Since forming in 1998, Washington, D.C.’s Dead Meadow has toured the globe relentlessly, doling out doses of dreamy, distortion-heavy psych rock in the key of Black Sabbath spiked with acid-infused Beatles. With sessions for a new album under wraps, drummer Stephen McCarty talked with us about escaping civilization by avoiding…
Despite a lukewarm reception in the States, romantics overseas are falling head over heels for Nebraska’s Eagle*Seagull. Given Europe’s predilection for artful music, it’s not hard to see why. There’s plenty to love about this sextet’s visceral chamber pop, which drips with raw emotion and unrequited love one moment and…
Folks fortunate enough to chat with electronic-music maestro Brian Transeau, who performs as BT, should keep a dictionary nearby, because they’ll probably need it. For instance, he explains a technique called circuit bending by noting that “it’s the first time, I think, that electronic musicians are able to work with…
Even sans the film, the Tenacious D-orchestrated soundtrack for its full-length feature The Pick of Destiny is a seriously marvelous three-act musical comedy. The album is like a spoofed-out Behind the Music, unraveling the fictitious story of folk-metal musicians Jables (aka Jack Black) and Kage (aka Kyle Gass), track by…
The Game rose to fame with help from Dr. Dre, who godfathered 2005’s The Documentary, a smash that featured cameos by 50 Cent. But a feud with 50 was followed by the sudden end of the Game’s label deal — a split that indicates with whom Dre sided. As a…
Tha Doggfather does much more than just show up on his eighth solo outing, though the same can’t be said for Pharrell and R. Kelly, who once again lather the tracks with squishy R&B. On “Vato,” a refreshing and rather startling chunk of low-rider G-funk, Snoop’s nasal whine recaptures the…
This doesn’t sound like a Willie Nelson record, and it doesn’t sound like a Ryan Adams record (though he produced it). I 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…
DDC takes its acronym seriously, spouting an angry mantra based on the nihilistic values of Death, Destruction and Chaos. Totally punk-rock, man! But frivolities aside, in spite of its relatively young existence, the act has established itself as a purveyor of local thrash metal. In a scene that feels increasingly…
Jazz and hip-hop once constituted a popular combination thanks to the likes of Gangstarr and A Tribe Called Quest. And while the mainstream has seemingly lost its taste for the blend, there’s plenty of flavor left in it — at least when Future Jazz Project is plugged in. The group’s…
Boris/Sunn, Altar (Southern Lord). It was inevitable that Southern Lord’s two biggest moneymakers (and cult favorites) would come together on one collaborative effort. It is also, predictably, everything to be expected from the supergroup: creepy exaggerated vocals, tone-heavy guitars and a sublime focus on drone that is impossibly good. And…
Talib Kweli used to want to just stop smoking and drinking. But he’s been thinking, and he’s got his reasons to do more these days than just “Get By.” For starters, while his status as an undisputed king of conscientious hip-hop has given Kweli plenty of R-E-S-P-E-C-T, it hasn’t translated…
The Lemonheads were a mid-’90s enigma. Although the band really only produced a few moderate hits (“It’s a Shame About Ray” and “Into Your Arms”), its name is one of the most memorable from that self-indulgent era of angsty pop and Gen-X marketing ploys. The act’s dubious popularity was based…
The Aquabats are geeks who are so geeky they’re cool — and not poser-geek cool, either. These guys don’t just wear horn-rimmed glasses and thrift-store chic; they also dress as various villain factions from the original Batman television show. (Dare ya to do that at the bars this weekend.) But…
Anyone who thinks the blink-182 breakup was positive and polite will realize otherwise after spinning “No, It Isn’t,” by +44, which stars blink alums Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker. The lyrics include the lines “Curse my enemies forever/Let’s slit our wrists/And burn down something beautiful.” Unfortunately, these heated words are…
From Tupac to Too Short, the Bay Area has consistently produced a wealth of talented hip-hop artists over the years. Oakland duo the Coup — made up of MC Boots Riley and DJ/producer Pam the Funkstress — is yet another exceptional export. The pair’s latest effort, Pick a Bigger Weapon,…
There must be something in the soil down there in Oklahoma. The place has had a profound effect on creativity, as exemplified by acts like the Flaming Lips, Colourmusic and, most recently, Evangelicals. Some of the varying experiments of giddy psychedelia are perhaps the fruit of too many drugs, while…
Kingdom of Magic may be the last band on earth not to have a MySpace page. But when youre one of the heaviest bands in Denver, who needs that fake-world Internet bullshit? The Magic features the snarling frontman prowess of Luke Fairchild, who also sings in Git Some and whose…
Most Americans’ notions of Sweden involve blond bombshells in bikinis or peace-loving liberals with a rigid stance on neutrality. So, what kind of visions do the Swedes have of us? “We usually call Sweden ‘Little America,'” jokes Jesper Anderberg, synthesizer whiz for the Sounds. “We have great architecture, we have…
It’s never easy to win over an audience, especially when some of the attendees are actively hostile. Fortunately, the members of Panic! At the Disco have discovered a foolproof method to get on such a throng’s good side: Let some goon smack your lead singer in the noggin with a…
Classics, the second proper full-length from Brooklyn’s Ratatat, is a convivial collection of slashing electric guitars, on-point computer backbeats and dance- tastic instrumental fun. Every song sounds like an arena-rock show barebacking a dance party. On the heels of a recent high-profile show at the Guggenheim Museum in New York…
When Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple and her directing partner, Cecilia Peck, first approached the Dixie Chicks about making a documentary on the band, they were turned down. “We were really disappointed,” Kopple says of the initial rejection. “But then a few days later, they made the comment, and…
Back in the early ’70s, Eric Clapton — struggling out of drug addiction and pursuing a solo career — turned “Cocaine” and “After Midnight,” both JJ Cale songs, into radio staples that saved his floundering butt. Now, some three decades later, Clapton and Cale have joined forces on an album…
