AltWeeklies Wire
The Sound Sucks at Cowboys Stadium -- but the Bands Aren't Helping Mattersnew
Here's the thing: In the wake of all the original excitement over the enormodome out in Arlington, a funny thing's started popping up: discontent.
Dallas Observer |
Pete Freedman |
10-26-2009 |
Music
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
DMX Gets Unplugged at Colorado Springs Benefit Shownew

What began as a DMX benefit concert on Friday night, Oct. 16, at the Phil Long Expo Center in Colorado Springs turned into a bizarre scene in which security wrestled to keep the nationally known hip-hop artist offstage.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Bill Forman |
10-22-2009 |
Music
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
The Globe-Straddling Music of South Africa's BLK JKS Transcends Racenew
When a quartet of black South Africans reclaims that whitest of white genres -- progressive rock, long the bastion of pimply tech-heads and doughy shut-ins -- the predominately Caucasian world of indie rock sits up and takes notice.
The Portland Mercury |
Ned Lannamann |
10-16-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: After Robots, BLK JKS