I mentioned earlier today that I at first suspected What Laura Says Thinks and Feels was an emo band because of the name (I was wrong on that one). Then I was working on a column that references North Side Kings, and I remembered this video from a while back…
In case you haven’t heard already, we’ve abandoned the New Times Music Festival of the past in favor of a summer-long series of shows featuring the nominated bands in each category all playing together at one venue on one night with a national headliner for each. We’re calling it Summer…
Perhaps it’s unfair to pick on bands for choosing silly names (like I did with the boys in An Aesthetic here a while back), but sometimes the words just beg for it. Like with What Laura Says Thinks and Feels, which I assumed was an emo band (because of the…
Thursday 3 Axis/Radius: Ladies’ Night (hip-hop, rock, dance) AZ 88: Mr. P-Body (synth pop, electro) Bikini Lounge: Scratchy Rekkid Night with DJ Shane Kennedy (various) Blue Note: DJ Soloman, & Fredj (acid jazz, trip-hop, house) Bobby Cs: Willie B (old-school R&B) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Cherry Lounge: DJs Tranzl8tr, &…
By now, you’d think Silversun Pickups frontman Brian Aubert would be ready to slap the next critic he catches comparing the shimmering splendor of Silversun Pickups’ fuzz-a-delic breakthrough Carnavas to Smashing Pumpkins. There’s clearly more to Carnavas than a recurring Siamese Dream. And you’ll find none of Billy Corgan’s more…
Introducing tonight’s bachelors in no particular order: One is a don in the Puerto Rican Costa Nostra. The second is a rap star who likes to call himself The Snowman. Our final bachelor is proud of his resemblance to his daddy and always rolls with cash money. Why should I…
“Heeey maaan, you got a cigarette for me?” The question comes from a tall, skinny, glassy-eyed kid in a Megadeth T-shirt, and it’s directed at my friend Chazz, who could easily be his father. Chazz asks the kid if he’s gonna buy him a beer. “Yeeah, maaan, I’ll buy ya…
Surfing the retro-rock revival wave isn’t a bad thing if you’ve got balance, and Brooklyn-based Panthers have it. The power rock quartet’s found the perfect median between melodic stoner rock, fast-paced punk, and ’70s metal here. Tracks like “Uncertainly” have the high energy of punk, alongside fuzzy, fast-paced garage riffs,…
Remember when it felt as if any band with loud guitars whose singer didn’t make you think of Creed was being lumped in with the Vines as part of some ambiguous post-Strokes garage revival? This is what that music would’ve sounded like if it was real garage. The Love Me…
If “now” were the mid- to late 1960s, Jana Hunter’s There’s No Home would likely be released on the legendary ESP-Disk label. It was one of the most uncompromising American labels ever, and the New Weird America/Free Folk scene with which Hunter is identified has roots (at least in part)…
Leave it to Trent Reznor, a musician who probably doesn’t need to hype his art at this point, to trump every other viral marketer with the Internet-heavy promotional campaign for Year Zero. (It’s a concept record; think the Big Brother mentality of George Orwell’s 1984 combined with the drugged-out society…
With a hard mash of breaks, dubstep, and anything else that buzzes and beckons asses to the dance floor, Tayo’s Fabriclive.32 mix packs consistent, convulsive shudders. The South London producer spotlights his neighbors when a handful of dubstep VIPs appear toward the adjournment of the track list, with entries from…
Swati, a thirtysomething lesbian from Manhattan, is a powerful singer/songwriter, but her amazing guitar technique is winning her as many critical raves as her songs. Her 12-string guitar has been restrung as an 8-string with doubled B and high E strings, and the sounds she wrings out of the instrument…
Rai (pronounced “rye”) is the name given to the popular music that dominates Algeria’s streets and nightclubs and that is present among immigrant communities throughout America. In its original form, rai was a simple folk music made with improvised lyrics and accompanied by flute. The genre evolved over the years,…
Musicians who invent stuff are way cool. There’s Boston’s Tom Scholz, who developed the hugely popular Rockman headphone amplifier; New Orleans soul-punker Quintron and his bizarro, light-activated Drum Buddy; and, of course, Junior Brown, who, two decades ago, came up with his signature “guit-steel” — a Frankensteinian double-necked instrument that’s…
The most powerful introduction to Lucinda Williams’ new record, West, comes not from the languid, repetitive opener “Are You Alright?” but from the liner-note inscription by her poet father, Miller Williams: “You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone.” As one…
Apparently, breaking up helped Black Rebel Motorcyle Club more than it hurt. After losing drummer Nick Jago, remaining members Peter Hayes and Robert Been took an abrupt, well-received detour into acoustic-based folk on 2005’s Howl, which soon led to Jago’s return. The time apart must have worked some sort of…
Reflecting the urban polyglot of its Los Angeles home, Ozomatli purveys a Latin dance party fueled by horns and covering a seamless expanse of hip-hop, jazz, rock, funk, and salsa. The vibrant sound is impressive live, and the band won a Grammy for its third album, 2004’s Street Signs. Like…
Bright Eyes’ latest effort, Cassadaga, takes its name from a psychic community. The first voice you hear as the orchestra makes like “Revolution 9” is a clairvoyant going on about centers of energy, and there are references to cleansing and communing with the dead. Although there’s nothing here as obviously…
The piñatas and Patrón will be poppin’ as the yearly case of Cinco de Mayo fever grips the Valley this weekend, with an eff-load of fetes and fiestas planned for Saturday, May 5 (peep our guide for proof). We’ve planned out our whole day, wey, and it gonna be muy…
Since this Saturday is Cinco de Mayo, a totally cracker-ass holiday which happens to cause bands to play in excess all in the same day, I’m pimping some of this weekend’s shows early. Friday night, if I’m not at the Ghostlife show, then I’ll be checking out the Earps’ CD…
It’s pretty goddamn rare that when I get a random local CD with only my name printed on a white slip-sleeve and a flyer for an upcoming show in it that the band’s any good. Actually, sometimes it’s rare that the disc will get more than thirty seconds of playing…
