You just can’t hate Chris Martin. Oh, you can find him overrated and his tunes sappy, but aside from the occasional run-in with a photographer, Martin is that rare gentleman rock star with a modest mouth. He married a glamorous Oscar winner, he named his kid Apple, and yet the…
If you believe what he said on 60 Minutes not long ago, even Bob Dylan is in awe of the staggering leaps he took when he made a mountain of art from the molehill folk scene he transcended in the early ’60s. This change wasn’t a simple organic process of…
With a Hammer of the Gods voice and enough street cred to be the ghetto president, Slim Thug is the latest import from the scorching Houston underground. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that his major-label debut, the optimistically titled Already Platinum, is a collaborative effort with reigning pop kings the…
Everyone goes through a phase where they wish they’d lived in the ’60s. You know, the world roils outside, but in the bedroom, the record player is turned up to the latest thing — musical bliss. Well, guess what? We’ve got soldiers slogging through a dead-end war, and now we’ve…
The Glass Heroes proudly proclaim their allegiance to “unadulterated and undiluted punk,” and listening to their self-titled Malt Soda debut, it takes no guesswork to trace their influences straight back to the late ’70s. For one thing, they’ve completely nailed covers of two of the best songs from that era…
When music fans utter the phrase “gay metalhead,” it’s usually in derision of some aging, teased-hair ’80s throwback. But with Ben Aqua, the 23-year-old Austin, Texas, headbanger behind the one-man thrash/noise/metal act Assacre, it’s the literal truth. For most of the past two years, the openly homosexual guitarist has spewed…
In Memoriam: Destiny’s Child (1990-2005) The multi-platinum pop-R&B trio Destiny’s Child died of an unspecified illness at GM Place in Vancouver, Canada, on Saturday, September 10, 2005, following a long farewell tour. Friends, family, and several thousand fans were on hand to say their final goodbyes to the trio, which…
C’mon, A.J., pick up the damn phone, Nick thought to himself. “Hello?” “A.J., it’s Nick, what’s up?” “Hey, Nick, how’s it goin’? Wait a sec, lemme mute the TV . . .” “Whatcha watchin’?” “Oh, just this thing on the History Channel about Hitler invading Russia and how he fucked…
It’s been a long fucking summer, and the end’s still not in sight, so when you need a break from the pummeling sunshine and simmering concrete, check out Aqwela Entertainment’s Summer Oasis at Earl’s Tin Palace (15784 North Pima Road in Scottsdale) on Monday nights. DJ Tranzl8r spins all styles…
Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s ethereal, Willie-esque timbre has never sounded so down-to-earth as it does on Come On Back. No doubt, a major explanation for this strong vocal presence lies with the fact that the album is a tribute to the favorite tunes of Gilmore’s recently deceased father — it’s probably…
Guitar heroes with taste always seem to live in the margins, and Duke Robillard is no exception. The founder of Roomful of Blues has a tuneful, supple way with rockabilly, jazz and soul-inflected blues that should appeal to anyone with an ear for lyrical leads and painterly chords and riffs…
If Phoenix band Motive has an actual motive, it’s having a good time, and that means booze, metal, sex, and — wait, did we say booze? Plus, these guys make some crushingly heavy music that’s a blend of Testament, Obituary, and Amon Amarth. To understand Motive’s sound in a single…
Can you imagine The Knack as a death metal band? We didn’t think so, either, until we heard The Number 12 Looks Like You’s cover of the late ’70s New Wavers’ classic “My Sharona.” After experiencing The Number 12’s guttural growling followed by the chorus’ cheesy, high-pitched “woo!”, we knew…
Everybody Rise! demonstrates that as surely as a band can lose its mojo — usually when the recording budget is high, along with the burden of expectation — it can find it again. Free from the snooty art class that Sub Pop has become, the Makers return to the winking…
Gogol Bordello, New York’s only Ukrainian Gypsy punk band, has a planetary musical vision. The band’s strong Ukrainian roots — evidenced by the furious accordion work of Yuri Lemeshev and the mad fiddling of Sergey Rjabtzev — are augmented by morsels of reggae, flamenco, Balkan wedding music, heavy metal guitar…
You could almost touch the hesitation when people finally got an earful of Electric Version, the New Pornographers’ 2003 follow-up to their instantly canonized debut. An “It’s-Good-But” record if ever there was one, Version was easy to defend but difficult to love, a record that demanded a little more than…
Fans expecting more crushing feedback, pile-driver drumming and arty, late-’90s-style British bluster will be shocked by the quiet, introspective vibe BRMC displays on its third outing. There’s plenty of overdubbing — Autoharp, congas, piano, organ, drums and electric-guitar noise — but the mix has an unplugged feel that leaves the…
Every Time I Die isn’t a hardcore band — at least, it isn’t anymore. On Gutter Phenomenon, the Buffalo band adopts a much more straightforward rock sound in tracks like the heavy “Tusk and Temper.” ETID exemplifies hardcore’s roots in punk rock as well, keeping things high-speed and gritty (the…
With most new bands trying to hit platinum their first time out, you rarely see acts develop over the course of several albums anymore — either you’re huge or you’re gone. This sad fact is yet another reason to enjoy the twists and turns of the White Stripes, who have…
When Tucson’s The Bled recorded their first full-length for Fiddler Records, Pass the Flask, vocalist James Muñoz had just replaced the band’s former singer and had mere days to familiarize himself with the songs. Nonetheless, Pass the Flask was a masterpiece of screaming, growling heaviness, a blend of mathematical metal,…
Screw the Crüe — for our money, the single most iconic moment of the ’80s sleaze-metal era is that scene in The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years in which belligerent W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes floats in a swimming pool in full stage leather, swearing and dumping…
Born in Chicago, Bad Boy Bill grew up on hip-hop as well as dance music. There in the hotbed of house, he listened to Farley Jackmaster Funk of WBMX’s Hot Mix Five, the area’s legendary DJ team. Funk had one of the first house singles to chart (a cover of…
