In 2000, after nearly two decades of endless gigging, the members of Phish decided that a self-imposed hiatus would be the best way to get their creative juices flowing again. Side projects were formed, and all four musicians released solo albums. But it is Inside In, the debut from bassist…
You can almost hear the clank and settle before the record starts: A coin drops into the coffee-shop jukebox, and the machine whizzes as the vinyl disc falls beneath the needle. All of this is clearly audible between the occasional steam puff from the coffee pot and a few pings…
When singer/songwriter/guitarist Sam Coomes closes the opener and title track to Quasi’s latest album with “I just came back here to say goodbye,” his signature strained croon as compelling as ever, you can’t help but wonder who (or what) is being bid farewell. Considering he declared in a recent interview…
It’s 2 p.m. in Milwaukee, and Captain Sean-Doe, vocalist for a band of Southern California troublemakers called Throw Rag, has stumbled out of bed to share road wisdom via cellular phone. “Most people don’t want to commit to being poor,” he rasps. “It’s not as romantic as people might think,…
You’ve absorbed the deified albums, quarreled over the rock-critic pontifications, frowned at the guarded combative interviews. Thom Yorke’s ugly-stick-beaten mug has peered at you from the pages of every music magazine known to man; his every word and every note have ignited Internet flame wars. Mass media have bombarded us…
Wildwood Flower’s liner notes are reason enough to recommend the final recording by June Carter Cash, who died from complications of heart surgery in April. Penned by stepdaughter and songwriter Rosanne Cash, they eulogize Carter Cash as a unique and loving mother and musician who for nearly 40 years nurtured…
“Damn, I didn’t know! It hasn’t been on the telly here yet. That’s terrible,” exclaims Supergrass singer-guitarist Gaz Coombes, immediately lowering his voice to say “that’s terrible” again. He turns his mouth away from the receiver to relay the bad news to long-time girlfriend Jools. “Johnny Cash died,” he tells…
These Northern Cal nomads have propagated the “stoner rock” mythos for a long time now. What else would you expect from three hairy behemoths who are the most ominous-looking triumvirate of mugwumps since vintage Blue Cheer? Nebula never fails to make the rafters shudder, and the sheer force of its…
On the back cover of the CD booklet that accompanies Richard X’s first full-length is an antipiracy statement from EMI Music (Astralwerks’ parent), a strongly worded missive reminding listeners about the danger of the Internet. Strange, really, since that’s pretty much how Richard X made his bones, back when he…
At this late date, only the acolytes await the latest Bowie release, the casual fan having been waved off by slow sellbacks masquerading as Low comebacks every few years. He’ll never be as artistically rewarding as he was during the ’70s or as commercially viable as he was in the…
As a teenager, Da Brat made her name by freestyling at a Kris Kross concert, where she turned heads with a hard-hitting flow and an undeniable spunk. Scooped up and molded into a B-grade celebrity by Hotlanta hitmaker Jermaine Dupri, Brat (born Shawntae Harris) has grown up in the public…
“It’s always something,” Poison the Well guitarist Derek Miller laughs through his dying cell phone from Cleveland. “Every time we release a record, it’s always, ‘What the fuck happened?'” Such is life for the world’s most-beloved and hated hardcore band. If you listen only to the first 40 seconds of…
For the unsuspecting listener, the sheer brutality of the Dillinger Escape Plan may appear way left of center — a cacophony of instrumental extremities that seems to defy any explanation. But there is a purpose to the chaos, and DEP guitarist Ben Weinman thinks they’re square in the middle –…
There’s that story you hear every couple of years about how for this or that record, a band moves into a haunted mansion in Tennessee or the Hollywood Hills, sets up some tape machines, microphones, and an assortment of percussive instruments in the basement, and attempts to construct an opus…
Dust off those boots, and oil up your saddle. After playing numerous venues in their hometown of Toronto, the Reggae Cowboys are riding into West Palm Beach at sundown, bringing their unique blend of C&W-tinged reggae. Looking for all the world like extras in a spaghetti Western — minus horses…
After watching Weird Science, one has to wonder: What makes the perfect woman? Is it just a nice rack and Albert Einstein’s brain? Well, then, what makes the perfect band? Is it an equal combination of chiseled looks, good chops, and a seedy addiction to some over-the-counter sleeping pill? No,…
Think of electroclash as the NASDAQ circa spring 2000, when it crashed and burned after the hype finally subsided. Now think of Client as a dot-com trying to make a buck by rolling out an IPO in the midst of that environment. The duo’s hackneyed formula confronts you well before…
The late Jeff Buckley (1966-1997) had a singularly amazing voice — a trait shared with his father, avant-folk troubadour Tim Buckley (1947-1975). Like his dad, Buckley could purr like a jungle cat, sigh like a Delta bluesman, improvise like a jazz singer, and shriek like a half-mad banshee from some…
Unlike the stripped-down rawk coming out of NYC these days, Oakland’s Heavenly States prefer a dense layered wall of sound with guitar upon guitar upon keyboard upon violin. It’s in those layers that the band’s multitude of influences fight it out. Its eponymous debut’s confluence of styles borders on the…
Every five minutes, rapper Mike West sticks a pair of fingers between his vertical blinds and peers out the window. A pair of drive-by auto detailers is in his driveway, giving West’s maroon Chevy Caprice the royal treatment. Operating from the back of a rundown van outfitted with a 150-gallon…
Once a crucial component in France’s downtempo electronica scene, Air now resembles Obscured by Clouds-era Pink Floyd and Serge Gainsbourg more than the passé acid-jazzers with whom it used to share deck time. City Reading is a brave detour for Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin: They provide music for Italian…
More than 40 years ago, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minow called television programming “the vast wasteland.” But if TV is really that bad, what’s radio? The medium has become one cookie-cutter station after another, usually because Clear Channel likes to stick with the same model. But this leaves a…
