorlight have certainly been hoisting the flag back up for British music. The band formed exactly two years ago this summer and with a mixture of Englishmen and Sweden natives, their vibrant heavy rock sound has won instant acclaim establishing them as one of the most exciting bands of the moment.
The DAILY TEXAN -- JEFF TWEEDY: Panic-attacked genius!
His unconventional approach to song structure and unique lyrical delivery is pure poetry. Whether through his satiric tune "Theologians," in which Tweedy professes, "I am a notion/ I am all emotion/ I am a cherry ghost," or in "Handshake Drugs," where he sings, "I was chewing gum/ for something to do/ the blinds were being pulled/ down on the dew," Tweedy's ability to convey profound messages in a quirky, pop-driven manner is testament to his genius as a songwriter.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE -- VELVET REVOLVER: Guitar genius!
Velvet Revolver locked, loaded for sellout crowd at the Verizon
By VIET DOAN
Friday's sold-out, claustrophobic crowd — from frat boys to 40-somethings — did not know and did not care, for there's a new voice worthy of worship.
The head of this Frankenstein of an übergroup is former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland.
Sorum's Thor-like upper torso hammered out commanding poundings to his arsenal of cymbals and thumping drums.
The giant gong looming behind him received a salvo of smacks later in the show.
The blistering rock-blues solos that define Slash were not as abundant as some fans hoped, but he still made his sunburst Les Paul speak with a Frampton-esque talk box to a solo for Illegal I Song.
Nearly every song was highlighted by the guitar genius on his knees, offering his musical weapon to the gods of rock.
TORONTO STAR: Jay Farrar -- Not easy being the best GENIUS in Wilco
It's ironic, given all the recognition Jeff Tweedy enjoys, that along the way his talents have persistently been underestimated. At the beginning of Uncle Tupelo, he was the kid with the croaking voice who strummed along, a sidekick at best to Farrar's brooding genius.
The HAMPTON ROADS SUCKERFISH -- Mad Villainy
Think Def Poetry meets jazz meets psychedelia and that's basically what you'll find on "Madvillainy" where rapper MF Doom teams up with Madlib. Most of these 22 tracks clock in at around two minutes and many cuts simply have MF Doom spouting one long verse. Nobody chops up jazz standards and reworks them into soundscapes better than Madlib. While Madlib's predilection for piecing together cryptic sounds can be surprising, Doom's self-deprecating narrative "on a fast track to half-sane" is genius and madness. For a modest rap fan like myself, this is the stuff I most often hope to hear and to share.
LAS VEGAS MERCURY -- DICK JOKES == GENIUS!
Specializing in catchy, two-minute affairs that chug forth with primitive elan, C.Aarmé comes out strong with, well, pick a tune: opener "Gasmask" splashes around, centered on a juicy bassline and a chanted chorus--"No gasmask! Don't need one!"--that's tailor-made for sloshing beer to. "O'Neill Oh No" coils up into a chorus of bass-and-drum rattle that'll shake your teeth loose. "Aimless" is a charger that sees singer Jessie Garon putting his useful if generic shout to more melodic use. In all, there's a driving single-mindedness to these songs--and often a careening, cartoon bounce--that's just damn likable. C.Aarmé is the class clown you suspect hides true genius beneath dick jokes and fart noises. What the band may lack in nuance it makes up for in pure, propulsive fun.
TIME magazine's rock critic, obviously no genius:
Genius isn't a word used very often in rock criticism because, frankly, the supporting evidence rarely looks good in print. For instance ...
― George Smith, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 23:25 (twenty-one years ago)