T.S. Eliot dubbed April “the cruelest month,” but even The Waste Land neglected to point out that National Humor and National Anxiety Month share the same calendar page. As do National Welding Month, International Guitar Month, and Uh-Huh Month, which might quicken the failing hearts of John Cougar Mellencamp devotees…
Dateline Duluth, Minnesota — On Tuesday, a Minnesota district court judge threw out a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by 37-year-old Duluth native Brian Swerzyk against the indie rock trio Low and its label, Sub Pop Records. Swerzyk had claimed breach of contract and severe emotional distress after purchasing the band’s 2005…
Backstage at some nameless arena, the freakishly masked thrash-metal terrorists of Slipknot conduct their traditional pre-concert confab: “We really rocked the hizzle last night,” says frontman Corey Taylor (a.k.a. No. 8). “Although y’all are bummed that the crowds aren’t what they used to be, the single Duality from our newest…
While U2 without the hubris sounds like not only a bad idea, but a self-canceling one, The Devlins — preceding bands like Travis and Coldplay — have been exploring that gas planet for nearly a decade. And as it turns out, there’s life there after all, particularly in love songs…
From the bright crackle and spark-spewing pop of Throwing Muses to the smoldering intensity of her semi-acoustic solo career, the songwriting fire inside Kristin Hersh has burned for more than 20 years. Golden Ocean — the debut longplayer from her new trio, 50 Foot Wave (following last year’s self-titled EP)…
With chiseled muscles drizzled in oil and an unspecified power that left him impervious to bullets, 50 Cent exploded onto the pop landscape like a Nietzsche-meets-Al-Capone Superman with a cadre of club-banging beats, itchy hooks and one-dimensional verses. For better and worse, The Massacre breaks little new ground. There are…
Politics and music have always been uneasy bedfellows, but 27-year-old Maya Arulpragasam knows about unease. The Sri Lankan native’s family fled that country’s civil war for Britain more than 20 years ago, and her father — linked to the divisive revolutionary outfit the Tamil Tigers — remains M.I.A., a moniker…
Are you kids out there ready to get tiny? Famed trance DJ Micro is stopping through the ‘Nix on Saturday, April 2, to lay down some of his hypnotic anthems for the one-year anniversary of Flux at Sports City Grill/Sky Lounge (132 East Washington Street). The New York native has…
This coupling is a little like TNT wrapped in plastic explosive — a kind of hard-rock overkill. The Burning Brides are the more accessible of the two bands, mixing a dirty garage-rock roar with flashes of metal style, sounding at their best like The Stooges in a grudge match with…
A brand-new band doesn’t usually wait a couple of years to follow up a debut, unless we’re talking about Audioslave or some other aggregation that’s got a lot of lazy supergroup money lying around. But Chicago’s Plain White T’s managed to let two and a half years go by between…
1. 50 Cent, The Massacre (Aftermath) 2. Baby Bash, Super Saucey (Universal) 3. Nb Ridaz, Nbridaz.com(Upstairs) 4. Akon, Trouble (Universal) 5. Gwen Stefani, Love, Angel, Music, Baby (Interscope) 6. The Game, The Documentary (Aftermath) 7. Trillville/Lil Skrappy, Chopped & Screwed (Warner Brothers) 8. Jack Johnson, In Between Dreams (Universal) 9…
Thursday 24 Acme Roadhouse: College Night with DJ J. Alan (Top 40) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with AKA (gothic, industrial) AZ 88: DJ Seduce (experimental, jazz fusion, funk) Big Fish Pub: Reggae Thursdays with Selector J-Cut & DJ Blackstar (reggae, dance hall) Bobby McGee’s: DJs Mark & Mikyl (Top…
Right now, Atlantic Records is giving the star treatment to San Diego’s Louis XIV, whose first full-length for the company, The Best Little Secrets Are Kept, hit stores on March 22. But what happens if the disc doesn’t sell 200,000 copies in its first week? Will Atlantic stick by the…
Bare-shouldered girls with asymmetrical haircuts and slouchy boots roam in pairs, while shaggy rocker boys in tee shirts and tight jeans wander the sidewalks in packs. Waiting in line outside of clubs among the messenger-bag-and-cell-phone-toting industry types, there’s a higher than normal presence of Japanese girls and lanky, bearded dudes…
Over at my pad on a recent Sunday afternoon, DJ ChaseOne has his battery-operated portable turntable on the floor next to his metal box of seven-inches, playing cuts and talking shop about crate-digging for rare grooves — limited pressings of old funk and soul records — and the gems he’s…
Roadrunner Records is celebrating its 25th anniversary by sending some of its favorite baby bands all over the country. In previous years, the tour had acts like Chimaira and Machine Head, but this year’s lineup is the most diverse so far, with both metal and hardcore bands. Deserving special attention…
ash_cash: hey ry ryanc: hey ash ash_cash: i saw you on the carson daly show the other night ryanc: really? did you like it? my band’s got 40 kind of sadness sounding really good I think ash_cash: your hair looked awesome! did you use the alterna sculpting putty i told…
It’s hard to imagine a concert that can handle 50,000 fans a day completely selling out, but that’s what happened at last year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival for the first time in the event’s brief history. And this year, with another jaw-dropping, nearly 80-band lineup that boasts headliners…
If you’ve missed the Chicago Sessions at Counter Culture (2330 East McDowell Road) this month, which brought out Chi-town house music auteurs DJ Lego and Lady D, you won’t want to skip the last installment, a performance this Saturday, March 26, by Djeremy. A founder of the online house collective…
Chicago’s Sweep the Leg Johnny was always a great band. But that sax? Had to go. Amid all the group’s streamlined savagery, singer Steve Sostak’s ungodly squawking was about as welcome as a turd in a hot tub. So it’s with one hand on the doorknob and the other holding…
Wow. A year ago, if you had told me that I would regard Canada’s Comeback Kid highly, and utter “best album I’ve heard in at least a year” about its disc, I would have laughed in your face. I was mostly against positive (“posi”) hardcore music, because I don’t enjoy…
On his affable comeback album, Billy Idol just barely succumbs to the demon that haunts Hollywood recording studios, whispering in the ear of every aging rocker, “Better tack on some drum loops for the Hip-Hop Generation, old man!” That leaves most of Devil’s Playground for the original arena punk to…
