Long before he became known as the “Sultan of Sickness,” the drum ‘n’ bass devotee known as Dylan began his career spinning records over the pirate radio airwaves in his native London. Since those quasi-legal days, this dope DJ has risen to international fame and fortune, with his mixes covering…
The cloaking of A Lazarus Taxon in immaculate, arty, black-and-white photographs of car accidents seems antithetical to this boxed set’s methodically crafted contents: 15 years’ worth of hard-to-track-down Tortoise droppings confined to three discs and a single DVD. An indeed-geek drinking game could be built around the Chicago post-rockers’ persistent…
When we heard Rakim (of Eric B. and Rakim fame) was coming to town, we bopped our collective heads while listening to his last release, 1999’s The Master, and also cocked our heads in confusion. What’s the dude doing going on an album tour for the first time since 1999?…
Thursday 31Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with DJ Jeremy (goth, industrial) Baja Tilly’s: DJs Richy Rich and Big Latin (reggaeton, hip-hop) The Biz: DJ Red (hip-hop, dance) Bunkhouse Lounge: DJ Doom (dance) Cash Inn: DJ Kat (country) Chilly Bombers: DJ Statik (hip-hop, dance) Club Central: DJs Ernie G. (hip-hop, R&B)…
Phoenix is a tough town for bands — the city doesn’t have a sound of its own (please don’t count Gin Blossoms-style jangle rock), and you can count on one hand the number of bands that have made it outside of our desert metropolis. That wasn’t always the case, though…
Malibu “psych-folk-rock” band Simon Dawes and math-rock mavens Don Caballero might be on to something: Give your band a solo-sounding name, play full-bodied songs, and watch people scratch their heads trying to figure out who you’re named after. (We’ll give ’em both away: Don Caballero takes its name from a…
Do hairstyles influence musical styles? They do if you’re Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge, whose various ‘dos (and don’ts, in the case of her late ’80s mullet) mirror her musical phases. Year of the Spiky Red Mullet (1988): Like the mullet, Etheridge’s music was often found in divey bars with…
If you asked Black Label Society guitarist/singer Zakk Wylde if he were a beer, what kind would he be, he’d probably heroically spout out the names of some hearty stout or high-octane Indian Pale Ale. Sadly, as evidenced on Black Label Society: The European Invasion — Doom Troopin’ Live, a…
Most casual music fans have that one person in their life they turn to before they buy new music, a guru who keeps up with the trends, reads the mags, goes to the shows, surfs the ‘Net, and has taste that aligns with theirs. It could be a friend, a…
Scott H. Biram bills himself as “the Dirty Old One Man Band,” and he lives up to the moniker by cranking his Gibson through a fuzzy old amp, blowing primordial blues harp with the aid of a harmonica rack, and providing relentless rhythms with an amplified homemade foot stomp board…
The Derailers’ Honky-Tonk Checklist: Songs about women — check. Song about beer — check. Song about guns — check. Song about a pickup truck — miss. Three out of four ain’t bad, and neither is Soldiers of Love, the sixth album from The Derailers. It’s good for what it is,…
It’s probably fair to say that every rock band secretly pines for a breakout record, and local dub-punks Authority Zero are no exception. AZ has just finished its self-titled third LP (due out in October), an album guitarist Bill Marcks says will be to its last record, Andiamo, what AFI’s…
San Diego foursome Pistolita is just beginning to stand on its own feet, but its roster of experience speaks volumes more than its members’ ages. Not only is the piano-driven rock band the very first signing to powerhouse booking agent Andrew Ellis’ Montalban Hotel label, but it’s already toured with…
It would be difficult to imagine two artists who better embody the spirit of authentic Americana than John Fogerty and Willie Nelson. Each has established an indelible imprint, from the relentless refrains that framed Fogerty’s Creedence Clearwater Revival hits to the rugged, backwoods drawl Nelson navigated. Likewise, their careers paralleled…
Britt Daniel fans who cut their teeth on “Girls Can Tell” and “Kill the Moonlight” may be shocked to hear how freely Daniel borrows from The Pixies and Nirvana on these first two Spoon releases, back on the streets for the first time since more than a handful of hipsters…
Get these motherfucking emo bands off this motherfucking album. No, really — get these motherfucking emo bands off this motherfucking album. The soundtrack accompanying what’s arguably the year’s most anticipated cheese-horror flick is a giant mess — namely because it’s full of pounding, stuttering dance remixes of songs by new-punk…
Is the world ready for a Dirty South rap single that’s not about ostentatious automotive modifications or garish cosmetic dentistry? Waco’s Strange Fruit Project is banking on it. “Soul Clap” marries funky brass (arranged by Denton funk-rockers Mingo Fishtrap) and jazz guitars to a handclap beat. The deceptively simple beat…
The fourth release from Danish alt-pop stars Mew seems ripe for success in an American market currently embracing Coldplay/Keane epics and its indie flipside of slacker lullabies by The Shins and Rogue Wave. And the Glass Handed Kites opener “Circuitry of the Wolf” comes churning out with stuttered strums, spooky…
Like many of their contemporaries from the bygone dance-rock era, Ratatat’s Mike Stroud and Evan Mast are trying to expand beyond the fizzy, body-moving instrumentals for which they first gained attention. Ratatat’s 2004 self-titled debut gained admirers alongside accusations of cranking out sound-alike tracks, so Classics offers some variety alongside…
Here’s a real-life kind of needle exchange for you: A decade ago, superstar lesbian DJ Irene was shooting up meth and living out of her car in between gigs working the wheels of steel at L.A. dance clubs like Arena. Thankfully, the spiky-haired Sapphic spinstress eventually swapped out the tracks…
Thursday 24Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with DJ Jeremy (goth, industrial) AZ 88: Mr. P-Body (synth pop, electro) Baja Tilly’s: DJs Richy Rich and Big Latin (reggaeton, hip-hop) Bunkhouse Lounge: DJ Doom (dance) Camus: KURRENT_affairs with Pablo Gomez (electronic, rock, pop, avant-garde) Cash Inn: DJ Kat (country) The Crown Room:…
It’s not a new phenomenon, but lately the perceptions of what punk rock is and is not have irritated the hell out of me. Do three chords, a faux-hawk, and a 14-year-old’s snotty voice make a band punk rock? Is there a formula? Does it have to be loud and…
