It used to be that dating someone in your band could only lead to headaches, the type no amount of Vicodin could silence. Forming a band with a sibling was almost as volatile a combination too — just ask Oasis. These days, though, sharing a bed or DNA with your…
If it walks like Southern rock and talks like Southern rock, then it must be Southern rock, right? Well, yeah. Unless the genre intends to hang you. “We did all get tired of the whole Southern rock thing,” says Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers, the Alabama fivepiece coming to…
On its sophomore album, this punkish U.K. band shows that artistic maturation can be a good thing. The Futureheads kept all the solid power riffs, drums, and bass lines but added a few bells and whistles — claps, shakers, Beach Boys-styled harmonies, and thought-provoking lyrics. That’s not to say the…
The two new songs on this “best of” disc are as forgettable as they are just fine; “Message to the Boys” and “Pool and Dive” neither celebrate nor tarnish the lovable losers’ legacy. And as much as the fan wants to cheer the reunion that really wasn’t (Chris Mars isn’t…
Bad Religion singer Greg Graffin gets old-timey on Cold as the Clay, an unplugged sophomore solo LP that mixes original songs with similar Deadwood-era tunes like the finger-picked murder-hoedown “Little Sadie.” Graffin plays traditional music as convincingly as he handles punk. He’s no Mike Ness, though the disc will probably…
Al Jourgensen’s lengthy career and massive output over the past 20 years could fill several volumes of tales and more than a gig of downloads. Aside from Ministry, his best-known and most-beloved side project is undoubtedly the Revolting Cocks, which includes Jourgensen’s longtime collaborator, Paul Barker; Belgian DJ Luc Van…
Before a hurricane can hit its full, trailer-smashing strength, it has to build itself up from an average-sized storm, travel thousands of miles, and increase its size and ferocity with each city it rolls through. The same is true in music. So when the Storm Tour hits Miami for the…
Released on 6/6/6, Slayer’s Eternal Pyre EP is available exclusively at Hot Topic, which may seem like the surest sign of the Apocalypse yet. Slayer is the greatest thrash band, but guitarist Kerry King has a clothing line, so one commercial concession is excusable every 24 years or so. However,…
Although it’s often dismissed as simply another ’70s stadium band, Journey boasted an impressive pedigree that molded its early albums into articulate examples of true progressive posture. Born from the original Santana band — the same outfit that performed at Woodstock, no less — Journey went on to become one…
On their debut album, local death-pop industrialists DeadStar Assembly churned out an interesting version of the Real Life’s haunting ’80s hit “Send Me an Angel.” Apparently, that angel never came, judging by the title of DeadStar Assembly’s new album, Unsaved. Three years after its self-titled offering, the Assembly is back…
Finally. After years of proving their worth on many a local stage, Palm Beach County’s Freakin Hott have taken their tunes to disc; the wait was well worth it. The trio’s brand of raw, guitar-driven, male-female-sung rock loses nothing in this studio translation. If anything, the fact that you can…
It was 2:20 on a Saturday afternoon in downtown Miami. A bluish-gray blanket of clouds covered Bicentennial Park. It was only a matter of time before this year’s Warped Tour became yet another run-for-cover rain dance. That’s probably why the kid out front was so damned pushy about hawking his…
2001 was a pivotal time for neo-soul music. The genre had begun a resurgence aimed at a younger generation. And from that resurgence emerged a new name, Atlanta’s India.Arie. She was part of the driving force that touted an earthier, more bohemian view of life. And after just two albums…
Colonel J.D. Wilkes is high-tailing it through Mississippi, drifting in and out of currents of reception as his 15-passenger van dips in and out of gullies on its way to Hattiesburg. That’s where his band — known variously as The, Those, and Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers — is set to…
Gretchen Wilson performs with the Shannon Lawson Trio and Jimmy Barret on Thursday, June 29, at the Hard Rock Live, 5747 Seminole Way, Hollywood. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $50 to $100. Call 954-523-3309, or visit www.ticketmaster.com.
Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell have been down the reinvention road before. Back when they were the core of the British shoegaze group Slowdive, the pair concluded that the noisy, swirling sound they’d helped advance was a creative dead end, and they’d better try something different. The result? 1995’s much-maligned…
The former Squirrel Nut Zippers vocalist trades in her cabaret for lounge on Dirty Little Secret, distancing herself from the old-fashioned jump blues and jazz swing of her old outfit. While Whalen’s wonderful voice would be winning in just about any band, David Sale’s rich, varied production transposes it into…
In an age of bands with awkwardly long monikers, finally, here’s a band whose name captures its sound and attitude — the Dead Hookers’ Bridge Club. For all its glitz and schmaltz, South Florida’s dirty underbelly is just plain old dirty, but hell, there are pearls in the swine. And…
Ah, the cracked vision of Cracker: David Lowery and Johnny Hickman are two of the cracked-est crackers ever to strap on guitars and leather jackets. Their credits range from work with alt-country groundbreakers Camper Van Beethoven to all sorts of indie films. Along the way, they’ve made a handful of…
It’s become a familiar tale nowadays: An overlooked producer emerges from behind the console to craft hit music, propelling himself to well-deserved stardom. And in the case of Artificial Intelligence, the story rings twice as true. The London-born dance-beat duo of Glenn Herweijer and Zula Warner (producers, both) has been…
This Kansas City MC claims he isn’t a mix-tape guy. But you’d never know that from The Nu, a compilation of borrowed-beat tracks put together by a slew of mostly other KC producers (Nezbeat, Johnny Quest, etc.), beat-matched and mixed live in one session by Approach’s turntablist partner, DJ Sku…
One of the best world-music albums this year was made on American soil — though the guy who made it, San Francisco’s Sila, is a Kenyan expatriate. On his debut album with the AfroFunk Experience, Sila draws from a wide variety of influences like Curtis Mayfield, Bob Marley, and Fela…
