Catching a glimpse of an overweight, half-naked bearded bald man covered in fake blood is shocking once. Seeing it twice is rare. Witnessing the spectacle for a third time must mean you’re on tour with NYC’s artful punk legends Les Savy Fav. And if that’s the case, it also means you’ve had your share of […]
Chicago’s Indignant is “dead set” on delivering the “life-affirming” sounds of rock ‘n’ roll. If nothing else, the quintet is skilled in the art of biographical hyperbole. But it’s this die-trying-to-live attitude that the group carries throughout their straightforward guitar-laced catalog. The hook-laden tunes on the band’s second LP, The Good Fight, blend their hometown […]
Oasis is a collection of pairs: Two iconic members. Two classic albums. Two unmistakable unibrows. And, most importantly, two clearly-defined halves to their career. From 1992 to 1999, the quintet was the face of Brit-pop, with brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher fronting the original lineup on classic recordings such as 1995’s (What’s the Story) Morning […]
There are a few constants worth betting on in rock ‘n’ roll. 1) Robert Smith will wear black. 2) Paul McCartney will wiggle his head when holding a note. And 3) a great Alex Chilton melody will get stuck in your head. Since his days as the teenage frontman for The Box Tops, Chilton has […]
If the hyper-intellectual members of the U.S. Supreme Court can’t define something as controversial as “pornography”, what chance do a bunch of record store clerks have at defining something as inconsequential as “emo?” Nevertheless, as the appointed judges of America’s highest court spend time dissecting the legal meaning of one word, bespectacled rock snobs exert […]
A decade and a half into their career, The Crystal Method’s California electronica continues to provide an ample counterpart to their European brethren a la Paul van Dyk and The Chemical Brothers. Combining rock ‘n’ roll undertones to their hypnotic dance beats, Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland have compiled an impressive back catalog of singles, […]
The title of Eagles of Death Metal’s 2008 LP, Heart On, might be a subtle nod to the secret emotions that frontman Jesse Hughes harbors beneath his sleeve, despite the alpha male bravado that runs throughout the band’s testosterone-driven guitar anthems. Or it might just be a phallic pun. Either way, it’s a title befitting […]
There’s a certain school of thought that defines acoustic music as simplistic. According to this theory, there’s not much of a disconnect between a heartfelt performer strapping on a 6-string and that guy at the party who breaks out his roommate’s instrument several beers into the evening. Luckily, not all acoustic music is created equal. […]
It’s been 25 years since the Chicago punk mainstays first brought their thrashing brand of rock ‘n’ roll and Universal Monsters-style spooks to their home city. But two-and-a-half decades in — with dozens of LPs, EPs and compilation releases — isn’t any time to change, despite the band’s last studio output being 2004’s The Dwarves […]
Despite Growing’s prolific catalog — 13 albums in five years — everything about the fuzzy electronic duo reeks of minimalism. Whether it’s Kevin Doria and Joe Denardo losing the band’s third member before relocating to Brooklyn from Olympia, Washington or their tendency for cassette-only releases, the pair’s sludgy instrumentals are rife with DIY aesthetic. Given […]