It’s understandable if fans are apprehensive about seeing a George Clinton performance in the year 2010. After all, the man turns 69 years old this summer, and there’s a point where the line between “playful eccentricity” and “rampant senility” start to blur. Reports of fellow funk icon and frequent Clinton…
It’s understandable if fans are a little apprehensive about seeing a live George Clinton performance in the year 2010. After all, the man is turning 69 years old this summer, and there’s a point where the line between “playful eccentricity” and “rampant senility” start to blur. Reports of fellow funk…
SB 1070 hasn’t won Arizona a lot friends in the music business. First you had Canadian indie poppers Stars proclaiming their “boycott” of the state over the controversial new immigration law, then Belinda Carlisle asking Lilith Fair organizers to move the tour’s Arizona date. Zack de la Rocha has condemned…
Reading the words “rare” and “spectacular” in a review of your latest album on the Web’s most influential music commentary site: good. Seeing the word “clusterfuck” following those two words: not quite as good. That’s straight from Pitchfork’s review of Minus the Bear’s fourth LP, this month’s Omni. It ranked…
Reading the words “rare” and “spectacular” in a review of your latest album on the Web’s most influential music commentary site: good. Seeing the word “clusterfuck” following those two words: not quite as good. That’s straight from Pitchfork’s review of Minus the Bear’s fourth LP, this month’s Omni. It ranked…
Though it’s been 14 years since the death of Sublime singer Bradley Nowell — and the release of Sublime’s biggest album, the posthumous self-titled record featuring “What I Got” — the band is still incredibly popular and attracting young fans all the time. Shrewdly, a lot of other bands have…
The Besnard Lakes are more than a band whose name kind of looks like “Barenaked Ladies” if you look at it really fast. They’re also a four-piece from Montreal, centered on husband Jace Lasek (lead vocals and guitar) and wife Olga Goreas (vocals and bass). Yeah, a married Canadian couple…
Though it’s been 14 years since the death of Sublime singer Bradley Nowell — and the release of their biggest album, the posthumous self-titled record featuring “What I Got” –the band is still incredibly popular, and attracting new, young fans all the time. Shrewdly, a lot of other bands have…
Coheed and Cambria’s set at Coachella was a memorable one, even if the prog-metal act had to compete with the much hipper British buzz trio The xx playing at the same time on a nearby stage. A lighting instrument caused the stage roof to catch fire, briefly adding even more…
Sometimes, the world just has a way of working out. Like how this year, April 20 happened to fall on a Tuesday — the day new albums are released — enabling Kottonmouth Kings to debut their latest full-length, Long Live the Kings, on 4/20. It’s only fitting for a group…
Sometimes, the world just has a way of working out. Like how this year, April 20 happened to fall on a Tuesday—the day new albums are released—enabling Kottonmouth Kings to debut their latest full-length, Long Live the Kings, on 4/20. It’s only fitting for a group whose previous records include…
I had a really good time talking to writer/director/actor/unrivaled geek icon Kevin Smith for this week’s music section. Such a good time, in fact, that I couldn’t fit all of the worthwhile, oft-profane, tidbits from our 90-minute chat with the Clerks and Cop Out auteur into one measly 1,200-word story.So…
Given the varied pop culture terrain liberally explored throughout Kevin Smith’s nine films — comic book legend Stan Lee doling out relationship advice in Mallrats, cracks about Con Air in Dogma, a wacky Scooby-Doo homage in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, ubiquitous Star Wars references sprinkled throughout his oeuvre…
If they gave awards for living, Vince Neil would have to get a (somewhat-redundant) lifetime achievement award. He’s the singer of one of the hardest-living bands of all time, has been married four times, made sex tapes with both a porn star and a model, released three solo albums, did…
It’s been quite a few years since St. Louis band Story of the Year’s mid-decade heyday, when they caught national attention with “Until the Day I Die” and “Anthem of Our Dying Day,” captivating the Hot Topic set and unofficially cornering the market on songs about both death and days…
For most longtime Phoenix-area residents, it’s not a matter of if you’ve seen Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, it’s how many times you’ve seen them. You might have even seen them by accident, playing an event like the opening of the light rail system in December 2008. Or you might…
In their pre-Fergie days, the Black Eyed Peas were a relatively obscure, “socially conscious” hip-hop group that collaborated with the likes of De La Soul and Jurassic 5. Seems weird, doesn’t it? For the past seven years or so, they’ve shrewdly transitioned to making the biggest of hits with the…
In their pre-Fergie days, the Black Eyed Peas were a relatively obscure, “socially conscious” hip-hop group that collaborated with the likes of De La Soul and Jurassic 5. Seems weird, doesn’t it? For the past seven years or so, they’ve shrewdly transitioned to making the biggest of hits with the…
Over the past decade, Xiu Xiu has released some pretty bleak tunes. The musical project of San Jose singer/guitarist Jamie Stewart and various collaborators has put out guaranteed party-stoppers like “Support Our Troops OH!”(“Did you know you were going to shoot off the top of a 4-year-old girl’s head?”) and…
Over the past decade, Xiu Xiu has released some pretty bleak tunes. The musical project of San Jose singer/guitarist Jamie Stewart and various collaborators has put out guaranteed party-stoppers like “Support Our Troops OH!”(“Did you know you were going to shoot off the top of a 4-year-old girl’s head?”) and…
The first lyric of “Be Calm,” the opening track of Aim and Ignite, finds Nate Ruess narrating “as I walk through the streets of my new city.” The former Format singer has always let his life affect his lyrics in very literal ways, and his move to New York City…
Back in 2000, Scotland’s Travis had a hit stateside with “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?” It was a pretty, catchy song clearly influenced by The Bends-era Radiohead. Also in 2000, fellow latter-day Brit-poppers Coldplay had a big American hit, “Yellow,” a pretty, catchy song clearly . . …
