AltWeeklies Wire
Cartographers Get By With a Little Help from Their Friendsnew
The lyrics for every Cartographers song, personal or poetic as they sound, begin as "placeholders," Jackson Albracht says, strung together to chain all those chord changes into songs, coherent musically if not always lyrically.
San Antonio Current |
Jeremy Martin |
07-29-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Cartographers, San Antonio
Bud Melvin Mixes Banjo, 8-Bit Nintendo and Karaokenew
Melvin creates a solo novelty using the banjo and chiptunes -- music produced by older video game and computer systems that generate sound in real time. It's both retro digital and pastoral, an unlikely combination that interacts with the dynamism of yin and yang.
Weekly Alibi |
Jessica Cassyle Carr |
07-28-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Bud Melvin, Popular Music
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
Sonic Youth Gets Better With Agenew
The almost unanimous verdict on The Eternal is not only that Sonic Youth sounds more energized than in years, but that the long-running alt-rock icons have come damn close to recapturing the form that made them legends in the first place.
The Georgia Straight |
Mike Usinger |
07-27-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
With 'Fantasies,' Metric Has Assumed Control of its Own Destinynew
Without by-the-book label executives to answer to, or an out-of-touch A&R department breathing down its back, Metric revelled in the opportunity to be more daring in its musical choices this time around.
The Georgia Straight |
Jenny Charlesworth |
07-27-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Japandroids Escape Vancouver and Invade Americanew
It's easy to pin their heavy style as garage rock, but despite the abbreviated guitar-and-drums lineup, Japandroids' sound is anything but minimalist.
The Portland Mercury |
Ned Lannamann |
07-24-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Japandroids, Post-Nothing
Gogol Bordello: Just Gypsies Passing Throughnew
The great danger of Gogol Bordello's music is that it resonates with rootless Americans, searching for identity and fairly blasé about grammar ourselves. Amidst the good-time atmosphere of their songs, listeners find themselves drawn into a message they might otherwise have dismissed as hippie BS.
Orlando Weekly |
T.I. Fraser |
07-24-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
America's Finest Soul Singer Has Finally Arrivednew
Betty LaVette's performance at Obama's inaugural celebration and duet with Paul McCartney are both a far cry from the $50-a-night gigs. But it's really all of us who have come late to the party.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Bill Forman |
07-23-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Is Mark Mallman a Genius or a Novelty Act? Probably Bothnew
Mallman's first marathon performance took place in 1999 at a Minneapolis bar he played a single song for 26 hours. Five years later, he went back to play another song, this time for 52 hours.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Bill Forman |
07-23-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Belated Glory of Anvilnew
The recent success of the documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil has brought the mostly obscure, longtime metal band Anvil more mainstream attention than they've ever enjoyed.
Boston Phoenix |
Daniel Brockman |
07-23-2009 |
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
Industrial Stalwarts VNV Nation Haven't Changednew
Based on a cursory glance at the imagery on VNV Nation's new album, you could easily dismiss Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson as yet another cold, industrial-rock band lacking any sense of connection to its fans. Harris would beg to differ.
San Antonio Current |
Norm Narvaja |
07-22-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Jarvis Cocker Takes Delight in 'Knowing All This is Crap'new
I could talk to Cocker on a plane, I could talk to him on a train, and I could talk to him about blues music being "used to sell a hell of a lot of cars" in the passenger seat of an Audi tearing back to SF from Point Reyes, via iPhone and earplugs, while tapping on the trusty laptop. He's that good, that much of a closet mensch keeping it as real as a man of style and taste can.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kimberly Chun |
07-22-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Run-DMC's Darryl McDaniels Rolls With Life's Impromptu Flownew
It's not McDaniels' voice that makes conversations with him strange, it's his habit of trailing off on confusing, lengthy digressions. For example, rather than speaking directly about his recent visit to the White House, he launches into a seven minute diatribe about foster children.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Ben Westhoff |
07-21-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
