The cover shot shows Nas about to drop a black rose into hip-hop’s open grave. But this is more a wake-up call than a eulogy, as though he’s saying hip-hop may be going down, but it’s not going down without a fight from Nas, who pronounces it dead here with…
Gwen Stefani is still pushing the limits of ridiculousness on The Sweet Escape; after all, it takes a person quite secure in her self-confidence to bring back yodeling as a viable chorus hook. But the aforementioned von Trapp-fest (“Wind It Up”) is actually the worst song on her second solo…
By the time My Morning Jacket dropped the reverb-laden Southern art-rock classic Z in late 2005, they’d reached the point where Rolling Stone could safely proclaim them America’s answer to Radiohead. But for many longtime fans, the quintessential MMJ experience will always be the live show, which explains their latest…
Tom VandenAvond embodies everything that makes alt-country awesome. He’s got a surly, drank-too-much-last-night-and-now-I-gotta-perform attitude, a killer take-no-shit slogan (“You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas”), and even an authentic trucker cap (no Hot Topic poseury here). One can hear wisps of such late greats as…
Y’all might be going to some fancy-ass party or hipster hootenanny on Sunday, December 31, but as for us, we’re going to Hell. More specifically, Club Hell’s nocturnal New Year’s Eve affair known as Hell’s Bells. The freaky fetishists, disturbing divas, and other assorted creatures of the night scene who…
Soundtrack CD release
After a few weeks of hanging with crowds of casual kids, Club Candids needed to spice it up with something slightly more sophisticated, like Club io’s Million Dollar Mingle on Saturday, December 23. The patrons were polished, stylish and mackin’ like mad. This VIP night may be a weekly gig,…
“My meals are ravioli out of the can, and ramen. I came in here tonight with eight dollars in my pocket. I am so white trash.” Keith Mallette’s telling me all this to drive home that he’s not making any money with Hillgrass Bluebilly Entertainment, a local roots music promotion…
When we coughed up the seven bucks to get in the door at PHiX for the “Gothabilly Nitemare Before X-Mas!” show on Saturday, December 16, Grand Avenue was pretty damn quiet. Refusing to be discouraged, we entered the former motorcycle garage turned art and music venue to find an anorexic…
If it weren’t for Hillgrass Bluebilly, I might not have found this fantastic fictional band, which was featured (and murdered) in Rob Zombie’s movie The Devil’s Rejects. The songs here were actually written and recorded by Texas troubadour Jesse Dayton, whom I saw perform at a Hillgrass show this past…
If all that happens to us skin dolls after we die is an underground picnic for insects, well, my guess is that Blessedbethyname’s Eddie Kelly would have a lot of empty space on his hard drive. In the time that it took him to put his personal demons behind him,…
While it’s tempting to compare the Hidden Cameras’ Joel Gibb with other literate gay singer-songwriters, if Rufus Wainwright or Stephin Merritt were to sing about the joys of anal penetration or swallowing urine, it would be nothing short of hilarious. When Gibb does it, though, it’s barely even ironic; rather,…
Looks like it’s time for the ’90s indie rock revival. Sebadoh is reuniting for Noise Pop; the Silversun Pumpkins, er, Pick-ups are selling out venues left and right. Before you know it, rockers will be sucking down E’s and going all Madchester again. Leading the charge — not to Madchester,…
Although you may go to the Clubhouse Music Venue for Hoobastank’s catchy radio rock, you’ll want to arrive early for Agent Sparks’ sweet, eclectic melodies and dynamic live performance. The Los Angeles band, whose debut Red Rover was released earlier this year, combines complex keyboard and guitar layers with dueling…
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…
He’s one of rock ‘n’ roll’s few legends with a beat named in his honor. And the weird thing is, Bo Diddley plays guitar, not drums. But as Diddley himself has explained, “I play the guitar as if I was playing the drums.” That much is true, although most drums…
Holy holiday hangover! All that extra Christmastime candy, booze, and other sweet treats are gonna head straight for your soon-to-be-gigantic arse, so better get yourself to the trendy über-gym double quick. Or better yet, sweat off those pounds-to-come with a few hours of grinding, thrashing, and dancing at an upcoming…
Just when I think I’ve seen everything, I find myself watching three hot chicks trying to play hacky sack with a big pink dildo. The women — known as Producer, Python, and Pinup — are all members of a local fetish burlesque troupe called the Pussy Posse Girls, and on…
“Hellektro” group Combichrist has long been a favorite of the fetish community. Led by Norwegian-born Andy LaPlegua, Combichrist blends dark techno, agro beats, and synth noise to produce a wicked, hawkish soundscape that’s equally diabolical and danceable. The title track drowns in pulsating synths, while LaPlegua’s fuzzed-over voice floats to…
A chichi San Francisco condo is about the last place in the world you’d expect to find the Patterson projects-raised Andre the Giant (a.k.a. A.G.), an MC whose sense of rootedness in New York’s South Bronx makes him seem as staunchly parochial as the average Crestside hyphy rapper. Yet A.G.’s…
This doesn’t sound like a Willie Nelson record, and it doesn’t sound like a Ryan Adams record (though he produced it). We don’t know what it sounds like, to be honest, save for some show-offy mash-up that does less to pump up Shotgun Willie than shoot his legs out from…
Local hard-rock band Razer has quite the pedigree — the five-piece was founded by guitarist Paul Sullivan, bassist Chris Catero, and drummer Eric Bongiorno, all of whom were in Metal Blade act Wardog (Bongiorno also drums for Valley rock prodigy Nick Sterling). After nabbing guitarist Jeremy Graves and ex-Shift singer…
