After watching these longhaired Canucks tear up the stage opening for Nashville Pussy at the Clubhouse Music Venue, I’m convinced they are the most impressive and diverse band in the current wave of retro metal-rock, surpassing such stellar company as ’70s-sounding acts Wolfmother, Danava, and The Sword. They have incredibly…
No rock-star kid ever made a more endearing record than Sean Lennon’s 1998 debut Into the Sun, a Double Fantasy for hipsters produced by his Japanese girlfriend, Cibo Matto’s Yuka Honda. Taking cues from Tropicalia, cocktail jazz and ’90s art-pop, Lennon’s lounge-adelic take on the sounds of the British Invasion…
Don’t be fooled by “Welcome to the Black Parade,” the first — and rather lengthy — single off My Chemical Romance’s third disc. The entirety of The Black Parade, although obviously ambitious in its influences and concept, doesn’t ape Freddie Mercury. In fact, most of the record just sounds like…
If the first thing that comes to mind when you read the word “Scotland” is haggis-gnawing, lager-swilling soccer hooligans, listening to the rapid-fire tracks on Entomology will make you think again. Dubbed “The Sound of Young Scotland,” bands like Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, and Josef K ruled Britannia for a…
Culminating a decade of spiritually searching dance music and blistering punk rock, Moby made, arguably, the last great album of the 20th century with Play, a brilliant amalgam of old gospel samples and new studio wizardry. At a time when electronica’s trendiness was ending, Play gave the throbbingly impersonal genre…
The Rolling Stones and Alice Cooper? Can a classic rock bill even get any better than that? The Stones, of course, are still amazing live, still able to invest a song they’ve done no fewer than a billion times — from “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” to “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”…
Few bands have made the trashy side of rock ‘n’ roll feel dirtier or more inviting than The Cramps, a psychobilly force of nature with a Ph.D. in EC comics, drive-in movies, striptease sexuality, and the fuzz-guitar genius of Nuggets. With Lux Interior channeling Elvis as the undead, G-string-wearing host…
It’s tempting to talk about guitarist Adrian Belew only in terms of the company he has kept throughout the past 30 years. He’s been a sideman for Zappa and Bowie, was integral in King Crimson v2.0, and played on the best records the Talking Heads, Paul Simon, and Nine Inch…
If you’re gonna have an organ player in your group and call yourselves Oh My God, you could be mistaken for a Christian rock band. So indie trio OMG has this clarification on its MySpace page: “This Chicago rock band is not affiliated with God or Satan (though the band…
Remember Candy Land? You know, that ultra-vibrant and ultra-enjoyable confection-laced board game that dominated your childhood and sent you on a jubilant journey traipsing through such realms as the Peppermint Stick Forest or the Molasses Swamp? This weekend’s Kandieland III rave on Saturday, November 4, at the Starlight Room, 16731…
Thursday 2 Bunkhouse Lounge: DJ Doom (dance) Chilly Bombers: DJ Statik (hip-hop, dance) Club Central: DJ Luis (salsa, merengue) Coconut Club: DJ Coolstylz (Top 40, dance, hip-hop) The Door: DJ J. Nasty (hip-hop, Motown, Top 40) e4: “Passport” with DJ Tranzl8r (hip-hop mash-ups) E-Lounge: DJ Domenica (hip-hop, house) Harley’s 2303:…
Jack Ripper A couple of nights ago I hit up a private company party (some masonry outfit, i was just crashing it for the buffet & drinks), and witnessed this kid who calls himself Jack Ripper annihilate his guitar, giving Hendrix’s “Star Spangled Banner” a run for its money, busting…
or make fun of your band, at the very least. Send mp3’s, show information, gossip, etc. to Brendan Kelley. Otherwise I’ll be listening to “Just Lose It” by Eminem all day long…..
Glass Heroes The spot to be tonight is at the Clubhouse, to see longtime local rawkers the Glass Heroes open up for UK punkers Vice Squad, which has been around in various forms since freakin’ 1979. You want some old school punk rock authenticity, this is the show for you…
courtesy of Bryan Sandell of AZPunk.com Don’t Piss this Dude Off Tomorrow, 11/2, I dig into the trouble magnet that is Danny Marianino of the North Side Kings, and scope out the local hardcore legends’ (the dude beat down Danzig, that certifies him as a rock legend) new album, Suburban…
Elmo Kirkwood There’s been rumors flying since mid-summer that we’d soon see a reunion of the ‘Nix’s weirdest rock legends, Curt & Cris Kirkwood’s Meat Puppets, with Primus drummer Tim Alexander joining the brothers. After years of estrangement and Cris suffering drug and a prison sentence (you may remember a…
The members of Psychostick are explaining how they came to pack a CD as crushingly heavy as We Couldn’t Think of A Title with lyrics weighing in on everything from itchy balls to beer and diarrhea when guitarist Josh “Special J” Keys comes clean about his deep respect for “Weird…
“My house is like a crash pad for aging punk rockers,” Keith Jackson tells me over the phone one day. But not just any old aging punk rockers. The singer/guitarist for local punk band Glass Heroes has hung out with some of the most legendary names in the genre, including…
There is a street in Omaha called Happy Hollow. But the characters who live in Cursive’s Happy Hollow are fictional Middle Americans dealing with actual Middle American dramas in a tiny rural town where people aren’t particularly bright or wealthy. And because Tim Kasher grew up Catholic in a small…
XrayOk was one of the most promising indie rock/electronica groups in the Valley. Formed in Phoenix in December 2002, the band’s self-released first album, Reflex, debuted at No. 158 on the CMJ Music Charts and stayed there for three weeks. At the time, it looked like XrayOk was going to…
Go ahead, call them a “novelty act.” This nine-member group from NYC is asking for it with songs like “Nipples” (with eloquent lyrics like “Na-uh-na-uh-na-uh-nipples”). But once you’ve heard “Connecticut’s for Fucking,” the leadoff track to JHC&tFHotA’s debut album, there’s no denying this band’s snarky brilliance. The song’s ridiculously catchy…
Bodhisattva’s 20-minute, three-track EP Magnetar may not appeal to those who are prone to popping headache pills whenever they hear time signatures other than the common 4/4. The ambient jazz-metal-indie fusion duo, consisting of guitarist Justin Cory and drummer Shane Sittig, gives followers of wacko bands like Primus, Mr. Bungle,…
