Maybe I’m shallow, but I’m still waiting for a band called Daughters of Fission that’s four women with Coke-bottle eyeglasses and hair up in hideous buns who magically transform into ravishing Amazons midway through their set. This unit is three gals short and way too serious to take this high-minded…
Filmmakers like to go on about how rhyme-slingers make such naturalistic actors, how the MCs’ innate intensity translates well to the big screen. Oakland-based Why? makes an equally convincing argument for the viability of undie backpackers as high-caliber, indie-rock front men. Anticon Records stalwart/everyman Jonathan “Yoni” Wolf started Why? a…
Charlie Sexton, having left home at 12 to storm Austin as a guitar prodigy, does not lack in heartland grit. Maybe that’s why his latest, Cruel and Gentle Things, harks back to an era before rootsy rock was called “alt-country” and required the prurient use of Dobro and banjo to…
When Vaux released its first album, There Must Be Some Way to Stop Them, on Volcom Recordings in 2003, we could sense something was percolating; this band was on the verge of something explosive. Fans waited to see the band perform live or release the next album, wanting to witness…
Bands change, fortunately, and so does the music they make. But that implies opinions must change, too. After describing MXPX as a pale Green Day imitation to the bass tech for MXPX’s front man Mike Herrera on this summer’s Warped Tour, a moment later, we were introduced to Herrera. Oops!…
It’s not often we get a living legend hitting the turntables in the ‘Nix, because, really, the art isn’t old enough to have that many pioneers. There are a few, though, and amongst those few, none ranks as high in the pantheon — except perhaps Kool Herc — as Grandmaster…
We are arbiters of music, not ideals. So all hail Crass, who made great music in spite of their goofball politics. From the silly socialism of Rage Against the Machine to the street capitalism of 50 Cent, the music is the message. So we do not deliver a fatwa against…
The Black Moods deliver powerful music with a positive message, but only if you like your cock rock mixed with kick-rock. On the band’s mini-album Laurel Canyon, there’s a post-rehab, Velvet Revolver vibe that screams “hedonistic maturity.” After weighing in with a song about diminished faculties (“I don’t know why…
Tempe one-man band Page the Village Idiot has been hosting Monday nights at Hollywood Alley forever, so I’m trusting you’re quasi-familiar with his brand of onstage lunacy and some of the subtler intricacies of the ‘lectric ukulele. But maybe you need to take him home to see what makes his…
Smooth-voiced R&B singer Eijay (pronounced A-J) is a rare breed — in his credits, he thanks “the haters for breaking into my studio and stealing my equipment. I really needed that reality check. Peace!!” His CD Embryonic Soul is a strong mix of Dre-ish grooves and old-school slow jams, occasionally…
Hi, this is Michael Sweet from Stryper. I’m either rockin’ a stage or deep in prayer right now, so leave your name and a brief message and I’ll call you back. [beep] Yeah, hi, Michael, it’s Jesus Christ. Sorry not to have ever gotten back to you, but I’ve been…
For every hundred bedroom guitar heroes, there’s a Bryce Avary, the kind of driven kid who doesn’t just dream it. Avary recorded an EP at 18, setting the stage for his terrific self-recorded and -produced debut, Calendar Days, which generated enormous buzz for the then-20-year-old. Channeling the pop impulses of…
The Format is what would happen if a congested Cat Stevens fronted an ’80s-influenced, synthed-up Beatles tribute band, and wrote lyrics as creatively true as “Snails see the benefits, the beauty in every inch of life” (“Snails”). Named as an inside jab at the recording industry’s habit of churning out…
Thursday 10Acme Roadhouse: College Night with DJ J. Alan (Top 40) Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: DJ Suzy (hip-hop, dance) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with DJ Jeremy (goth, industrial) AZ 88: DJ P-Body (jazz fusion, funk) Club Dwntwn: DJs Kirby and Chris Shannon (dance) e4: “Eve” Ladies’ Night in the Fire…
1. Matisyahu, Live at Stubbs (Or Music) 2. Depeche Mode, Playing the Angel (Reprise) 3. Children of Bodom, Are You Dead Yet? (Fontana Int’l) 4. Death Cab for Cutie, Plans (Atlantic) 5. Bloodhound Gang, Hefty Fine (Geffen) 6. Nickelback, All the Right Reasons (Roadrunner) 7. Black Eyed Peas, Monkey Business…
I have a theory that excessive sobriety and serious relationships can easily hamper an artist’s potential. I know it’s true with me; the focus I’ll put into a relationship with a girl doesn’t often leave me with as much creative inspiration. My favorite records and books are inspired by loneliness,…
“I’ve got to tell you something. I’ve always said I would give my left nut for heavy metal, and now I really am.” Patrick Flannery says this barely above a whisper, but follows the statement with a hearty laugh. Today, the 43-year-old singer, who’s been a veteran of the Valley’s…
In a second coming that rivals only Christ himself, the cantankerous punk band Dead Kennedys have rereleased Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables — Special 25th Anniversary Edition (Manifesto Records), and are touring, albeit minus former mouthpiece Jello Biafra. But are the resurrected Kennedys just a bunch of anachronistic sellouts, or…
You know the feeling in the air when the barometer and temperature drop as a big storm blows in? It’s like that around Jean Grae these days. Not that she’s suddenly materialized like a cold front. Grae got her start in 1997 with Natural Resource, when she was 16. She…
Here are a few interesting facts about San Francisco’s John Vanderslice: 1. He eats a vegetarian burrito every single day; he’s been doing so for more than eight years. 2. He once wrote a song called “Bill Gates Must Die,” then punk’d numerous national media outlets by crafting an amusing…
Everyone from Alec Baldwin and Eddie Vedder to film director Robert Altman threatened to leave the country if George W. Bush was elected, but only got as far as backpedaling. But Emily Haines and James Shaw of the neo-New Wave band Metric actually vamoosed to Canada on the eve of…
“Frances, Frances Bean . . . what are you doing up here, sweetie?” “I was just going through Daddy’s tapes, Mom. I wanna pick a song for the new album, too!” “Okay, honey, but we’ve only got room for three unreleased tracks, all right? The other 19 are coming from…
