LA’s Stones Throw Records are quickly becoming the most important purveyors of independent hip-hop in the new millennium, much like East Coast indie stalwarts Rawkus were in the late 1990s. There is, however, one particularly notable difference between the two. While both labels are known for their independent spirit and bohemian rosters of hip-hop artists (Stones Throw with Madlib and his many aliases, MF Doom, J Dilla, et al and Rawkus was with Mos......

OUT TODAY The Little List Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (Universal) -- Vintage sounds, modern frankness, and a smoky songstress who lays out her vices like a sexy Randy Newman (minus the funny). Prepare to have your brain rewired with dead-on 60’s soul and epidemically contagious tunes. The Fratellis - Costello Music [2007] (Cherry Tree) -- If you like bouncy, brit-pop and hanging out in your garage, this should be your record of......

Pinball Number Countdown featuring the The Pointer Sisters with The Headhunters. Yes, old 1972 Sesame Street segments are still fresh, and this one is tonight's Midnight Movie.......

We assume that you have places to go and things to do. You are undaunted by rain. You will not, we're sure, be staying home for a double feature of '80s DVD. Like, say, To Live and Die in LA (complete with theme song by the incomparable Wang Chung) and Beverly Hills Cop (with theme song by the Pointer Sisters). But just in case, we have to tell you that these two movies, awful in......

June Pointer, youngest of the singing Pointer Sisters, died Tuesday of cancer at UCLA Medical Center. In addition to singing on the group's major albums, including lead vocal on the song "Jump (For my Love)," she co-wrote songs such as "I'm So Excited," which exemplified the group's capacity for joyous naughtiness. The Pointer Sisters' music spanned genres: they could sing rock, R&B, old-fashioned jazz, and country all on the same album and still have a......