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.
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The Gospel Truth was a subsidiary of the famous soul label Stax Records. A new anthology, The Gospel Truth: The Complete Singles Collection, revisits its brief moment in gospel soul history.
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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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There are moments of inspired magic on West's gospel-flavored ninth album, and moments that sound ill-considered and slapped together. Those extremes feel like the story of his recent career.
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Raphael Saadiq's new album, Jimmy Lee, is his first in eight years. It was inspired by his brother's struggles with addiction and, ultimately, his death.
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Patrice Rushen's years singing for Elektra Records in the 1970s and '80s helped define late-era disco and R&B. Now, a collection of her classic R&B and dance tunes is being released.
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In 1972, Gaye began work on a follow-up to his classic album, What's Going On. He laid down over a dozen new tracks, but the project stalled and most of the songs were not released until now.
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This German group delivers steel drum covers of Mary J. Blige, Mobb Deep, Gang Starr and more.
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The group's new album — its first in 18 years — was recorded before the death of founding member Phife Dawg last March and was just released this month.