AltWeeklies Wire
Midlake Respectfully Makes its Way Forward Though Art-Rock's Pastnew
"I think one reason why we're so drawn to the '70s is that it's sort of the last time we had a big crossroads — where music could have gone in a lot of different directions."
Colorado Springs Independent |
Bill Forman |
03-04-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Lords of Altamont Are All About the Rock 'n' Rollnew
When the Los Angeles band Lords of Altamont began about a decade ago, they set out to strike a balance between purist garage-rock traditions and a heavier hard-rock sound.
Tucson Weekly |
Gene Armstrong |
03-03-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Lyrikill.com Bumrushes South Florida TV Reportersnew
'This is how we do,' whispers the rapper, who calls himself Lyrikill.com. 'We stake it out, and then if you look right over these bushes, you can see they 'bout to go live... And when they go live, that's when we hop out these bushes.'
New Times Broward-Palm Beach |
Gus Garcia-Roberts |
03-02-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
James Harman, the Genuine Articlenew
This veteran singer, songwriter, harp player and self-described wise guy is certainly the genuine article when it comes to blues and roots music. Born and raised in the blues heartland of Alabama, Harman adopted at an early age the sounds of black musicians he heard on jukeboxes and the radio.
Pasadena Weekly |
John Sollenberger |
03-01-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Dallas Cowboys Lineman Tries To Cast His Huge Shadow On The Music Industrynew
At 6 feet 6 inches, 365 pounds and one of the strongest dudes to ever play in the National Football League, Dallas Cowboys' Pro Bowl offensive lineman Leonard "Bigg" Davis could crush me with his thumb. Instead, he's going to play me a lullaby.
Dallas Observer |
Richie Whitt |
03-01-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Spirit of the Boogie: An Interview With Kool of Kool & the Gangnew
It's a good thing that Mr. Robert "Kool" Bell didn't answer his cell phone when I first tried to call him. Had he picked up, I wouldn't have had the pleasure of hearing his groovy voice mail greeting: "You have reached Kool, and it's kool to leave a message."
Weekly Alibi |
Jessica Cassyle Carr |
02-26-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Underground Lo-Fi Rocker Would Gladly Trade Hipster Hype for Pop Hitsnew
Don’t let his untamed hair or laid-back demeanour fool you – Kurt Vile is a consummate professional. After all, this is the guy who titled his albums Constant Hitmaker and Childish Prodigy... and meant it.
NOW Magazine |
Richard Trapunski |
02-26-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Redneck Woman Gretchen Wilson's Search For Radio Redemptionnew
Just over a year ago, Gretchen Wilson looked into the abyss. Her third album, One of the Boys, had tanked. The label team that had guided her 2004 debut CD Here for the Party to quintuple platinum sales had largely been swept away in the wake of a corporate merger.
Nashville Scene |
Rob Simbeck |
02-26-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Damian Lazarus Talks Techno and the Changing Face of Electronic Labelsnew
Damian Lazarus is sitting at the dining-room table of his Echo Park home trying to recover from a five-day touring blitz that he and his label mates at Crosstown Rebels have just finished. He's a bit worn down, but that's part of the deal.
L.A. Weekly |
Randall Roberts |
02-26-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Former Jazz Students Strive for Distinctive, Unique Musicnew
It's by design that Midlake's new record weaves its spell from ancient days, conjuring that same sense of elemental, shrouded powers at play that drives fantasy art. The band worked to craft The Courage of Others into an escape, the type of music that suggests it might cast some magic on the listener.
Tucson Weekly |
Eric Swedlund |
02-24-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: The Courage of Others, Midlake
Moonstone's Micah Mackert Unraveling Prog-Rock Prophecynew
If you're looking for the truth, you've come to the wrong band. In Moonstone, the five-piece band for which Reverend Micah Mackert is spiritual seer and sole spokesman, facts are made into trifles, replaced by layers of beguiling myth.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
David Hansen |
02-24-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Micah Mackert, Moonstone
James McMurty's Quixotic Questnew
Never-quite-was is more like it, as James McMurtry, the son of famed novelist and screenwriter Larry (Lonesome Dove) McMurtry, has yet to live up to the "next big thing" status bestowed on him when he burst out of the gates with his debut.
Seattle Weekly |
Mike Seely |
02-22-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Dreams of Life and Death: Looking Back with Patti Smithnew
Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe were barely 20 when they met, a couple of androgynous hippies newly arrived in New York City to live among the bohos and Beats, the Factory divas and "extravagant bums" swirling around the boroughs, the Bowery and the Chelsea.
L.A. Weekly |
Steve Appleford |
02-19-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Chickadee Mountain Martyrs' Kitchen-Sink Music Never Fails to Surprisenew
Luc Parker is the lead guitarist and principal lyricist of Chickadee Mountain Martyrs, and on University Avenue after a weekday Turf Club show, he treads this territory as cautiously as a mine diver, as if the slightest stumble in self-definition might blow his band to bits.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
David Hansen |
02-17-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Jazz Album Taps Into Plena, an Overlooked Puerto Rican Rhythmnew
Ancestral and electrifying, Esta Plena, which lost its two bids for a Grammy Award to Terence Blanchard and Chucho and Bebo Valdes, is nonetheless a milestone recording. For the first time, it creates an album-length conversation between jazz and plena.
INDY Week |
Sylvia Pfeiffenberger |
02-12-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
