AltWeeklies Wire
Boston Howlers Converge Continue a Streak of Stunnersnew
On Axe To Fall, Jacob Bannon unearths noises no human should be able to make. Kurt Ballou rips his guitar like he's auditioning for America's Next Top Guitar Hero at all times, and Nate Newton and Ben Koller still make up one of the most bludgeoning rhythm sections ever. For the band, it is just business as usual.
Dig Boston |
Erik Ziedses Des Plantes |
10-28-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Axe To Fall, Converge
After 10 Years of Popping Detroit, the Singles Split for L.A.new
After 10 years of what lead singer and guitarist Vince Frederick refers to as "going in circles," the band is packing its bags and heading off to the washed-up cultural wasteland called Los Angeles, the city where bullshit not only talks, it still maintains a strong control of the music industry.
Metro Times |
Brett Callwood |
10-27-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: The Singles
The Raveonettes Update Girl-Group Wall of Sound with Touch of Doom and Gloomnew
While the Raveonettes have explored the tension between girl-group naïveté and gloom on their previous three albums, vocalist Sharin Foo says that for In And Out Of Control, they strove for less celebratory material than usual.
NOW Magazine |
Jason Richards |
10-26-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Drag the River's Chad Price Finally Takes the Solo Plungenew
Between All and Drag the River, Price had more than a dozen records under his belt, but had yet to make one of his own. Now he's celebrating his solo debut with a one day, four city, 10 tavern tour.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Bill Forman |
10-22-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
After a Decade on the Road, Lucero Lands a Major Label Dealnew
Lucero's reputation as a hard-working, hard-living, country-influenced rock band has taken shape slowly but surely. Now, 10 years and seven records later, all the touring, the long rides in the van and the late night shows seem to have paid off.
Arkansas Times |
Gerard Matthews |
10-22-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Jay Farrar, Ben Gibbard, and a Bad Actress Pay Tribute to Kerouac's 'Big Sur'new
On the One Fast Move or I'm Gone soundtrack, Farrar and Gibbard trade off singing 12 songs with lyrics taken from Big Sur, including lines from the poem "Sea" that closes the novel. Farrar admits to being intimidated at first to use Kerouac as his lyricist, until he settled into a stream-of-consciousness songwriting style.
SF Weekly |
Jennifer Maerz |
10-22-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Daniel Johnston Returns with a Clear Head and a Big Soundnew
Jason Falkner, a self-described "one-man house band" producer, has turned Johnston's typically crude but sweetly personal demos into full-blown pop productions on Is and Always Was.
San Diego CityBeat |
Will K. Shilling |
10-21-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Dodos Take flight with 'Time to Die'new
Expectations were high when The Dodos migrated to Seattle to record their new album Time to Die with indie music icon Phil Ek. Drummer Logan Kroeber said Ek influenced the new album pretty heavily in terms of the production.
Boise Weekly |
Tara Morgan |
10-21-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Who the Hell is Esinchill?new
East Oakland's best kept hip-hop secret finally gets a deal -- will he get the respect he deserves?
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Garrett Caples |
10-21-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Pelican's Metamorphism is a Virtue of Modern Progressionnew
On the surface, the Chicago band appears to play instrumental rock, but even that's subverted by its utter progression and attention to dynamics. Think of it like heavy rock for outer space -- otherworldly headbanging music.
East Bay Express |
Nick Schwab |
10-21-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: What We All Come to Need, Pelican
Mumiy Troll, One of Russia's Biggest Bands, Looks to Make Comrades in the U.S.A.new
Earlier this year, the group released its latest Russian-language work, Comrade Ambassador, via American distributive channels. Mumiy plans to release an English album before long; in the meantime, the band hopes to win over a new audience with its U.S. shows.
The Pitch |
Ben Westhoff |
10-20-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Roger Daltrey Isn't Quite Ready for His Senior Discountnew
As of today, Daltrey's spent more than 65 years on the planet -- a benchmark that's even more noteworthy given the fact that he famously sang "I hope I die before I get old" in the early Who classic "My Generation."
Westword |
Michael Roberts |
10-19-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Cave Singers Craft Songs Underground, After Cereal, in Seattlenew
"Living together makes it so we can play music together more than most people in bands probably do," says guitarist Derek Fudesco. That sense of ease and unhurriedness is the glue that holds the Cave Singers together as a band, and can be heard on their latest record, Welcome Joy.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian J. Barr |
10-19-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Welcome Joy, Cave Singers
Electronic Duo Gatekeeper Looks to the Classic Slasher Film Soundtrack for Inspirationnew
All the flavors of synthesizer on Optimus Maximus evoke the heyday of the slasher flick in the late 70s and early 80s, when masked maniacs roamed shadowy streets, Ouija boards not only worked but inevitably summoned nameless evils, and vividly red fake blood was spilled by the gallon.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
10-19-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Zen and the Art of Guitar Feedback: A Quarter Century of Yo La Tengonew
Yo La Tengo's artistic philosophy becomes clearer in Ira Kaplan's Zen-like calm. During our conversation he is relaxed, measured, and thoughtful, and appears almost wholly uninterested in the theoretical -- and the business surrounding the band.
The Portland Mercury |
Andrew R Tonry |
10-16-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
