Sure, there are plenty o’ emo droids out there whining about hurtful girls, hopeless work environments and self-destructive habits, but Armor for Sleep is here to tell you there’s something else . . . the afterworld, a place of never-ending moodiness where you have the option of either going to…

It’s a safe bet no one’s ever had a recurring Willie Nelson nightmare but me. Years ago, a song I’d co-written was being recorded in Nashville, and the producer, a good friend of the Ponytailed One, said, “You know, I can hear Willie singing a harmony on this.” For four…

A cancellation by headliner Yellowcard has booted this Virginia Beach quintet to the top of the bill and brought in local luminaries Lydia for added entertainment value. Mae is an acronym for Multisensory Aesthetic Experience, a study of how our senses perceive information and decipher it for the other senses…

Most of you know the South African brooders in Seether from “Broken,” a song from their debut album that they rerecorded for The Punisher soundtrack as a duet between Shaun Morgan and Evanescence singer Amy Lee. Please refrain from singing “When a Front Man Loves a Front Woman,” as Morgan…

To be a musician and hail from New Orleans this year is to have the world’s ear — up to a point. That very same world would probably demand that your group have some kind of universally recognizable blues or R&B packed away in its rowboat and expect that you…

Years ago, I was scheduled to do a phone interview with this living legend, but Mr. 200-Plus-Shows-a-Year slept through my call. It left this fan with a lot of unasked questions: Since most blues consists of I-IV-V progressions, how many chords would it take, and in what fucked-up order would…

With everyone supposedly declaring war on Christmas in 2005, what better time for the good Reverend and his merry band to release We Three Kings: Christmas Favorites? In case you were hoping for “White Christmas” crossed with “Bales of Cocaine,” forget it. The Rev purposefully eschews sex, drugs and booze…

What’s more selfless than a bodhisattva who discovers nirvana but postpones his own enlightenment until he can get everyone else up to speed? How about Bodhisattva with a capital B, a two-man sonic tag team that uses every limb and brain synapse to give us ADD listeners the ultimate in…

In case you were pining for another four-month Hollywood/Nashville marriage to fill the Kenny Chesney/Rene Zellweger void, forget it. Urban and Nicole Kidman are currently not an item according to the London Free Press, which reports Kidman advised Urban, “I’m just too busy for romance right now, as much as…

Because press materials still refer to this Austin singer-songwriter’s last release, I’m Good Now, as his third solo album, it might be a good time to refresh ourselves on the bands whence Bob Schneider came before his career momentum obscures them completely. Fans of H.O.R.D.E. culture might remember his three-record…

Power pop, for far too long, has been music wasted on the old. Throughout the ’90s, it seemed only to emanate from bitter people over 30, but now you have accomplished bands not much older than the teen constituency power pop was originally intended for. And self-sufficient ones, too –…

The marriage of death metal muscle to industrial smarts might not be one you’d care to throw rice at, but you can’t deny these two crazy kids make a handsomely bleak couple. Fear Factory is credited as being one of the first to witness this unholy union, with Soul of…

People who bewail shiny, happy new country music but don’t wanna water down their beer with tears should check out this Vancouver quintet, which blurs the line of whatever traditional music you’ve got with its every-song-can-have-banjo-and-fiddle credo. And on this year’s offering, Smart Kid, resident singer-songwriter Trevor Rogers demonstrates he…

Vader? I thought you said Veda, that chirpy adult pop band that sounds like Cocteau Twins if they left the reverb pots alone and stopped being so doggone ethereal. What? Veda is playing the Marquee on Saturday? Sheesh, what are the odds that Indian chanteuse Mira Veda is also playing…

Smooth-voiced R&B singer Eijay (pronounced A-J) is a rare breed — in his credits, he thanks “the haters for breaking into my studio and stealing my equipment. I really needed that reality check. Peace!!” His CD Embryonic Soul is a strong mix of Dre-ish grooves and old-school slow jams, occasionally…

Tempe one-man band Page the Village Idiot has been hosting Monday nights at Hollywood Alley forever, so I’m trusting you’re quasi-familiar with his brand of onstage lunacy and some of the subtler intricacies of the ‘lectric ukulele. But maybe you need to take him home to see what makes his…

The Black Moods deliver powerful music with a positive message, but only if you like your cock rock mixed with kick-rock. On the band’s mini-album Laurel Canyon, there’s a post-rehab, Velvet Revolver vibe that screams “hedonistic maturity.” After weighing in with a song about diminished faculties (“I don’t know why…

Maybe I’m shallow, but I’m still waiting for a band called Daughters of Fission that’s four women with Coke-bottle eyeglasses and hair up in hideous buns who magically transform into ravishing Amazons midway through their set. This unit is three gals short and way too serious to take this high-minded…

When taking stock of all the things we don’t have in Arizona (seasons; a caring, compassionate sheriff; viable New York pizza; etc.), you can finally scratch off the following item: a Latina trio who sing bilingually and can give Destiny’s Child a run for their pesos. ‘Cause now we got…