The biggest risk with this show was that I had so totally overhyped it in my head that even a phenomenal performance would be disappointing. There was no opener, so there was no warm-up, just the building tension waiting for the Volta to go on. The curtain dropped, the band strolled out and then exploded into something I could not… Read more »
Back in 2002, Against Me released an album called Reinventing Axl Rose. The little blurb on the label’s website said that it was folk/punk in the same vein as Billy Bragg, Stiff Little Fingers and the Clash. I ordered it on the spot. it came, I listened and, though it was good, I was disappointed. It was certainly folk/punk, but… Read more »
As I promised when I wrote the review of the KYI show with 7 Seconds, I bought their new album, From Companionship to Competition, and gave it a listen. First of all, stop reading if you don’t like hardcore, because this album won’t build any bridges into your world. While it’s a considerable step forward from the cacophony of 2001’s… Read more »
When I first got pretty serious about music, I remember the idea of “selling out” being a big deal. I said it a lot about bands that I didn’t like and bands that changed their sound or signed a major label deal. But I never really considered what I meant when I said it. It was just a nice catch-all… Read more »
Stoner rock is largely thought of as a sub-genre of heavy metal, but Queens of the Stone Age, perhaps its most prolific band, far transcends its limitations. This has been increasingly true as they’ve regenerated from the ashes of Kyuss. Now that they’re really just the Josh Homme show on their new album, Lullabies to Paralyze, it’s more true than… Read more »
Barsuk Records released a political fundraising comp last year called Future Soundtrack for America. At first glance, the track listing looks almost too eclectic. It includes the avant-garde pop of David Byrne and They Might Be Giants, the pop-punk of Jimmy Eat World and Blink-182, the alt-folk of Bright Eyes and Elliott Smith, the Americana leanings of the Old 97s… Read more »
Everyone knows about Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Street Survivors (with the band pictured in flames just before the tragic plane crash) and many also know about the Who’s Who Are You cover (with Keith Moon sitting in a chair bearing the words “not to be taken away” on the last album before death did in fact take him away). But these are… Read more »
While I don’t think Black Flag had derivitive music in mind when they wrote that line, the rage easily be applied. Chuck recently asked me to listen to a few tracks off of Anberlin’s Blueprints for the Black Market. Having little background in punk and emo, he wasn’t sure if it was really good (just like I’m usually not sure… Read more »
The new And You’ll Know Us By the Trail of Dead album, Worlds Apart, is pretty much incredible. The first track came on and it was like a post-hardcore Queen. The following track was more like straightforward emo and I started thinking that this might be a transitional album where they try some new things, but aren’t quite ready to… Read more »
50 Cent is really just a Britney Spears who’s been shot nine times. The whole idea of him as a credible artist is based on him getting shot and not his contribution to the music released under his name. He must be real if he’s been shot, right? Seriously, when you boil it down, he’s no more talented a rapper… Read more »