Email Author Andrew Marcus

2005 Stories by Andrew Marcus

• Anthony Hamilton

  published December 22, 2005

  Some soul singers have sung their joy -- Sam Cooke and Stevie Wonder not least -- and made their best art. But Anthony Hamilton comes from a... More >>

• T. Rex

  published December 15, 2005

  Rhino's lavish reissues bookend T. Rex's most fully cooked work, polishing maestro Marc Bolan's legacy for any Yanks who still think of this... More >>

• New York Dolls

  published December 1, 2005

  While you're tackling Martin Scorsese's Dylan dissertation, take a break for a humbler rockumentary that's no less fascinating and a lot more fun.... More >>

• Black Lips

  published November 24, 2005

  While other kids in the dawn of their 20s wax artistic, Atlanta's Black Lips are stalwart in their scuzzy retro glory. Let It Bloom, their... More >>

• System of a Down

  published November 24, 2005

  One of the most original bands ever to gain a bankable following is beginning to sound a little too comfortable in its own self-invented genre.... More >>

• The Darkness

  published November 24, 2005

  Anyone confused by 2003's worldwide Darkness phenomenon -- How does a band this goofy compete with U2 on the charts? -- shall remain so.... More >>

• Lawrence Arms

  published November 17, 2005

  Pop-punk boasts about as much intrigue these days as "blues-rock," "rap-metal" and every other innocent-sounding compound that has grown into a... More >>

• Charlie Sexton, and Shannon McNally

  published November 10, 2005

  Charlie Sexton, having left home at 12 to storm Austin as a guitar prodigy, does not lack in heartland grit. Maybe that's why his latest, Cruel... More >>

• The Vacancies

  published November 3, 2005

  You don't exactly picture Joan Jett writing free-verse poetry in black horn-rimmed glasses. So emo-ish album title aside, it's no surprise that... More >>

• The Proclaimers

  published October 6, 2005

  Contrary to the VH1 version of history, Scottish twins Craig and Charlie Reid are not some offbeat one-hit wonders. While their singles haven't... More >>

• The Queers

  published September 29, 2005

  To compare the real-world success of onetime labelmates The Queers and Green Day, consider that one of them has just made a successful transition... More >>

• Ryan Adams

  published September 29, 2005

  In a 2003 interview, Ryan Adams' idol, Paul Westerberg, suggested that it might do the younger singer-songwriter some good to get his teeth kicked... More >>

• Bedouin Soundclash

  published September 22, 2005

  Something unprecedented is happening with white reggae stylists in North America. Where previous groups, like Big Mountain, might have seen the... More >>

• Matisyahu

  published September 22, 2005

  Anyone who's been subjected to Baha'i ska or Krishna punk can tell you that Christianity is not the problem with Christian rock -- it's the... More >>

• Disturbed

  published September 22, 2005

  Back in 2000, in the year of ye olde nü-metal, a fledgling Disturbed carried on one of metal's oldest traditions: self-seriousness, bordering... More >>

• Modern Machines

  published September 15, 2005

  Modern Machines are hardly the first young band to take early Replacements' drunk-punk and stumble with it. But while so many others have gotten... More >>

• Joe Strummer Revisited

  published September 1, 2005

  Here's a cultural riddle: Take an icon of a major pop movement and pretend the movement never happened: Ice Cube without gangsta rap, Ken Kesey... More >>

• Jimmie Dale Gilmore

  published August 25, 2005

  Jimmie Dale Gilmore's ethereal, Willie-esque timbre has never sounded so down-to-earth as it does on Come On Back. No doubt, a major... More >>

• Duke Robillard

  published August 25, 2005

  Guitar heroes with taste always seem to live in the margins, and Duke Robillard is no exception. The founder of Roomful of Blues has a tuneful,... More >>

• The Makers

  published August 18, 2005

  Everybody Rise! demonstrates that as surely as a band can lose its mojo -- usually when the recording budget is high, along with the burden... More >>

• Modey Lemon

  published August 11, 2005

  A grotesque vegetable, psychedelic rock is rarely served on its own. But just a smidgen lends weight to pop, color to blues, brains to country,... More >>

• The Briggs

  published August 11, 2005

  Anyone paying attention knows that punk bands are in a Zelig-like state of national confusion. So if Scandinavians can sound like Detroit rockers... More >>

• Louis XIV

  published July 28, 2005

  While Jason Hill's leering-stalker routine may be a truer reflection of male sexuality than the typical smooth playboy act, that doesn't mean it... More >>

• Flamin' Groovies

  published July 21, 2005

  Half the fun of being a power-pop fan is digging up bits of manna that five other people have ever heard and grousing that they should've been... More >>

• Bob Mould

  published July 21, 2005

  For the past 10 years, Bob Mould has been busy battling tinnitus, paying the bills by writing TV scripts for professional wrestling (!), and... More >>