“We’re planning to do a children’s show in a couple of days, and I was asked which song I would like to play for this kids’ show. I started going through the songs on the record, and with every song it’s like, ‘Oh, shit, here’s the love-story phobia song, this…
Five of the 11 tracks on Robert Plant’s first DVD, Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation (Rounder/Zoe), are new performances of old Led Zeppelin songs. But this set isn’t nearly as safe or nostalgic as the track list would suggest. Captured live in 2005 for PBS’s Soundstage, Plant and a…
“I worry that I’m going to forget, like with ‘Gouge Away,’ I’m gonna think it’s in G,” Kim Deal says in Loud QUIET Loud: A Film About the Pixies (MVD Visual), providing just one example of how this 85-minute documentary shows the influential alt-rock band (whose 2004 reunion tour provided…
Bad Brains: Live at CBGB 1982 (MVD Visual) captures two historic and defunct components of punk rock’s ’70s heyday — the classic lineup of the seminal Washington, D.C., band (featuring vocalist H.R., guitarist Dr. Know, bassist Darryl Jennifer, and drummer Earl Hudson), performing within the cramped confines of the legendary…
Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man (Lionsgate) is not a documentary. Leonard Cohen obsessives learned this the hard way, flocking to jam-packed theaters only to encounter Bono’s banal assertion that Cohen’s religious imagery isn’t all that religious. If I’m Your Man documents anything at all, it’s that Cohen is loved most…
Jared and Michael Bell are the Lymbyc Systym Jared and Michael Bell, the brothers who make the pretty noises in Lymbyc Systym, are about to drop the band’s first album on the influential Mush Records label, home also to avant-beatmakers and MC’s like cLOUDDEAD, Aesop Rock, Jel, Odd Nosdam, and…
Scary Kids Stealing Names I usually find it pretty goddamn annnoying when bands take their names from other band’s song titles. This was the case when I first heard about Scary Kids Scaring Kids – especially since the band’s name is copped from one of my favorite bands, the Chicago-based…
Sweetbleeders Just received a missive and a new song from Robin Vining of the Sweetbleeders (and Colorstore) yesterday, asking if I’d let y’all know about the listening party for the band’s upcoming new album, Bzzzz. No problem; the Sweetbleeders make some of the prettiest little piano-laced pop songs aroud the…
Pokafase It’s been a while since I last checked in with Pokafase, the ‘Nix’s long-suffering aspirant to establishing PHX hip-hop as a west coast powerhouse. His latest album The Martyr is due out any time, so I grabbed a couple of his tracks (one off of Mastermind, and one off…
Yolanda Bejarano A few bar nights back I went out with my old friend Yolanda Bejarano, who’s not only a swell girl but an incredible musician, and who’s been cranking out music since I moved here eleven years ago, in bands like Slugger, the Slowdown, and a mariachi band that…
Walk into Trax on a Monday night, as I did recently to grab a beer, and you’ll run into a strange amalgamation of sonic styles emanating from the outdoor stage in the back, courtesy of the Dave Wade Trio. I saw the Dave Wade Trio accidentally the first time, and…
Joe Pernice has published a book of poetry, a popular novella based on The Smiths’ Meat Is Murder for the 33 1/3 series, and “B.S. Johnson” — the most anthemic offering on the Pernice Brothers’ latest, Live a Little — pays tribute to a little-read English writer who died by…
. . . And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead may be a victim of its own success. The Austin-based post-rock group’s ragged and glorious indie-punk albums, like 1999’s Madonna, and 2002’s brilliant Source Tags & Codes, didn’t make it onto the Billboard charts, but the latter…
Wow, there’s a lot of pre-Turkey Day festivities tonight, ’cause y’all ostensibly have tomorrow off of work, and you’re expected – no, it’s mandated – that you get completely shitfaced till the wee hours tonight. First of all, GWAR’s playing at the Marquee tonight, if you like blood, guts, costumes,…
Mu-Fuckin’ DJ Radar Wow, that was a particularly uninspired heading for a blog post about one of the ‘Nix’s only superstars, DJ Radar. Astute longtime readers may already have realized that I’ve long been a homey of Radar’s as well as a fan; I once took him back to my…
Eyes Set To Kill The three-girl, three-boy young’uns (the age range is 17-20) in Eyes Set to Kill are having quite a year. The screamo outfit released a well-received EP earlier in ’06 and just recently dropped a DVD with eight songs performed live. Better yet, they’ve been signed to…
Niki Kwik Poorly written, silly-ass press releases are one of the humorous perks of this job; the flipside is when you have to actually listen to the CDs that they come with. Exhibit A: local female-fronted trio Niki Kwik’s upcoming EP, No Need to Apologize. Here’s a couple excerpts from…
BFH Word came to me recently that local lap-guitar troubadour Brodie Hubbard (aka Brodie Foster Hubbard, aka Brodie Fucking Hubbard) is leaving the ‘Nix soon to head back to La-La Land. That’s a loss for the singer-songwriter set here; as I wrote earlier this year, Brodie’s sometimes tortured, acoustical folky…
Radio Free America I know what you’re thinking, but no, this isn’t a recap of how I spent the weekend. It’s almost the holidays so I had to forego the hookers this time around. Rather, this post is marking a milestone of sorts for Radio Free America, soon to be…
There’s a veritable glut of great shows this weekend, so this is the extended remix weekend edition of the Show Picks series. First, tonight (Friday, Nov. 17) at Stray Cats, for a mere six bucks you can catch a punk rock extravaganza with the Fed-Ups, Thirteen Black, Dick Hazard, Walt…
Last night was an aural adventure (unfortunately not an oral adventure), wherein I hit up both a country show by my cowboy buddy Andy Hersey (who’s opening for Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers at the Marquee this Saturday), and later caught a pretty amazing rock show by Vayden. Vayden’s kind…
An, ahem, Aesthetic A while back I threw up a “show pick” blog post where I dissed locals An Aesthetic for their silly band name. Luckily these guys have a sense of humor, and sent me the following reply… Ha ha… Thanks for posting up the flyer for our show…
