Critic's Notebook

Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers are scheduled to perform on Monday, November 8, at the Rhythm Room.

Get your b-boy boots tied for the arrival of DJ Haul and Mason this Thursday, November 4, at the Blunt Club (at PI, a.k.a. Boston’s, 5014 South Price Road in Tempe). These L.A. DJ dudes are on the upswing, having won URB magazine’s annual mix-tape contest a while back, and…

Log on to the Gloritone Web site and you’ll find yourself redirected to www.massivestars.net, home of Massive Stars. Basically, it’s two-thirds of Gloritone (Tim Anthonise and Scott Hessel minus bassist Nick Scropos, who’s now in Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers) with new bassist Chris Serafini (Ghetto Cowgirl, The Stereo) and…

When people think of musical satirists, they think of “Weird Al” Yankovic song parodies when they should be thinking of Neil Innes, a guy who composes original music that slyly sends up artists and genres. He plied his craft in the ’60s with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, the British…

Radiohead gets more press, but the best band in England is actually the Delgados. Not only have they made five terrific albums, but they began the Chemikal Underground label, leading a Scottish pop explosion with releases by Mogwai, Bis, Arab Strap, and Aerogramme. While they began as something of a…

Richard Buckner and Damien Jurado are scheduled to
perform on Thursday, November 4, at the Old
Brickhouse.

Bless craggy Leonard Cohen, the enigma, the romantic, the religious pervert in sackcloth and tailored suits, the servant of Montreal, the Juddhist. Bless him for his arrogance and his humility, and for opening the doors of the permissible and making the unthinkable possible. Cohen took the Old Testament, cold razor…

Maroons’ cuter name is Lateef & the Chief: MC Lateef, half of undie hip-hop duo Latyrx (along with partner Lyrics Born), and DJ Chief Xcel, half of slightly less undie hip-hop duo Blackalicious (along with partner the Gift of Gab). Ambush is their debut mini-album: nine servings of the sort…

The biggest no-one-saw-it-coming success in music in recent years has to be the multiplatinum O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Since then, head-scratching record execs have been trying to divine the magic that made that high-lonesome collection such a smash among baby boomers. The latest attempt to recapture that magic…

Page Hamilton’s first big break came in 1992, when his band Helmet’s sophomore album, Meantime, went gold and set the template for ’90s punk-metal. The front man’s second big break happened this past August, when he shattered his collarbone after smashing into a tree while mountain biking in Oregon, thereby…

1. Jimmy Eat World, Futures (Interscope) 2. Usher, Confessions (La Face) 3. Jimmy Eat World, Bleed American (DreamWorks) 4. Mos Def, New Danger (Geffen) 5. Blood Brothers, Crimes (V2./Bmg) 6. Elliott Smith, From a Basement on the Hill (Anti) 7. The Used, In Love & Death (Warner Bros.) 8. Korn,…

So Carrie wasn’t quite in the ’80s (1976, to be precise), but we still think that’ll be our costume inspiration for Hot Pink’s second annual Halloween party this Friday night, October 29. After all, the theme is “’80s Prom Gone Bad,” and Carrie’s prom was about as bad as they…

Unlike most of nü wave’s hottest acts — who endlessly parrot the notion that they just play what they play, without regard for what’s going on outside their heads — England’s Futureheads display a welcome familiarity with the hopped-up rock scene swirling around them. The 15 tunes on their self-titled…

“I don’t want to grow up,” spat Milo Aukerman, singer for pop-punk trailblazers the Descendents, nearly 20 years ago. Now two of their descendants — Good Charlotte and Sum 41 — are doing just that after coming out of the gates as snotty, Hot Topic-ed kiddy-punkers. Peep Good Charlotte’s new…

On the eve of his album’s release — 10 hours, 45 minutes and counting until the unveiling of SMiLE, the fabled lost Beach Boys album a worldwide cult of fans has been waiting some 37 years to hear completed — Brian Wilson is on the phone, calling up journalists to…

Luna front man Dean Wareham is the musical equivalent of one of those old chaps you see at county fairs presiding over an arts-and-crafts booth surrounded by dozens of handcrafted pepper grinders that look identical save for a different wild animal head atop each one. Rendezvous is the New York…

“We are the Sciannas/We drink beer instead of wine/We are the Sciannas/We wear suits and ties.” Any band that pens its own theme song is begging to have its own cartoon series with corresponding lunch box. And the Sciannas don’t disappoint — the band’s theme is a melodic doppelgänger to…

It wasn’t just sharp, tailored suits and leather gun holsters that set Interpol apart from its New York peers back in 2002, when the return-of-the-rock retro frenzy was at fever pitch. For one thing, singer/guitarist Paul Banks’ eerie channeling of the late Ian Curtis was startling enough to put a…

Like a bastard little brother, Megadeth has lurked in the shadow of the band singer/guitarist Dave Mustaine helped found in the early ’80s. Both Metallica and Megadeth have experienced great success, but while Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, et al., became a multiplatinum megalith whose songs are played during baseball games,…

One of indie rock’s most enjoyable new bands, Rilo Kiley’s led by former child actors Blake Sennett and Jenny Lewis — though it’s the latter’s sexy singing and thoughtful lyricism that truly elevates the band. Saddle Creek released 2002’s The Execution of All Things, a stunning album that mixed country…

This just in: Travis Morrison is teaming up with Sonic Youth, the Flaming Lips, and Liz Phair for the “Pitchfork Hates Us!” tour. Okay, not really, but Mr. Morrison did just join the elite circle of artists who’ve earned a coveted “0.0” album review from that online arbiter of all…

Drummer Scott Phillips doesn’t seem to shed a tear over his former band, Creed, being finished now that he and Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti, ousted Creed bassist Brian Marshall, and ex-Mayfield Four frontman Myles Kennedy are starting anew as Alter Bridge. He relishes the new democratic songwriting process and even…