The men of the Sword are so devoted to vintage werewolf-rock touchstones that it’s hard to know whether they’re celebrating the style or satirizing it. After all, Austinites J.D. Cronise, Kyle Shutt, Bryan Richie and Trivett Wingo describe themselves using classic Dungeons & Dragons-style verbiage (“Before forging the blade, the…
Nada Surf
“If you don’t like the ‘scene,'” proclaims Nick Houde of Transistor Radio Sound, “then create something you do like. It’s really that easy!” And he means it. Transistor Radio Sound is a collective that revolves around Houde and Kara Jorge, and to them, “do it yourself” is more than a…
Once a member of Crazy Town (the one-hit wonder responsible for the earworm that was “Butterfly”), Adam Goldstein, aka DJ AM, has reinvented himself as the most in-demand DJ among Hollywood’s A-list. Demi Moore, Ben Stiller, Tobey Maguire, Jessica Simpson and Madonna have all sought him out for their private…
In “Everything Is Alright,” the latest single from Motion City Soundtrack, vocalist/guitarist Justin Pierre declares, “I’m through with these pills that make me sit still” — and as he talks about the inspiration behind that line, it’s clear he isn’t on a prescription to quiet his tongue, either. “I’m not…
Nothing about Japan Implosion is what it seems. First of all, Implosion has absolutely nothing to do with Japan: It’s the latest magazine dedicated to documenting Denver’s formidable music, art and cultural communities. And while you can print a PDF of Implosion — whose inaugural issue features profiles on the…
Armed with a terrific new album, Pandelirium, Nashville’s Th’ Legendary Shack*Shakers are bringing their greasy, Southern-fried combo of blues, punk, polka and old-school rockabilly — presented live, like a Pentecostal tent revival meets Theater of the Absurd — back to town. We caught up with Shack*Shakers frontman/ringleader Colonel J.D. Wilkes,…
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Soldiers are about to release their debut CD, So Many Musicians to Kill, after struggling through nine years together. Thing is, they’re barely in their twenties. The Eugene, Oregon-based rockers got together in seventh grade — they named their band after a tour by legendary Australian…
All hail R.E.M.! They were the jingle-jangle morning of indie rock, and their latest albums areŠnot bad for a bunch of old farts. For all the great tunes, we have held our tongues in regard to goofy frontman Michael Stipe. But no longer. For releasing yet another of those tiresome…
Whatever People Say I Am, That¹s What I¹m Not
U.K. music scribes have always been addicted to hype — but their ballyhooing of Arctic Monkeys is over the top even by their standards. The group couldn’t live up to their praise if it featured Jesus on vocals and Mohammed on guitar. (Please, no one draw a cartoon of this!)…
With 2004’s Summer in Abaddon, Rob Crow and Zach Smith cemented Pinback’s reputation as the most misty-eyed and oblique indie-pop band ever. Now Crow spreads his beautifully erratic wings in his gazillionth side project, the Ladies, an experiment that finds him paired with Zach Hill, the maniacal drummer and polyrhythm…
Of all the artists that the fan-approved, critically underrated Rhymesayers label has discovered in recent years, Stefon Leron “P.O.S.” Alexander may be the most intriguing. A black punk-rocker from Minneapolis who leads his city’s up-and-coming Doomtree hip-hop collective, P.O.S. (which stands for “Product of Society,” “Pissed-Off Stef” and many other…
Deadboy & the Elephantmen’s crime isn’t that the group sounds too much like the White Stripes. It’s that the coed garage duo doesn’t sound enough like the White Stripes. It would be a thousand times more tolerable to listen to a decent, inspired ripoff of Jack and Meg than We…
In the documentary No Direction Home, Bob Dylan comes off as uncaring and clueless about the effect America was having on him and the reciprocal effect he was having on it. Deceiver or dumb fuck? It was hard to tell. Chris Adolf, the core of the indie-pop collective known as…
The increasing homogeneity of American culture hasn’t completely wiped out unique characteristics of regional music scenes: Austin, Atlanta and even Denver still retain their sonic identities to a significant degree. Still, practically every city large enough to support a college has a band that plays the same sort of bouncy…
Matchbook Romance, Voices (Epitaph/Ada). The term “melodic hardcore” should never be used in a serious manner, especially since this too-often-heard brand of washed-out, wussy-boy tuneage could be more easily summed up in a single word: suckcore. Matchbook Romance does what all the other derivatives of derivatives who came before them…
Another singer-songwriter prepares to bare his old soul to a bar full of half-listening regulars. He tunes, checks one-two, and hardly anyone notices. As he begins to play, the graceful, delicate plucking turns a few heads. Then a beautiful woman’s voice rings achingly from the stage, and all eyes turn…
Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy is an interesting performer in part because he regularly wars with doubts his loyalists can’t see. As reported by the Portland State University Vanguard, during a stop on Tweedy’s current acoustic tour with Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, several audience members insisted on talking during his set, and…
The grizzled, gray-bearded guy who played piano behind Aaron Neville and Aretha Franklin during their rendition of the national anthem at Super Bowl XL wasn’t recognized by most of the broadcast’s millions of viewers. But Mac Rebennack, better known as Dr. John, has been a New Orleans music deity for…
Hype can seemingly turn a mediocre band into a great band, and a great band into the new savior of rock. Take L.A.’s the Bronx, for example. Still touring behind their critically acclaimed 2003 debut, the band’s members are doing their best to live up to raves that referred to…
Last year, Coldplay’s Chris Martin learned a valuable lesson: Be cautious when invoking the sacred name of Bono. Martin broke this rule just prior to the release of X&Y, telling scribes he wanted the disc to hit U2-esque heights. As a result, critics were waiting for the CD with machetes…
While the Strat-brandishing virtuoso is something of a cliche in rock music, those who can wield a Fender with precision do possess the ability to grab our attention. Having paid his dues touring with ’90s hip-hop act First Born in addition to logging fret time alongside Memphis soul crooner William…
