For Dan Snaith, a.k.a. electronic musician Caribou, winning the Polaris Prize for his fourth album, 2007’s Andorra, was vindication for seven years of hard work. The award, given annually to the best Canadian album, was an odd nod considering the solitary nature of his bedroom recording and the cultish appeal…
Welsh imports Bullet for My Valentine aim for metal’s sweet spot: shred-tastic enough for headbangers and poppy enough to please the girlfriends with power ballads. They deliver plenty of clean vocals over chugging percussion with galloping riffage and soaring hypersonic solos that rip a page from Iron Maiden and Metallica…
Welsh imports Bullet for My Valentine aim for metal’s sweet spot: shred-tastic enough for headbangers and poppy enough to please the girlfriends with power ballads. They deliver plenty of clean vocals over chugging percussion with galloping riffage and soaring hypersonic solos that rip a page from Iron Maiden and Metallica…
Reaching the top isn’t nearly as hard as staying there — a fact to which the Bone Thugs crew can attest. The quintet’s blend of gangsta rigor and R&B smooth revolutionized the rap landscape when they emerged in the mid-’90s. The rhymes were hard and quick, and they twisted and…
Maynard James Keenan has always been more an artist than rock star, and his newest project, Puscifer, is a continuation — possibly an evolution — from his other bands Tool and A Perfect Circle. “It’s a variety show,” says Keenan from a tour stop in Salt Lake City. “It’s like…
A cross between the melodic punk of Lawrence Arms and the churning hardcore of Rise Against, AWS combine a high quotient of both heft and hooks. Original drummer Nicholas Pasquale Angelini is the beast’s backbone, driving tempo like Jeff Gordon, and keying a thick bottom end worthy of J.Lo. Atop…
They were one of the ’90s defining acts, spawning legions of bands in their wake. Sunny Day Real Estate’s arty, churning post-punk textures, led by Jeremy Enigk’s impassioned vocal croon, were instrumental in codifying the elements of emo’s first wave. Yet despite the resonant chord their music struck, the band…
If rock required a caretaker for its creative flame, it could do a lot worse than Yo La Tengo singer/guitarist Ira Kaplan. The one-time rock critic and his crew possess an encyclopedic knowledge of the form (witness their annual covers-by-request pledge drive performances for Jersey’s WFMU), and they’ve developed such…
If rock required a caretaker for its creative flame, it could do a lot worse than Yo La Tengo singer/guitarist Ira Kaplan. The one-time rock critic and his crew possess an en¬cyclopedic knowledge of the form (witness their annual covers-by-request pledge drive performances for Jersey’s WFMU), and they’ve developed such…
They were among the first punks to go Americana. Like The Blasters dipped in acid and sun-baked by the Arizona heat, The Meat Puppets play cosmic country and blues, ranging from ambling, psych-singed instrumentals to effervescing folk jangle, led by Curt Kirkwood’s warbling baritone. While their first album primarily favored…
They were among the first punks to go Americana. Like the Blasters dipped in acid and sun-baked by the Arizona heat, the Meat Puppets play cosmic country and blues ranging from ambling psych-singed instrumentals to effervescing folk jangle led by Curt Kirkwood’s warbling baritone. While their first album primarily favored…
Born in Chicago, Bad Boy Bill grew up on hip-hop as well as dance music. There in the hotbed of house, he listened to Farley Jackmaster Funk of WBMX’s Hot Mix Five, the area’s legendary DJ team. Funk had one of the first house singles to chart (a cover of…
Castanets auteur Ray Raposa resides in a sparse, windblown expanse where his creeping country-folk echoes through the cavernous emptiness, shimmering for a moment like hot summer road haze. His songs creak under the weight of portentous pauses before pushing forward, his voice shuddering as if he might buckle at any…
Southern rock never dies; it just hangs on the sidelines until another of its native sons takes up the mantle. Maylene frontman Dallas Taylor is another artist picking up the greasy licks, hard-charging boogie, and country-fried rawk codified by acts like The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and .38 Special. Taylor’s…
Castanets auteur Ray Raposa resides in a sparse, windblown expanse where his creeping country-folk echoes through the cavernous emptiness, shimmering for a moment on the way up like hot summer road haze. His songs creak under the weight of portentous pauses, before pushing forward, bumper dragging, his voice shuddering like…
Just because an artist matures doesn’t mean his fans will. So while Chris Palko, a.k.a. Cage, may have experienced a personal epiphany that’s taken his music in a new direction, he doesn’t blame his fans for not wanting to come along for the ride. The rapper’s latest, Depart from Me,…
Rachel Nagy is a strong, sexy frontwoman. Her vocals canter, strut, and shimmy with the knowing look of the much-adored — half coquettish tease, half jaded indifference. She coos to the rocked-up Latin swing of “My Delight,” swings her hips with rockabilly swagger on “If You Don’t Think,” and dives…
Like moonlight on a starless night, The Silent Years project across a crisp, endless expanse both starkly beautiful and with a rich, engaging brightness. The Detroit quintet indulge plenty of textured atmospheres but aren’t as shambolic as their dream-pop antecedents. Keyboards paint in broad shimmering strokes, and frontman Josh Epstein’s…
Despite a moment in the sun, screamo increasingly appears a failed experiment without the undying appeal of chocolate in your peanut butter. Blending hardcore aggression with emo’s pop impulse didn’t produce a juggernaut with heart, but a conflicted creature unable to satisfy either impulse. Recent arrivals Polar Bear Club attempt…
Despite a moment in the sun, screamo increasingly appears a failed experiment without the undying appeal of chocolate in your peanut butter. Blending hardcore aggression with emo’s pop impulse didn’t produce a juggernaut with heart, but a conflicted creature unable to satisfy either impulse. Recent arrivals Polar Bear Club attempt…
Like moonlight on a starless night, the Silent Years project across a crisp, endless expanse both stark beauty and a rich, engaging brightness. The Detroit quintet indulge plenty of textured atmospheres but aren’t as shambolic as their dream pop antecedents. Keyboards paint in broad shimmering strokes and frontman Josh Epstein’s…
It’s impossible to mention William Elliott Whitmore without talking about his voice. Its deep, weathered ache sounds as though it was rescued from a well four score ago, only to wander the Earth in muddy boots with a banjo strapped to its back. Raised on gospel and schooled in the…
