Email Author Ed Masley

2007 Stories by Ed Masley

• Man of Steel

  published May 17, 2007

  You wouldn't think a guy who dusted off Artie Shaw's arrangement of Cole Porter's classic "Begin the Beguine" — on pedal steel, no less... More >>

• RJD2

  published May 10, 2007

  RJD2's The Third Hand is the kind of alternative hip-hop record that raises the question: When does a particular artist stop being... More >>

• Beyond Compare

  published May 3, 2007

  By now, you'd think Silversun Pickups frontman Brian Aubert would be ready to slap the next critic he catches comparing the shimmering splendor of... More >>

• The Love Me Nots

  published May 3, 2007

  Remember when it felt as if any band with loud guitars whose singer didn't make you think of Creed was being lumped in with the Vines as part of... More >>

• Bright Eyes

  published May 3, 2007

  Bright Eyes' latest effort, Cassadaga, takes its name from a psychic community. The first voice you hear as the orchestra makes like... More >>

• Air

  published April 26, 2007

  Although the men of Air have never been the most explosive Frenchmen on the planet, there are times on the album Pocket Symphony... More >>

• Bang! Bang!

  published April 19, 2007

  Bang! Bang! doesn't waste any time living up to its name — exclamation points and all — on The Dirt That Makes You Drown. The... More >>

• ZZ Top

  published April 12, 2007

  Yes, it's been too long since ZZ Top has made a song half as brilliant as "La Grange" or "Tube Snake Boogie." But if classic rock has taught us... More >>

• Ted Leo´s Neo-Punk

  published April 5, 2007

  Few artists have spoken more eloquently — or more passionately — about the high cost of life during wartime since Bush took the wheel as... More >>

• Runaway Diamonds Are Forever

  published April 5, 2007

  She's been part of The Spirit Squad, Runaway Diamonds' life-affirming wall of vocals, for nearly a year now. But when people ask Rhianna Riggs... More >>

• Brand New

  published April 5, 2007

  This band named its latest effort The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. And it sounds like the devil is getting all the better punches in... More >>

• Fu Manchu

  published April 5, 2007

  Fu Manchu's King of the Road was a modern-day stoner-rock classic, kicking off the new millennium with a shit-eating grin that said "Maybe... More >>

• The Killers

  published April 5, 2007

  They were able to sell more than five million copies of their bottom-shaking, New Wave-flavored debut, Hot Fuss. But the Killers clearly... More >>

• Mojo Rising Again

  published March 29, 2007

  It's been 40 years since the Doors stood the Summer of Love on its head with a self-titled statement of purpose that sent the brooding fuck-me pop... More >>

• Rx Bandits, k-oS

  published March 29, 2007

  When you think about it, skanking is one of the most ridiculous things you can do with a human body. You pump your elbows back and forth like a... More >>

• Sebadoh Boy

  published March 15, 2007

  It's been hailed as Sebadoh's defining moment and "a meeting place for indie universes." But not to the bastard controlling the purse... More >>

• To The Death

  published March 8, 2007

  The Black Parade had all the makings of a total drag. A concept album devoted to death? Yeah, those are always fun. But New... More >>

• Eric Clapton

  published March 8, 2007

  Eric Clapton may have aged a bit too gracefully for many fans of his incendiary work with Cream, abandoning that youthful urgency in favor of a... More >>

• Queer Eye

  published March 1, 2007

  For nearly 20 years, the Queers have made a crude pop art of thrashing through their most infectious songs with the reckless abandon of a hardcore... More >>

• Poppy Hybrids

  published March 1, 2007

  "I thought it was garbage," says guitarist Kenny Florence, recalling the first time singer/songwriter Adam Baker let him hear the new songs he'd... More >>

• Trans Am

  published March 1, 2007

  Sex Change starts off re-exploring Trans Am's journeys on the Autobahn, as the echo of Afrobeat guitars washes over the lull of a... More >>

• Lucinda Williams

  published March 1, 2007

  Well, Lucinda Williams' first release in four years won't be making many people's lists of Least Depressing Albums of 2007. Someone took her joy... More >>

• Moneen

  published March 1, 2007

  Alternative Press included Moneen's latest effort, The Red Tree, on its "10 Essential Albums of 2006" list, and went on to say that... More >>

• Space Rock Time Bomb

  published February 22, 2007

  When Ryan McKay was in his early teens, he took his girlfriend to check out some regional band that had achieved a certain local-hero status back... More >>

• The Who

  published February 22, 2007

  Okay, so that comeback album never quite came back, stalling out on the quality trail somewhere between It's Hard and Roger Daltrey's... More >>