On their third album, the core members of I See Hawks in L.A. are joined by Chris Hillman (Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers), Rick Shea (Dave Alvin Band) and other heavies from L.A.’s alt-country gang. It’s the songwriting of the principal bandmates, though, that grabs your attention. Lead vocalist and guitarist…
Earlier this year, in a departure from its usual practice of signing Metalpalooza bait such as High on Fire and Nile, record label Relapse picked up a few instrumental-only bands, the most prized of which is semi-legendary progger Don Caballero, whose members are free on waivers from Touch and Go…
This year’s Ozzfest — the 11th annual orgy of leather, tattoos, long hair, beer, boobs, pit surfing, devil horns, heat exhaustion, and metal/hard rock of all varieties — is particularly notable for two reasons: For the first time in the tour’s history, namesake Ozzy Osbourne won’t be headlining the main…
The classic Sabbath/Led Zep/Motörhead style of metal is like one of cooking’s essential “mother sauces” — add just a few ingredients to that basic combination of cranked guitars, power drumming, and howled lyrics and you get all kinds of new flavors. Incorporate some mechanized beats and samples and you’ll have…
The former Squirrel Nut Zippers vocalist trades in her cabaret for lounge on Dirty Little Secret, distancing herself from the old-fashioned jump blues and jazz swing of her old outfit. While Whalen’s wonderful voice would be winning in just about any band, David Sale’s rich, varied production transposes it into…
When not causing a dance-rock ruckus with his bass-drums duo Death From Above 1979, mustachioed four-stringer Jesse Keeler likes to team up with pal Al-P to form the equally Canadian, increasingly prolific, vowel-challenged production team MSTRKRFT. Over the past year, the pair has crafted remixes for such luminaries as Annie,…
Avenue of the Arts crew member Courdek isn’t just another artist after the glitz and glam of the rap game. Throughout Courdek’s debut solo album, Synchronicity, he expresses his skills as a conscious lyricist in thoughtful chorus and verse rhymes. Composed and performed almost entirely by the MC and producer…
It was only a matter of time before John Ralston broke big. The twentysomething just might be south Florida’s best songwriter — many scenesters, including longtime pal and emo hero Chris Carrabba, say so. A few years back, his work with Legends of Rodeo elevated the band to modest acclaim…
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,…
Metal-core must be a harsh mistress; otherwise, you’d think that more bands in the genre would at least try to inject a shred of originality or imagination into their music. If Orange County’s Scars of Tomorrow don’t necessarily succeed in escaping from the thud-chunk-growl straitjacket, at least they try —…
Hmm, what’s this little story . . . Tilly and the Wall? Let’s have a read: “So the three girls and two boys from Omaha, Nebraska, decided in 2001 to form a band. They called it Tilly and the Wall. But they couldn’t find a drummer! “‘Whatever shall we do?’…
After 10 years at the helm of minimalist indie-mopers Carissa’s Wierd [sic], Pacific Northwesterners Ben Bridwell and Matt Brooke decided, upon that group’s disintegration in 2004, to let their inner Crazy Horses run free on their next musical venture. And so they dubbed their new band, appropriately enough, Band of…
It’s always good to see our local needle-sharers hitting the road with outta-town acts, but it’s even cooler when they breeze into town and get a li’l bit of a homecoming crowd out to hype them up. DJ Element, one of the ‘Nix’s best known turntable talents, has been out…
Phoenix MC and record label founder Arhythmatik knows that the basement of ASU’s Memorial Union is more than an open venue with strangely acute acoustics. He sees the cellar stage as a mecca of hip-hop culture, and on the last Friday of every month, he shares his vision with hip-hop…
1. Ice Cube, Laugh Now Cry Later (Lench Mob) 2. Busta Rhymes, Big Bang (Aftermath) 3. Yung Joc, New Joc City (Bad Boy) 4. Nelly Furtado, Loose (Geffen) 5. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium (Warner Bros./Wea) 6. Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere (Downtown) 7. Keane, Under the Iron Sea (Interscope)…
If you think you know a singer-songwriter and want to be sure before you buy him a beer, check these qualifiers courtesy of Wikipedia: must “write, compose and sing their own material,” “appear primarily at house concerts, coffee houses, folk clubs and festivals,” and be “better known for their meaningful…
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 Jolie Holland threatens to slip…
Comets on Fire guitarist Ben Chasny’s Six Organs of Admittance solo project has never been breezy or light; it’s more of a forum to explore experimental, psychedelic textures. Even still, his second Drag City album, The Sun Awakens, manages to take his trademark Robbie Basho-inspired acoustic plucks and manic free…
Though somewhat overlooked over the years because of similar yet much-hyped scenes to its south — primarily in New York City and Washington, D.C. — Boston hardcore boasts a solid history of no-bullshit, no-holds-barred thrash-punk and some killer hometown heroes, including Gang Green, SSD, and Impact Unit (Mighty Mighty Bosstones…
Kinda jammy, kinda classic-rock and kinda alt-country, Steel Train has nevertheless found itself lumped in with its more age-appropriate post-punk and emo counterparts. Sure, the band’s on Drive-Thru Records and sings about, like, feelings and stuff, but it also contemplates the relationships between fathers and sons, sympathizes with alley cats,…
Vader may be the biggest-selling death-metal band ever to crawl out of Poland — and the first behind-the-Iron Curtain band to sign a Western record deal — but that’s obviously not saying much. Vader does, however, deserve some small recognition, if only for tenacity. From their 1990 demo, Morbid Reich,…
Be Your Own Pet doesn’t play punk rock like your random lipstick-wearing MTV pinups, or your pop-punk-happy jokesters, or even your serious-as-cancer anarchists. This Nashville, Tennessee, trio kicks out the raucously inebriated jams in the spirit of ’77 with style. Only a year or two removed from high school, singer…
