It’s been an eventful stretch of time since the release of Engine Down’s last record, 2002’s blisteringly gorgeous Demure. In the last two years, the group has signed to mega-indie Lookout Records, hit the road with huge bands like Thursday and Sparta, and seen its side project, Denali, get super-popular…
When it comes to our vices, we can either surrender to guilt or revel in impropriety. Monster Magnet makes the choice easy. Revel, man, revel! Dave Wyndorf’s crazed contraption, which shares the stage at this show with Bongzilla and Black Lamb, is utterly impervious to critical analysis. On paper, the…
Went to a movie the other night, and the guy who sold me the ticket had a long swoop of hair hanging down the middle of his forehead, in apparent homage to Mike Score, the former stylist who sang lead for A Flock of Seagulls. My reaction was instantaneous: I…
The alchemists of Yes melded musical elements into the first formulas for progressive rock, sonic concoctions that stood apart from the flower-fueled pop of the late ’60s. In the band’s first year, Yes opened for Janis Joplin and signed to Atlantic Records for its eponymous 1969 debut. The platter combined…
Local indie rockers doing the solo-acoustic thing are a dime a dozen right now. Good or bad, most of them tend to blur together into a blob of wistful strums and sad-sack sensitivity. Aaron Hobbs, aka Hobbs NM, doesn’t really stray far from that equation. But where too many singer/songwriter…
As a final project for his university marketing class in the early ’90s, Matt Darey chose “How to market a rave record” as his topic. He wrote a tune called “Overdose,” got a student loan, paid to have 1,000 copies pressed and shopped the records around to stores and DJs…
There could be no Denver anymore,” says David Marion. “It could have been bombed a month ago and I wouldn’t even know.” Marion, the frontman of Aurora’s Fear Before the March of Flames, is speaking from somewhere in upstate New York, en route to a show in Farmingdale after a…
John Kerry only wishes he was in Guster. Sure, the Massachusetts senator hasn’t done too shabbily on his own merits. But when it comes to building a rabid base of loyal supporters, he could learn a trick or two from his Boston neighbors. Hordes of Guster admirers follow the band…
The triumphant return of San Francisco’s glum, genre-defying American Music Club won’t disappoint fans who have waited more than ten years for a new record from the ensemble. Fronted by the volatile and brilliant, alcoholic and depressive Mark Eitzel, AMC released seven records between 1986 and 1994, combining folk, country,…
Except for the groupies and free weed, Medeski Martin & Wood could probably give two shits about the jam scene. Sure, MMW has collaborated with Phish, and the trio’s instrumental, semi-improv sound has been embraced by the hippie masses. But its music has always been steeped in smooth ’70s fusion…
“Shoop shoop/Shoop de-lang de-lang”? While the Libertines’ epic drug consumption has been well documented, not even a kiddie pool full of meth could account for the gawky, girl-group doo-wop of “What Katie Did,” one of the more tweaked tracks off the British group’s self-titled sophomore effort. Not that the band…
Snoop Dogg can’t really be fronted on, because of the undeniable influence he’s had on commercial rap. However, his newest release, with Nate Dogg and Warren G,. is as stale as Huggy Bear’s musty platforms. The Hard Way is weighed down by its glaring hypocrisies. For instance, on “Run On…
More than twenty years after his death, Monk remains something of a mystery — an innovative pianist and composer whose persona vacillated between genius and idiot savant. Monk ‘Round the World may not solve the riddle of his artistry, but it provides some fascinating opportunities for further study. This two-disc…
After the schizophrenic disaster that was Gusto, Guttermouth is trying to appease its pissed-off fans by returning to the work at hand. That is, pissing off anyone within earshot with sophomoric Vandals humor and incendiary barbs. No subject is off limits, and anyone offended risks being lampooned the next time…
To see Slim and company live is to love them, but the act’s previous studio recordings, though entertaining, haven’t truly captured the fun and frenzy Cessna is capable of generating on stage. The Bloudy Tenent Truth and Peace comes up a bit short in this respect, too, but it offers…
A calm lake is beautiful, but an ocean of tropical fish is much more stimulating. DJ Harry’s latest, Collision, plumbs deep yet predictable waters with even-keeled songs that meander from track to track. The album doesn’t gain any real focus until newcomer vocalist Lissie swims by with the splendor of…
Last Friday, hours before the driving rain turned purple, Mootown was already abuzz over the return of rock’s royalty. Mid-afternoon, a clerk at the Diamond Shamrock across the street from my office offered up a story that confirmed how widespread the anticipation had become. “My homeboy’s taking his mom,” my…
Tommy Stinson’s position as ultimate rock-and-roll bassist is undeniable. His astoundingly mature efforts at putting bass and backing vocals into the Replacements catalogue were unmatched. He followed those achievements with a gig as frontman for the aptly titled Bash & Pop, whose Friday Night Is Killing Me remains one of…
Limbeck hails from Orange County and has a Lookout!-style pop-punk resumé, but beyond that, it doesn’t fit neatly into that much-vaunted yet ridiculed scene. The quartet — frontman Robb MacLean, guitarist Patrick Carrie, bassist Justin Entsminger and drummer Matt Stephens — has reinvented itself as an alt-country songs-of-the-road outfit with…
David Byrne has no shortage of fans young enough to be his kids. Since the Talking Heads broke up — when these young throngs were still in grade school — the former frontman has experimented with all manner of world music, bringing his celebrity and musical Spidey-sense to every endeavor…
Drummer Brant Bjork’s musical family tree is more like Sherwood Forest. He was the original skins-pounder for Kyuss, a legend in stoner-rock circles, and his musical association with fellow Kyuss members Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri subsequently extended (briefly) to Queens of the Stone Age and (for a longer haul)…
Stay up channel-surfing some night and you might run across an old episode of It’s Showtime at the Apollo. On it, a boyish rap duo throws down some goofy rhymes over deep, dexterous scratches and beats. The mixmaster is a zit-faced kid named DJ Jazzy Jeff; the MC is some…
