There is something about the music on “Story Like A Scar” that will titillate listeners at every turn; is it just that the lyrics do not match the sedate sounds of a track like “The Death of Us”, or the fact that the band itself rests on these same type of contradictions? Amazon links The New Amsterdams to Rocky Votolato, and I’d have to say that the comparison works. The…
11/19 in Santa Barbara, CA @ The Hub @ UC Santa Barbara (headlining) 11/27 in Los Angeles, CA @ Club Nokia (headlining) 12/3 in Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club (WBOS Radio 92.9’s Christmas in Paradise) 12/5 in Providence, RI @ Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel (WBRU’s Holiday BRU-haha with Neon Trees) 12/8 in Phoenix, AZ @ KEXX Concert Series @ Gila River Casino with Smashing Pumpkins 12/11 in Colorado Springs, CO…
There are few in the way of titles that seem to pull for a slightly older-skewing audience that have broad relevance in cinema. While I totally understand that these titles have a built-in audience, I feel that this allows the filmmakers to get a little lazy. To be honest, I was expecting more of the same when I popped Mrs. Washington Goes To Smith into my DVD player. However, I…
It really is a bit of cinematic skill to make a tragedy such as the Altamont Free Concert (1969) funny, but that is precisely what happens with Altamont Now. Throughout the film’s runtime, a story is filled in that is while humorous, also points a sharp dirk at the throat of any overly preachy or otherwise heavy type of historical concert film. Altamont Now features the trials and tribulations of…
Rewards, aka Aaron Pfenning (co-founder of Chairlift) is pleased to announce additional dates with We Are Scientists and Warpaint to his 2010 tour spanning Europe and the US. The fall tour kicked off to a great start with Brandon Flowers (The Killers) for the first series of Europe dates. Rewards will play the second stretch of the tour as direct support to We Are Scientists in the UK, before returning…
Blackened thrash overloads SKELETONWITCH have announced a limited-edition 7″ trilogy via Prosthetic Records. The band recently re-recorded three tracks from their long out-of-print debut, “At One With The Shadows,” for this series. Each edition will have one of those tracks, as well as another rarity, and feature artwork by drummer Derrick “Mullet Chad” Nau. The first installment, limited to 500 copies on gold vinyl and coinciding with the launch of…
“35 Hours” is a great introduction to the Neurotic Swingers, as it shows them as purveyors of an early (read 1990)-era Green Day cut in with more than a fair shake of rockabilly. This means that the tracks on “Sexy & Mysterious” are catchy but still contain a modicum of solid musicianship and interesting arrangements. “Grand New Wave” shows the band as purveyors of a style that is not changed…
SARAH MCLACHLAN announces 23 additional dates across the US and Canada (including a New Year’s Eve show in Atlantic City), with more dates to be announced in the coming weeks of her “Sarah and Friends” tour. The “Sarah And Friends” tour offers fans an intimate evening with Sarah McLachlan as she not only performs classic hits and new favorites from her critically-acclaimed new release LAWS OF ILLUSION (Arista Records), but…
The album art of Neurosonic’s “Drama Queen” does leave me a bit scared, bearing a queen with fangs and blood running in the corners of her mouth. But the first track takes the fear away, the opening is really good. The fast sung lyrics remind me of Thousand Foot Krutch. It isn’t annoying as it sometimes can be, the lyrics are understandable. As it turns out, the openings on all…
Collections of Colonies of Bees, the long-running, Milwaukee-based project of guitarist Chris Rosenau, is the newest member of the Hometapes recording family. The group will release its next album, GIVING — the much-anticipated follow up to 2008’s critically-praised Birds — via the Portland-based independent record label in early 2011. Together with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, the members of Collections of Colonies of Bees also make up the group Volcano Choir.…
You Don’t Know Jack is an in-depth (and theatric) look into Jack Kevorkian’s life. Much like HBO’s previous epic, 2003’s Angels in America, each bit and piece of eir life is filled by an actor of tremendous talent. Key of these would have to be Al Pacino, who dons the killer’s cap and steals the show as a result. However, far from being a one-actor film, You Don’t Know Jack…
Coming from out in left field, I really didn’t know what to expect from this album, as I had only familiarized myself with one Neurosis album in the past. Neurosis puts a continually crackling and haunting backdrop for Jarboe, who takes up eir’s role as the typical female-goth vocalist. While the disc might be a little daunting, containing only eight tracks for a total running time of about sixty moinutes,…
After working on a new album with Chris Walla (Death Cap For Cutie), Michael M. Lerner aka Telekinesis has returned to Europe to play some shows in Spain, Italy, France, Benelux & Germany. So be prepared for new songs (and new shirts as well) if you come to one of these shows: 16.11.2010 — Madrid (ES) — Clamores 17.11.2010 — Toulouse (FR) — Le Saint des Seins 18.11.2010 — Paris…
Brooklyn, New York-based triple-guitar led sludge merchants HULL recently came out of hiding to play a surprise CMJ performance with Kylesa at Public Assembly on their home turf. The crushing performance brought with it an unexpected, brand new, as-yet-untitled track from the band’s upcoming full-length. Check it out HERE. HULL have been holed up at an undisclosed location working on the follow-up to their Sole Lord debut, issued via The…
Recording as Bird By Snow, Fletcher Tucker has been releasing deep, genre-refracting sounds for the past five years with his output varying from dreamy drones to eccentric lo-fi pop to mountainous dub. His latest effort Common Wealth finds Tucker masterfully refining his songcraft with powerful arrangements, graceful melodies, and moving poetic imagery. The songs on Common Wealth feel harvested (rather than written) from somewhere ancient, mysterious, and otherworldly. Recorded with…
The herky-jerky tone that Neon Blonde starts off “Chanderliers in the Savannah” is raucous and loud, but has some form of harmonics hiding behind all the brash and bold arrangements. “Cherries In Slow Motion” mixes perfectly parts of seventies rock (perfectly exemplified with the fabulous vocals and piano present on the track) with the traditional noise of bandfs like The Locust and Lightning Bolt. Interestingly enough, Neon Blonde really break…
Global musical superstars and ordained Catholic priests, The Priests – Father Eugene O’Hagan, his brother Martin and their old school friend David Delargy, have joined forces with Shane MacGowan (of The Pogues fame), to record a version of “Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth” on their brand new album NOEL (RCA Victor) in stores now. The Priests are one of the most celebrated musical acts the religious arena, having sold 3…
After a typical opening for a rap album, Nemasis and Jay Womack come out with “Fo Sho”, which is pretty solid when they keep the flow, instead of the number of talking breaks. I’m sure that this is a tactic just to show exactly how street they are, but the simple fact is that these little interruptions make it difficult to enjoy the flow that they have. Moving onto “Intro”,…
Critically acclaimed rock band The Walkmen will tour the southeastern United States in early 2011 in support of their Fat Possum Records debut Lisbon. Scanning over 13,000 units in its first week of release, Lisbon entered the chart at #27 making it the band’s highest debut on the Billboard Top 200. After completing a successful North American run and appearances on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and “Last Call with…
This album sample is mixed quietly, which actually is a detriment to what is already a quiet band. Neon Sleep is an emotive rock band in the style of Ani DiFranco and Sloan, albeit with more electricity crackling through the tracks than either of them. Opening up the disc with “The Lights In This Town Are Faded”, Neon Sleep miffs a little bit by allowing some of the background noises…