The 18 tracks compiled on Invaders present a rare glimpse inside Kemado A&R chief Keith Abrahamsson’s troubled cranium. Though these bands share musical touchstones (it’s pointless even to mention Black Sabbath), each takes its influences in a slightly different direction. Leaning toward the sludgy bludgeoning of groups such as Saviours,…
It takes balls to do a solo acoustic set in the middle of a bill consisting of loud bands, mostly because it’s so easy to fall flat on your face and turn the crowd off completely. A few weeks ago, though, I saw a kid pull it off. On a…
British phenom Jamie Cullum’s 2003 breakthrough Twentysomething offered up a fresh take on jazz — sort of a Michael Bublé/Robbie Williams cocktail — but with his latest, Catching Tales, he’s added hip-hop to the mix, thanks to a few tricks he learned from Pharrell Williams (catch their duet “You Can…
Three years ago, producer/engineer Otto D’Agnolo was of two minds about the decline of originality and forward thinking in the record industry, so he did something about it. He split himself in two — literally. Sick of being told by A&R people with the musical impulses of a hand buzzer…
Juicy chunks of fresh lobster, lightly bound together with mayonnaise and served on buttered, toasted bread. Spicy, bubbling étouffe laid out over a bed of steaming white rice. Succulent Chinese dumplings stuffed with garlicky pork, floating in a rich vegetable broth. Fucking Delicious. That’s according to Derek Fudesco, anyway –…
You’d have to search mighty diligently to find another set of hardcore punks who voluntarily put an “FBI Anti-Piracy Warning” on their independently released CD. But Sigma already distinguishes itself as perhaps the only group in any musical genre outside of Up With People to list a “band meaning” on…
It’s rare for an artist coming up in today’s rap game to release an album that’s not quickly labeled pop rap, underground, or gangster, but the second solo project from Phoenix rapper Blaze Rock falls somewhere in between, defying easy categorization. With tracks produced by a variety of mostly local…
As female duo The Ditty Bops cover the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love” on their new record, it’s difficult to believe them when they sweetly croon “I feel like I could die” over delicately plucked acoustic guitar and mandolin. But that discontinuity may very well be the group’s appeal. Spinning…
Mike Patton should have worn out his welcome by now. After all, the guy’s got more side projects than he’s got sides. Yet the Good General’s music is usually interesting enough to justify its existence, and Peeping Tom’s debut is no exception. Despite the disc’s artsy concept (Patton and his…
Although brokenhearted fans may still be mourning the breakup of beloved emo band The Get-Up Kids, some solace can be found in singer Matt Pryor’s former side project and now full-time band, The New Amsterdams, which recently released a new, acoustic-driven album. Far more mellow and lacking in pop hooks,…
New York City’s Liars may have been one of the first to re-popularize dance-influenced post-punk with their debut They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument On Top, released in 2001, but they’ve since moved on. After confusing fans and critics alike with their sophomore album, They…
Pinback’s most recent album, Summer in Abaddon, is more than a year and a half old, but it speaks volumes about the state of indie rock — and how a bit of subtlety and ingenuity can still raise eyebrows. Whereas its counterparts pile distortion onto heaps of four-chord guitar, Pinback…
Brendon “Alias” Whitney and Rona “Tarsier” Rapadas don’t technically use the needles to get their dark and vibrant combo of rhythm and female vox across; Alias instead exchanged the turntable technique for drum machines and electronic tools, while Tarsier lays her poetic lyricism on top. The duo’s collision and collaboration…
The Loon is right, and not the bird, either. And I see the high-jump kings with roadside stirrups on when I come back to meet the bear, explains singer Josh Grier on “In Houston.” Crumple up lyrics like these with guitar that ranges between riffy fuzz and crystal ambiance; synth…
If you’ve been racing down local dirt roads in your pickup, jamming to Toby Keith or Gretchen Wilson, then you should probably skip this week’s Hank III concert. Plastering a Confederate flag in your back window might buy you a redneck pass (and hopefully a good ass-whuppin’), but it doesn’t…
The Smiths inspire the formation of a new band about once every 3.7 seconds, which means in the time it takes you to read this sentence, two guys with hard-ons for Morrissey have decided to pick up a mic and mope about how bad their middle-class childhoods were. In the…
Okay, check this out: You’re not gonna believe this, but you know that Ice Cube guy? From the movies and stuff? The one who played the cuddly father figure in last year’s family flick Are We There Yet?, and who just got cast as “Mr. Kotter” in the upcoming remake…
Thursday 25Acme Roadhouse: College Night with DJ J. Alan (Top 40) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with DJ Jeremy (goth, industrial) AZ 88: Mr. P-Body (synth pop, electro) The Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (various) Camus: KURRENT_affairs with Pablo Gomez (electronic, rock, pop, avant-garde) The Door: DJ J Nasty (hip-hop, Motown, Top…
Who was the first well-educated white smart-ass who realized the comic potential of hip-hop? No one knows for sure, but the prank-filled legacies of the Beastie Boys and the Bloodhound Gang are in good hands with MC Lars, a California native who uses his laptop raps to gleefully piss all…
One of metal’s more interesting and versatile (if frequently overlooked) acts, New Jersey sextet Ill Niño merges blistering, Slayer-like riffage with front man Cristian Machado’s wide-ranging vocals delivered in both English and Spanish (he can scream like Sick Of It All’s Lou Koller or croon like Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington),…
Early last week, I was incensed to learn that Bonneville International Corporation, a company wholly owned by the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City, announced it is acquiring what I believe to be the most valuable radio station we’ve got here in the ‘Nix, Power 92. Bonneville will be completely…
There’s a focused single-mindedness to every Excepter song that hints at humorlessness behind the decks. So it’s a pleasant surprise, during a recent telephone exchange, to discover that front man John Fell Ryan is as amusing in conversation as he can be free-associative and indecipherable with his lyrics, as personable…
