Bay Area rapper and Quannum Projects co-founder Lyrics Born, a.k.a. Tom Shimura, has a big, engaging personality, whether on wax — as with his new disc, Everywhere at Once — or on the phone. Noting that he reads most reviews of his albums, the personable LB was eager to give…
[A fictional transcript of the 27th debate between presidential hopefuls Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton.] George Stephanopoulos, moderator: Before we get to some less pressing issues, such as Iraq, gas prices, and healthcare, I’d like to ask both of you a question that’s on most Americans’ minds these…
On a recent evening, as the clock approached midnight, I created a makeshift altar with a photo of late Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon, then lit a mixture of wormwood, patchouli, vervain, and Mrs. Dash, then chanted over and over, “I summon you from the other side; come to me…
On a recent evening, as the clock approached midnight, I created a makeshift altar with a photo of late Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon, then lit a mixture of wormwood, patchouli, and Mrs. Dash, then chanted over and over, “I summon you from the other side; come to me and…
So, the other day, I was listening to Rabbit Habits, the terrific and addictive new album from Philadelphia quintet Man Man — experimental loons whose growly, vaudevillian indie-rock sounds like the best drunken-hobo campfire party you’ve ever been to. Then I began thinking about all the music that’s come outta…
From this week’s proceedings in the Court of Public Opinion, Case #89675-B: The People vs. Dave Grohl. “The defense may now present its closing arguments.” “Thank you, your honor. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: As you know, my client, David Eric Grohl, leader of the band Foo Fighters, has…
Chris Walla plays guitar in Death Cab for Cutie, and in addition to producing all his band’s discs, he’s helmed albums for a litany of indie-rock heroes (Decemberists, Tegan and Sara, The Thermals, and more). Walla’s been called Ben Gibbard’s “sonic wingman,” but the perpetually cheerful multi-instrumentalist recently headed out…
Overlooked amid the hoopla surrounding the recent Mitchell Report — former Senator George Mitchell’s investigation into the use of steroids and human growth hormone in Major League Baseball — was the release last month of the Quayle Report. The culmination of an eight-year, $77 million investigation headed by former Senator…
The Fiery Furnaces — the frequently conceptual Brooklyn indie/art rock band with siblings Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger at its creative core — is typically branded with such adjectives as “difficult,” “challenging,” “dizzying,” and “unpredictable.” They’re also pretty damn prolific, averaging an album a year since 2003. The group’s latest is…
Y’know, it’s pretty remarkable how many ancient hardcore bands — ones most of us thought were long gone — are still crisscrossing this great land of ours with Econoline vans and U-Haul trailers, playing shows for the faithful: Agent Orange, Agnostic Front, Sick of it All, Suicidal Tendencies, and Circle…
Y’know, it’s pretty remarkable how many ancient hardcore bands — ones most of us thought were long gone — are still crisscrossing this great land of ours with Econoline vans and U-Haul trailers, playing shows for the faithful: Agent Orange, Agnostic Front, Sick of It All, Suicidal Tendencies, and Circle…
After more than a year of nonstop touring behind their latest album, Sacrament, Virginia thrashers Lamb of God are out on the road for one last leg before taking a much-needed break in 2008. But before the band closes the book on Sacrament, we caught up with ultra-friendly powerhouse drummer…
Chief among the reasons Deftones is one of the most compelling hard-rock acts of the past 15 years is Chino Moreno’s gripping vocals, which often act as a moody, atmospheric foil to the band’s raging guitar riffs. But with Team Sleep — Moreno’s long-running side project — pretty much everything…
Chief among the reasons Deftones is one of the most compelling hard-rock acts of the past 15 years is Chino Moreno’s gripping vocals, which often act as a moody, atmospheric foil to the band’s raging guitar riffs. But with Team Sleep — Moreno’s long-running side project — pretty much everything…
You want The Truth? Can you handle The Truth? SoCal emo-metalcore sextet Bleeding Through’s third album hits like a falling anvil to the cranium: Ferocious blast-beats, crushing riffs galloping straight out of the Slayer/Biohazard playbook, and vocalist Brandan Schieppati’s evil demon-roar (and his occasional, requisite Mike Patton-esque crooning) are the…
Like an imaginative, hyperactive kid let loose amid the instruments in an elementary school music room, Minneapolis native Andrew Broder spent his first couple of albums under the Fog moniker crafting charming, headphones-paradise tunes out of turntables, guitars, strangely affecting vocals, found noises, and lots more sonic oddities. Yet Fog…
Straight outta Sweden comes Witchcraft, which — despite its black-metal name — rocks it fairly old school and classic. The sound these four Scandinavian longhairs have been making for the past seven years combines Blue Cheer/Iron Butterfly psychedelic stomp; early (pre-synth) Rush proggery; the mystic, sun-baked riffage of Kyuss and…
Whether it’s because he just finished watching some classic Queen concert footage on the bus, or because he generally likes to think big, Stars of Track and Field co-founder Kevin Calaba’s got some grand visions in mind for his own band’s live show. “In a perfect world, we’d headline and…
Becky Stark, frontwoman for psych-pop/indie-folk foursome Lavender Diamond, is on a mission for peace. “All of our concerts we open by saying something like, ‘Congratulations, everyone, for peace coming to planet Earth . . . let’s hear it for peace on Earth,’ and everyone always wants to applaud,” she says…
Jimmy LaValle has made music in the past with some interesting bands (Tristeza and Black Heart Procession chief among them), but the best thing that ever happened to him — and listeners, too — was when members of cosmic art-rockers Sigur Rós discovered one of the discs he’d recorded under…
Last year, in these very pages, I noted that the fabulously suave, poetic, and pillowy English band The Clientele “pulls off the rare, swell trick of reminding you of literally dozens of artists — the late Arthur Lee, Dream Syndicate, Mercury Rev, Felt, Lightning Seeds, Galaxie 500, Nick Drake, The…
Musicians who invent stuff are way cool. There’s Boston’s Tom Scholz, who developed the hugely popular Rockman headphone amplifier; New Orleans soul-punker Quintron and his bizarro, light-activated Drum Buddy; and, of course, Junior Brown, who, two decades ago, came up with his signature “guit-steel” — a Frankensteinian double-necked instrument that’s…
