If we’re all caught under the penny loafer of Christian fascism sometime soon, the Thermals’ vision of a hectic dash for the Canadian border — one in which we’re pursued by evangelical thought police — will be vindicated. As it is, The Body, the Blood, the Machine comes off as…
Oh, to be Dave Navarro. Shortly after announcing his split from the famously pneumatic Carmen Electra, Navarro was reportedly keeping company with porn icon Jenna Jameson. This guy needs to write a guide to hooking up immediately. If only the Panic Channel’s debut were that intriguing. Navarro’s new group seems…
While Rick Rock, Droop-E, and EA-Ski are often cited as the Bay Area’s premier slap-nicians, Traxamillion’s dope-ass album suggests that the San Jose-based producer is just as responsible. Trax has the basic slap formula down, but what makes his knocks so habit-forming is his use of keyboards to create a…
The Hi-Beams’ take on twang is decidedly retro. Halden Wofford has that high-and-lonesome vocal sound down cold, and instrumentalists such as dobroist/pedal-steel expert Bret Billings and upright-bassist Ben O’Connor swing in ways that modern Nashvillians eschewed long ago. Fortunately, though, the combo’s latest disc is anything but musty. Country music…
Talk about bad form. It was the last Wednesday of August. The Poor House is hosting the monthly Art of Moving Butts, an underground hip-hop night put on by Counterpoint Garments’ Paul “Gnu” Jennings. But this wasn’t an average night. Not only was local rhyme ruler Butta Verses headlining the…
Eight years ago, Chicago-based pop-punkers the Smoking Popes found themselves signed to Capitol Records and touring with no lesser bands than the Goo Goo Dolls and Green Day. The Popes had sold out countless venues and garnered a glowing reputation for their fusion of punk rock with a big-band sound…
Soundtrack might not be the right word for this CD from the film of the same name, since this hourlong romp is delivered as an overt “we aren’t breaking up” response to rumors of the past few months. In the wake of the Speakerboxxx/Love Below split, cohesive isn’t the right…
Eureka! Scientists just discovered that Comets on Fire is the missing link in rock ‘n’ roll evolution. The hard-hitting noiseniks provide the connection between late-’60s vintage Grateful Dead and Paranoid-era Black Sabbath, long theorized but until now never established. A few savvy researchers, including Comets themselves, saw this coming: The…
Six years after forming and three years after exploding onto the scene, Rose Hill Drive has finally issued its debut full-length. Similar to the way Ford has retrofitted the new Mustangs to recall the classic look of the fastback coupes, Rose Hill Drive is a riff-driven throwback to the heyday…
Surrounded by mountains of amps stacked and cranked to unhealthy heights, Jucifer can shatter half of generic modern metal’s fibulas with feedback alone. The co-ed Atlanta duo literally rattles plaster loose. Drummer Edgar Livengood pounds the skins so hard, he’s broken bones of his own midset. The smash/riff/bash stoner rockers’…
Without a doubt, Battle Axis is one of South Florida’s hardest-working (and most underpaid) rock bands. It usually plays live twice a week and can be found in almost any rock-friendly venue with a stage — most recently at the South Florida Tattoo Expo, where it played an hourlong set…
A few months ago, I had my first conversation with Jared Cole, a local DJ, promoter, producer, singer/songwriter, and, um… stoner. Anyone who’s met Cole knows that this guy likes to toke. And toke. Cole’s promotions venture is called Toker Productions, and his “Top 24” friends on MySpace (www.myspace.com/jaredcolemusic) include…
Emo — the all-purpose label given to bands that, well… there really is no conventional way to define the emo sound. It’s attitude, countenance, and clothing style. And the four bands coming to Ray’s Downtown this Sunday — Kansas’ Koufax, New Jersey’s ActionReaction and the Finals, and Illinois’ the Forecast…
White Whale doesn’t quite qualify as an indie supergroup, but members of the combo have some noteworthy credentials: Guitarist/vocalist Matt Suggs previously performed with Butterglory, while bassist Rob Pope was one of the Get Up Kids. Their know-how informs WWI, an uncommonly accomplished debut with a minimum of blubber. Even…
In its own unaffected way, Detroit foursome Slumber Party recalls the early, more eclectic daze of late-1970s punk rock and new wave’s first flowering. Whereas most bands in the ’00 era can be summarized in word fragments (emo, grindcore) or nebulous nouns (noise), Slumber Party freely appropriates aspects of assorted…
Strange Fruit Project hails from Texas, but apart from the twangy accents, the group sounds nothing like Houston’s chopped and screwed thugs and grille-pushers. The crew’s remarkably soulful sound begs for comparisons to early Slum Village or perhaps a post-neo-soul Native Tongues. Its rhymes similarly eschew materialist fantasies, preferring instead…
As the nine-minute-plus version of the Jam’s “In the Crowd” that opens disc two of this set winds down, a brief coda of the guitar chords that end the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” emerge. Makes sense; back in the late ’70s, when Weller led the Jam, he was the…
The Devil made me do it. Or maybe it was the music. Whatever the case, that sure as hell wasn’t Fats Pompano running around Ozzfest with a “borrowed” all-access pass, going places he shouldn’t have gone and witnessing things he shouldn’t have seen. It was my body, maybe, but someone…
Either it’ll die down eventually, or, uhhh, I’m gonna die down!” Speaking over his cell phone from a beach just north of San Diego, Head Automatica frontman Daryl Palumbo chuckles at his gallows humor. He’s musing over the fact that you usually can’t get too far into any article about…
Get these motherfucking emo bands off this motherfucking album. No, really — get these motherfucking emo bands off this motherfucking album. The soundtrack accompanying what’s arguably the year’s most-anticipated cheese-horror flick is a giant mess — namely because it’s full of pounding, stuttering dance remixes of songs by new-punk kingpins…
No metal band has stayed good as long as Slayer. Maybe Motörhead, but that’s all. Christ Illusion improves on its predecessor, 2001’s clunky God Hates Us All, the low point of Slayer’s 24-year run. The band’s ninth studio album is comparable to its earlier standouts, but its relentless frenzy lacks…
The concept of a track-for-track reggae version of Radiohead’s OK Computer seems like the bong-hit daydreams of a lonesome stoner in a murky dorm room. But thanks to the Easy Star All-Stars (the masterminds behind 2003’s Dub Side of the Moon), modern rock’s most experimental and introspective band is paid…
