Musicians who invent stuff are way cool. There’s Boston’s Tom Scholz, who developed the hugely popular Rockman headphone amplifier; New Orleans soul-punker Quintron and his bizarro, light-activated Drum Buddy; and, of course, Junior Brown, who, two decades ago, came up with his signature “guit-steel” — a Frankensteinian double-necked instrument that’s…
The most powerful introduction to Lucinda Williams’ new record, West, comes not from the languid, repetitive opener “Are You Alright?” but from the liner-note inscription by her poet father, Miller Williams: “You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone.” As one…
Apparently, breaking up helped Black Rebel Motorcyle Club more than it hurt. After losing drummer Nick Jago, remaining members Peter Hayes and Robert Been took an abrupt, well-received detour into acoustic-based folk on 2005’s Howl, which soon led to Jago’s return. The time apart must have worked some sort of…
Reflecting the urban polyglot of its Los Angeles home, Ozomatli purveys a Latin dance party fueled by horns and covering a seamless expanse of hip-hop, jazz, rock, funk, and salsa. The vibrant sound is impressive live, and the band won a Grammy for its third album, 2004’s Street Signs. Like…
Bright Eyes’ latest effort, Cassadaga, takes its name from a psychic community. The first voice you hear as the orchestra makes like “Revolution 9” is a clairvoyant going on about centers of energy, and there are references to cleansing and communing with the dead. Although there’s nothing here as obviously…
The piñatas and Patrón will be poppin’ as the yearly case of Cinco de Mayo fever grips the Valley this weekend, with an eff-load of fetes and fiestas planned for Saturday, May 5 (peep our guide for proof). We’ve planned out our whole day, wey, and it gonna be muy…
Since this Saturday is Cinco de Mayo, a totally cracker-ass holiday which happens to cause bands to play in excess all in the same day, I’m pimping some of this weekend’s shows early. Friday night, if I’m not at the Ghostlife show, then I’ll be checking out the Earps’ CD…
It’s pretty goddamn rare that when I get a random local CD with only my name printed on a white slip-sleeve and a flyer for an upcoming show in it that the band’s any good. Actually, sometimes it’s rare that the disc will get more than thirty seconds of playing…
I hadn’t heard from my old pal Marshall “Fucking” Beck in a while, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a comment on my Myspace page from him today. Apparently his old band Rebirth is releasing a CD soon (he’s got a band called Reign of Vengeance these days). Here’s…
Don’t let the photo above scare you, it’s only my homeboy Ryan Breen, a.k.a. the one-man electronic machine known as Back Ted N-Ted. He’s just finished up his debut album, Pop Animal, that’s scheduled to be released soon by Ohio indie Abandon Building Records. If you click on the tag…
I missed the Crowded House/Liam Finn show last Thursday at the Marquee, but one of the swell guys who occasionally takes photos of bands for my column was there, and sent me these shots as well as a pretty rave review of the gig. The photog is Luke Holwerda, and…
As a music critic, it’s a given that I see a shitload of local bands. I also see a lot of bad local bands, or at least ones that could really use some adjustments. Even talented acts around town bore the hell out of me if I see them a…
Now that extreme metal with an arty edge hardly seems trailblazing anymore, the concept of super-short albums stocked with blink-and-you’ll-miss-it bursts of noise is losing its postmodern thrill. Though several acts have worked this angle with fresh results, including Daughters and the Locust, both of which appear with Cattle Decapitation…
There is no better way to dismissively sum up a rock band than by labeling it “emo.” This has almost universally worked for the past six or seven years, with few exceptions. But when those few exceptions do occur, music aficionados and pop culture, in general, have to scramble to…
Popularity, in a Yogi Berra-esque paradox, alienates some music fans. They either don’t want to be sheep or they simply want to avoid being trampled by the existing sheep in an eerie frenzy inspired by, let’s say, the bouncy sweatball of performing energy that is Treasure Mammal’s Abelardo Gil III…
A patchwork of film and TV samples, scratches, and elegant baroque instrumentation on Hope & Sorrow follows French turntablist/producer Wax Tailor’s 2005 debut, which isn’t entirely different from this latest effort. Two years ago, Tailor employed looped keyboard melodies and cello flourishes on his breakout Tales of Forgotten Melodies LP,…
At some point in rock ‘n’ roll, creativity got confused with originality — bands and singers were suspect if their songs weren’t self-penned. Performers recording others’ songs were often seen as less “genuine” by the terminally hip. That kind of thinking is responsible for tons of rock albums containing two…
Compulsion is one of those albums that makes you scratch your head with wonder at how it could ever have gone out of print in the first place. Maybe we can blame the overabundance of jazz albums in the stratosphere, or maybe it’s because the late pianist Andrew Hill didn’t…
Airily pretty, vicariously depressing, and just plain emotionally exhausting, the Velvet Underground & Nico tune “Sunday Morning” nailed comedown bummer rock with such precision that most later efforts in that direction have been left wanting. Some 30-plus years later, the Baltimore duo Beach House has recovered and lethargically twirled this…
Nick Cave hasn’t played electric guitar for years and his primitive, grinding approach to the instrument inspired the name of the band and the thrashing, primal, punky noise it spits out on its debut album. With Bad Seeds Warren Ellis (violin, keyboards, bouzouki, guitar), Martyn Casey (bass), and Jim Sclavunos…
Perhaps only The New York Times could have written this headline: “Bluegrass That Can Twang and Be Cool Too.” Excuse me? Somebody inform the Gray Lady that all bluegrass is cool. Nickel Creek, the subject of the above header, is just different. The twang’s there, but forget everything you think…
Although the men of Air have never been the most explosive Frenchmen on the planet, there are times on the album Pocket Symphony where they feel more like air with a lowercase “a” than Air, the brains behind the sad yet swanky space-pop classic Moon Safari. The title itself is…
