Maybe frontman Peter Hayes was getting in touch with his dysfunctional Brian Jonestown Massacre roots, or maybe things were getting to be too much like the Black Straitjacket Motorcycle Club. Infighting led to drummer Nick Juno quitting the band, and when he asked to come back a few months later,…
Both Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and The National are currently basking in (or perhaps suffering from) the glow of being the next big thing out of New York. Thanks to Pitchfork, most eyes are on CYHSY to take home the prize. The real reason to go out to Modified…
With a barrage of lurid lyrics, NYC’s Cage spits the sort of storyboard rhymes on Hell’s Winter that sound like they’re ripped from an underground graphic novel. The dreary war-zone backdrops come from El-P, RJD2, and Blockhead, and their nimble, diesel-charged compositions help drive Cage’s reckless imagination over the edge…
From the childlike front-cover drawing of a unicorn humping a horse (that’s in turn humping a zebra that’s barfing all over the place) and the back-cover photo of the sister duo dressed like two Native American Boy Georges (we couldn’t make this stuff up), CocoRosie’s Noah’s Ark is out there…
For the last couple of years, Herv Salters has been the secret weapon of Bay Area hip-hop collective Quannum, supplying vintage keyboard sounds for Blackalicious, Lyrics Born, and Lifesavas. Now the French-born, Berkeley-based musician steps out front, releasing a solo album of playful, funky hip-hop, composed entirely with Clavinet, Hammond,…
It must be a bitch being better known as Nicole Richie’s fiancé than for your skills on the tables, but that seems to be the case with DJ AM (a.k.a. Adam Goldstein), at least outside of Hollywood and New York City. But for those in the know, AM’s developed a…
It never could’ve happened with Throbbing Gristle or Merzbow. But the fact that these are different times and that these accomplished clatter merchants have signed to Sub Pop gives us hope that we’re in for a new noise infusion. Everyone’s hedging their bets — even the VH1 Web site has…
If there were a Grammy for “Best Song Title by a Duo or Group with Vocal,” Seattle quintet Minus the Bear would’ve easily taken the statue every year since its 2001 inception. Among the potential winners: “Thanks for the Killer Game of Crisco® Twister,” “Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey…
Contrary to the VH1 version of history, Scottish twins Craig and Charlie Reid are not some offbeat one-hit wonders. While their singles haven’t caught on the way their breakout hit, “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles),” did, every one of their six Proclaimers albums contains tracks just as catchy and literate…
Seven months after the European release of Idlewild’s soaring single “Love Steals Us From Loneliness” (and six months after the album it comes from hit shops overseas), American fans were still wondering how to steel themselves against a world without a domestic release of Warnings/Promises. The group’s U.S. label, Capitol,…
Miss Hildebrandt’s fourth-grade reading class, 9:30 a.m. ” . . . very good, Sarah. Emily Dickinson was a fine choice. All right, Jeffrey, what poem have you brought in for us today?” “This is a new one I found called ÔFoxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo,’ by Jimmy Pop Ali.” “Hmm, I…
You have to concede a certain amount of praise automatically for the massive imaginative output in Princess Superstar’s My Machine, a dystopian sci-fi hip-hop concept album about a future celebrity who takes over the world with the help of a cloning machine. As in any good epic, apocalyptic replicant war…
Thursday 6 Acme Roadhouse: College Night with DJ J. Alan (Top 40) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with AKA (gothic, industrial) Axis/Radius: DJ AM spins for the CEG 5 year anniversary (dance) Draft House: DJ Dave outta NYC (hip-hop) e4: “Eve” Ladies’ Night in the Earth Room with DJ Tranzl8r…
1. Coheed and Cambria, Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness (Sony) 2. Disturbed, Ten Thousand Fists (Reprise) 3. Death Cab for Cutie, Plans (Atlantic) 4. Kanye West, Late Registration (Roc-a-Fella) 5. Avenged Sevenfold, City of Evil (Warner Bros.) 6. Damian Marley,…
The bathroom sink is bathed in blood, the splatter extending up onto the mirror above it. Near the stalls there’s a guy holding his tee shirt to his previously gushing nose. That’s just what you’d expect to see at a Madball show — tonight I’m at the Marquee Theatre in…
All hail Quincy Jones! Never has such cool walked the Earth as the man known as “Q.” And now we praise him even more as the producer of Thriller, so we can praise that great album without mentioning Michael Jackson. Certainly, you would think that with two child-molestation charges (and…
Promised for June 2004, A Time 2 Love failed to appear even by December 31, the last day Stevie Wonder could’ve delivered it in that year and still been a man of his word. Fans were hotter than July under the collar, leaving angry posts on steviewonder.com that were beyond…
Back in the day, I regularly watched DJ Radar perform with his Bombshelter DJs crew at Nita’s Hideaway and, later, the Green Room. The scratch virtuoso and I became friends, and I rarely missed one of his sets, even if it was at a rave where he was the only…
By the time Henry Rollins carries his last box of merchandise out the back door of Celebrity Theatre, the building lights have been shut off and the parking lot is almost empty. But a handful of fans still wait behind the line of tape that separates them from his tour…
Battle Acts for week of September 29 through October 5 Battle Act: Green Day Where & When: Wednesday, October 5, America West Arena, $37 to $42.50 Strongest Selling Point: They’ve scored a career milestone by claiming American Idiot is “the first punk rock opera.” Somewhere, Meat Loaf is furiously mopping…
Kieran Hebden secured a contract for his English post-rock band Fridge while still in his teens. With the money he would’ve used for school, he bought a computer, and, after dropping out of school, began composing music on it during his off time from Fridge. Influenced by the hypnotic avant-jazz…
Mindless Self Indulgence hates you. Don’t worry, the band will still make out with you — but only after attempts at setting you on fire and maybe throwing feces at you. It’s a third-grade mentality, but it works. MSI aptly named its live album Alienating Our Audience, but the four-piece…
