June 16, 1995, was like any other Friday night for an 18-year-old Fats: loafing around Clematis Street with my other underaged punk-rock pals, the brothers Wallerstein and the perpetually messed-up Jason Compton. Yes, I used to be a member of the 561. I know the pains of Palm Beach County…
Like thoroughbred horses, industrial music has only a handful of forebears, so when the Big Three — Skinny Puppy, Ministry, and Front Line Assembly — seemed to be calling it quits or, at the very least, falling off around 1995, the future looked even darker than normal for the genre’s…
Editor’s Note: This concert has been canceled. Refunds are available at point of purchase. The New Cars nearly off-roaded. On Monday, June 5, guitarist Elliot Easton had to be rushed to the hospital after a little vehicular mishap. It all started in the front lounge of the band’s tour bus,…
When a reviewer cites a band’s “maturity,” it frequently means the group has exchanged spontaneity and freshness for calculation and predictability. That’s certainly the case with the Peppers, whose latest has generated raves from easily pleased scribes, even though it’s basically two discs’ worth of been-there-done-that-better-in-the-past. Stadium features loads of…
Hailing from the “kitchen sink” school of composition, Mike Patton has a sizable body of work that demonstrates his commitment to the theory that more is more. More styles of music, more layers of sound, more collaborators, more albums released — not since George Clinton’s heyday has one man been…
The men of Minneapolis’ Tapes ‘n Tapes create an indie-rock mélange that recalls at least a dozen acts from the genre’s past — and, relatively speaking, that’s a good thing. Rather than aping a particular group, Josh Grier and company draw from oodles of inspirations, and if they don’t quite…
Regina Spektor’s tricky tongue and fading Russian accent separate her from the ever-expanding crowd of Tori Amos/Fiona Apple wannabes who sport “funky” hats and own well-worn piano stools. Begin to Hope might be less histrionic than 2004’s Soviet Kitsch, but it’s still great fun to bear witness to this New…
Since combining forces in the Bikes, Rick Ambrose (Postface, Ex-Cretins) and Dan Hosker (Doersam, Holy Terrors) have been peddling their eclectic, violin-coated indie rock to South Florida audiences for quite a few years now. So it’s high time the group churned out some recorded output. With its debut album, Get…
“Today is 6/6/06 — Emo Kid Beatdown Day,” said the thin, teenaged brunet to the two girls next to her. It was part of a conversation I overheard at (no shit) an emo show at Uncle Sam’s Music in Lauderhill. I just had to butt in. “Really? Is that a…
Middle America can be hell for the touring rock band — especially one from the big city. But when New York City’s Theo and the Skyscrapers began their first U.S. tour last month, it’s like they never left the Big Apple. Even Utah felt like home. That much was confirmed…
Born in Communist Georgia where she played “I Want to Break Free” on air guitar, raised in Belfast where she fell in love with the singer-songwriter aesthetic, and a certified pop star in the U.K. before the age of 20, Katie Melua quite literally burst onto the music scene by…
The Church lost many fans in the 1990s when it began to favor meandering grooves that seduced via atmosphere rather than hooks. But while the absence of accessible pop gems meant that the prolific Australian quartet disappeared from the airwaves, its ability to bend melodies into heart-fluttering beauty never wavered…
Let’s be honest: Despite the perceived sensitivity injection (courtesy of tear-stained emo and indie artists), radio is no more welcoming to female musicians now than it was during the days of frat-mook nü-metal — well, not to female musicians of substance, at least. Save for Kelly Clarkson and KT Tunstall,…
Don’t let the tackily generic, low-budget packaging fool you — these three collections are packed with the finest old-school Southern R&B/soul you’re likely to hear in two lifetimes. On Deep In My Soul, Roscoe Shelton’s impassioned, Solomon Burke-style vocals bridge older styles of Southern blues with the fervent, gospel-charged vibe…
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve known it for a while now: It was only a matter of time before John Ralston broke big. The twentysomething Lake Worth local just might be South Florida’s best songwriter — many scenesters, including longtime pal and emo hero Chris Carrabba — say so…
South Florida punk rock just lost its favorite uncle. Die Stinkin’ — Palm Beach County’s longest running punk band (b. 1985) — played its final show in Fort Lauderdale on May 28. And I fucking missed it. Yep, Smarty Pants Pompano decided it’d make more sense to drive up to…
When the Stills released their 2003 debut album, Logic Will Break Your Heart, critics were quick to lump them in with Anglo-inspired New York City bands like Interpol and the Strokes. The knee-jerk brush-off: Great, more Joy Division/Echo and the Bunnymen wannabes. It didn’t matter that the Stills are from…
The basic ingredients of Saturday’s Laptop Battle at Churchill’s Pub are, well, pretty basic. All that’s needed are computer-wielding contestants, an audience, and a few brave judges. Now, about the rules: Screw the rules. What do you think this is, American Idol? All right, so maybe there are a couple…
Nothing personal, Meg, but working with new playmates has set Jack White free. “I’m through ripping myself off,” he asserts on the title track. If you didn’t catch that, he repeats, “I’m done ripping myself off.” From the lighthearted ease that oozes from every track, it’s obvious that White has…
The good folks at the Anti- label sure know how to pick ’em. But while labelmate and fellow flame-haired vixen Neko Case gets all the attention from horndog rock writers the world over (“She can sing, and I’d do ‘er!”), the enigmatic, sometimes disturbingly intense Houston expatriate Jolie Holland threatens…
Kill Rock Stars is owned by a man named Slim Moon who has better taste in music than you do. His ears are irrefutably sharp: The KRS roster is a dense handbook on indie-underground innovators and breakthrough wonders ranging from Sleater-Kinney and Elliott Smith to the Gossip and Xiu Xiu…
From downtown Dallas street corners to ’round-the-world street fights, it’d be understatement by half to claim that it’s been a strange and surprising trip for sisters and Chicks founders Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, especially since it’s the latecomer lead singer who got the band into trouble in the first…
