Rock the Bells kicked off its 2009 hip-hop festival tour in Chicago – just two days after Michael Jackson’s sudden death. Chris Catania took in this year’s finest while ruminating on the psychology of a crowd in mourning.

Phillip Haire catches up with ground-breaking punk band Bad Brains, with enigmatic front man H.R. on board, at a rare Orlando date.

Feedback (Interscope). Review by Chris Catania.

What a day for Phillip Haire… Jane’s Addiction, Audioslave, Incubus, Queens of the Stone Age, Jurassic 5, The Donnas, The Distillers and others…

Liza Hearon talks to Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein about women in rock, Eddie Vedder and watching 13-year-olds make out in front of the stage.

Playtight (Look). Review by Bill Campbell.

Julio Diaz didn’t review as many albums in 2002 as he should have, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t listening. Here are his picks for the year’s best.

Power In Numbers (Interscope). Review by Bettie Lou Vegas.

Swax (Hollywood). Review by Margie Libling.

Being Black (Waxploitation / Spun). Review by Bill Campbell.

Fuck The People (Ubiquity). Review by Bill Campbell.

Blazing Arrow (Quannum Projects / MCA). Review by Bill Campbell.

Embrace The Chaos (Almo Sounds/Interscope). Review by Julio Diaz.

Wonders of the World (Dreamworks). Review by Phillip Haire.

Expansion Team (Capitol). Review by Bill Campbell.

Run Come Save Me (Big Dada/Ninja Tune). Review by Kiran Aditham.

Sound in the Round (Eighth Dimension/Shadow). Review by Kiran Aditham.

The Philadelphia Experiment 12-inch (Rope-a-Dope/Atlantic). Review by Kiran Aditham.

Shades Of Brown (Six Degrees). Review by Terry Eagan.

The left coast’s favorite old-school aficionados, Jurassic 5 return with a ne…