AltWeeklies Wire
Atlanta's The Black Lips Cook Up Garage Rock Chaosnew
Atlanta, Georgia's flower punks the Black Lips have taken lysergic garage rock around the globe. The band's even been forced to flee India. Here bassist Jared Swilley discusses the group's instigation nation by nation.
Montreal Mirror |
Johnson Cummins |
08-07-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Lykke Li Offers Girlish Quirks and Contradictionsnew
Swedish dance-pop singer Lykke Li is a 23-year-old mystery ... she's capricious and full of contradictions, at once plucky and melancholy, sweet and standoffish. She delights in her eccentricities, and though she doesn't lie, per se, she usually doesn't volunteer the whole truth, either.
Shepherd Express |
Evan Rytlewski |
08-07-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Jesse Sandoval Discusses His Forced Exit from the Shinsnew
On May 2, without a formal announcement or press release, the band that "will change your life" performed for the first time without longtime drummer Jesse Sandoval and keyboardist/bassist Marty Crandall.
The Portland Mercury |
Ezra Ace Caraeff |
08-06-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Otep Loves Younew
A few weeks ago, Otep Shamaya logged into her Facebook account and sent a message to a fan’s sister, a stranger, wishing her a happy birthday.
San Antonio Current |
Jeremy Handerson |
08-06-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
John Forte: From Jailhouse to Jazzhousenew
Ex-Fugees producer Forte keeps a low profile these days. Since his release from prison last December, after serving seven years of a fourteen-year drug sentence, Forte has started treating home as his sanctuary.
East Bay Express |
Rachel Swan |
08-05-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Rewriting the Book of Lovenew
Synth-pop quartet Book of Love has reunited and is touring, including a trip down memory lane to discuss when members of the group originally formed in Philadelphia as no wave band Head Cheese.
Philadelphia City Paper |
A.D. Amorosi |
08-05-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Three Brothers, Two Bands, One Writer, and a Reunion Show That Hits Homenew
Neither Anne Be Davis nor Harry Chronic Jr. played into local Detroit scenesterism — nobody would take kids from Grosse Pointe seriously, after all … except Meg White, and you see where that's gotten her.
Metro Times |
Hobey Echlin |
08-04-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Passion of David Bazannew
At the Cornerstone Christian rock festival, a fallen evangelical returns to sing about why he broke up with God.
Chicago Reader |
Jessica Hopper |
08-03-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Is Phil Lee the Best Songwriter in Nashville? If Not, You Tell Himnew
Long before he ever threw his first knife, Phil Lee was no stranger to sharp points and edges. He writes songs full of them: character studies that sidle up to folks we'd normally shy away from, pretty ballads that turn staggeringly bleak, ambiguous odes to rough living too laugh-out-loud funny to be considered cautionary tales.
Nashville Scene |
Jim Ridley |
07-31-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Down in the Dumps With the Trashcan Sinatrasnew
Scotland also has a more pastoral pop tradition. From '80s bands to more recent groups, these ambassadors can, in fact, be a pretty mopey bunch. And the Trashcan Sinatras are really no exception.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Bill Forman |
07-30-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The English Beat Continues to Hone its Reggae/Punk Blendnew
The English Beat may have become a beloved footnote in the history of college music if a funny thing hadn't happened in the United States in the '90s: An entirely new generation of kids became enamored with the 2 Tone sound and started forming bands of their own.
Tucson Weekly |
Stephen Seigel |
07-29-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Brash and Ballsy MC Amanda Blank is Here to Take What's Hersnew
With equal connection to Philly's electronic music and hip-hop worlds, Blank is an anomaly: Laurie Anderson with a dirty mouth and better dance steps, Karen Finley without the yams.
Philadelphia City Paper |
A.D. Amorosi |
07-28-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Metal Shakespeare Company Brings the Ax Down on the Bardnew
Jason Simms is quick to point out that the metal the Metal Shakespeare Company invokes is neither death nor thrash, since "methinks our death-metal-and-thrash cousin wouldst suit perhaps another poet."
Tucson Weekly |
Annie Holub |
07-23-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Sonic Youth Grows Older, but the Music Never Grows Oldnew
Together since 1981, Sonic Youth has been admired, emulated, studied and chronicled. They played an integral part in the early 80s East Coast "no wave" movement, in which the trajectories of art, music and performance collided.
Boise Weekly |
Amy Atkins |
07-22-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Stark Folk of Tiny Vipers is Not for Everyonenew
Jesy Fortino writes dark, contemplative songs that require serious focus from a listener. Actually, these songs (which she records under the moniker Tiny Vipers) don't require focus so much as they slowly entangle the listener like tentacles, pulling you in tight 'til you're left with no choice but to pay close attention.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian J. Barr |
07-20-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
