The term “guilty pleasure” has become the blanket defense used by status-conscious critics for uncool acts they secretly love but can’t admit to in print. But in an era when even Kelly Clarkson gets good press, perhaps the guiltiest pleasure of all is boring old Billy Joel. Unlike other punching…
If you tell a true ’80s punk fan that the Subhumans are playing a gig, you’ll need to clarify which Subhumans you’re talking about. There’s the Subhumans from the early ’80s Vancouver punk scene, who rocked alongside bands like D.O.A. and the Pointed Sticks, and then there’s the Subhumans from…
Let’s be frank. The problem with metalcore is that it all sounds the same. Enter Zao’s hotly anticipated Fear Is What Keeps Us Here, its upcoming sophomore effort for Ferret Music. Details are scarce, but the band is debuting two songs on this tour. And here’s the kicker: The album…
It might not be cool to say, but missing out on seeing Freddie Mercury perform live is one of the great musical tragedies of my life. I’m always struck by the regret I feel at this fact, and attempts on my part to compensate — namely, rewatching Queen’s Live at…
If recent breakouts by Mylo and Vitalic have proven that there’s still life left in house music and upbeat electronica (and they have), Idol Tryouts proves that there’s also life beyond it. This double-disc set, compiled by the soothsayers at the edgy Ann Arbor label Ghostly International, is split into…
Imagine an emergency room doctor gauging a patient’s health according to the originality of his symptoms: “Hmm . . . unclassifiable cough, ingeniously irregular heartbeat . . . Sir, I’m happy to report that you’re in excellent shape.” But the health of rock ‘n’ roll is often measured by innovation,…
Before the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O strutted, spit and cooed her way to indie-rock icon status, the last dynamic female to front a rock band was arguably Courtney Love. The grunge widow propelled Hole to stardom in the 1990s with her inimitable martyr poses and baby-doll fashion on the…
Bleeding Through makes melodic, postmodern metal, taking what it needs from formerly discrete subgenres (shredding thrash guitar, gothic keyboards, black metal blast beats) and churning it all together behind vocalist Brandon Schieppati, whose bellow gets the dudes moshing when his angsty croon isn’t driving the girls wild. Avenged Sevenfold plows…
1. Band of Horses, Everything All the Time (Sub Pop) 2. Liars, Drum’s Not Dead (Mute) 3. Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Ballad of the Broken Seas (V2) 4. Murs, Murray’s Revenge (Record Collection) 5. Arctic Monkeys, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I Am Not (Domino) 6. Josh…
Call it the great inevitable. Alt-rock trends in the 21st century have, so far, stuck to a pretty tight schedule, reviving retro sounds right around the 20-year mark. So it makes perfect sense that the successor to all the recent post-punk and early-New Wave imitators would firmly plant us somewhere…
Whether you know what to expect or it’s your very first time, nothing can actually prepare you for South By Southwest. Battalions of bands take over Austin, Texas, and Shiner Bock flows like water. The whole music industry food chain — major and indie label reps, publicists, booking agents, and…
Although Matisyahu has been around for a few years, the novelty factor is still high on his third album. After all, can you name another Orthodox Jewish dancehall star? But those who can handle a bespectacled, bearded, yarmulke-clad performer breaking it down, island stylee, will find that Youth quickly turns…
In a music industry where the dreck rises to the top of the charts and the cream gets tagged as “cult,” it’s comforting to see Sparks persevere over the decades in spite of a mostly indifferent American audience. Fronted by the brothers Ron and Russell Mael, the Los Angeles group…
There used to be a time when you could actually mention Dilated Peoples and Black Eyed Peas in the same sentence, given that they both came up in the subterranean Los Angeles hip-hop scene in the late ’90s and once shared a similar funk-soul sampling, old-school scratching and beatmaking, Golden…
While many of us have likely uttered at some point, “If I hear one more goddamned whiny emo song I’m gonna kill myself,” suicide really is no laughing matter, especially when it comes to our nation’s kids — it remains the third leading cause of death for those between the…
Local beat manipulators DJ Delikacy and DJ Xtra-E, of Foreign Affair at the Hidden House, are hosting an underground hip-hop blowout at the Hidden House (607 W. Osborn Rd.) this Monday, March 27, in association with the west side collective Modurn Languaj Asosiashun (whose members rhyme much better than they…
It’s called Art Detour, but hey — music’s art, too, and the annual creative confab taking place this weekend is as much about sounds as it is about sights. These days, no chitchat about the downtown arts community is complete without major props for the music scene, which has noticeably…
No band in indie rock today has a more badass name than this Austin quintet’s. Say it with relish: I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness. Makes you just wanna break up with somebody, doesn’t it? The badassness doesn’t stop at their name, either, like with that other noisy five-piece…
The Project enjoys bringing it back to the blunt-tokin’ old school days of “Bitches Ain’t Shit” gangsta rap circa nine-deuce, but with a twist, fusing together seemingly disparate elements of modern creative jazz, avant-classical, and metal with a funkdafied energy that rolls right alongside West Coast party hip-hop. The rollicking…
It’s no surprise that a record called Destroyer’s Rubies (as opposed to, you know, just Rubies) is endlessly self-referential to Dan Bejar’s earlier works. As you read this, Bejar acolytes are furiously footnoting every mention of his old songs, albums and motifs, as if it would help divine meaning from…
An Angle’s Kris Anaya knows how to stick to a theme. The name of the latest disc by his “band” (a rotating lineup of pals and co-conspirators) is We Can Breathe Under Alcohol, and to make sure no one thinks the title was chosen at random, he kicks off “Green…
The cover of Kreator’s Live Kreation depicts a solemn ghoul playing the intestines of a bound, disemboweled victim with a bow. Album artwork doesn’t get much more aesthetically appropriate. Dating back more than two decades, this German quartet started out heavier than the burden on Atlas’ shoulders, and last year’s…
