AltWeeklies Wire
Meet the Vivian Girlsnew
There's something immensely charming about the raw pop-punk of the 2-year-old band the Vivian Girls, a harmonizing pop-punk trio from Brooklyn who trade in short, sharp songs.
Tucson Weekly |
Gene Armstrong |
04-08-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: indie rock, Vivian Girls
Your Guide to Understanding Rap Lyricsnew
Good news for perplexed suburbanites: a new site called UnderstandRap.com lets experienced rap interpreters explain difficult urban slang to hip-hop neophytes.
Boston Phoenix |
David Thorpe |
04-08-2009 |
Music
Jim Jones' 'Pray IV Reign'new
While many established rappers are being downsized from major-label deals to "independent" contracts, Harlem MC Jim Jones is climbing up the food chain.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 'It's Blitz!'new
Watching an act like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs realize their potential is the closest thing childless music nerds may have to watching a kid grow up, and though it may not be nearly as enriching, it's satisfying nonetheless.
The Life and Times Hits the Road with a Joyful New Albumnew
The band proves that three dudes from the Midwest who grew up on Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin can produce music that, while not as commercially successful as their idols', is no less transcendent.
The Pitch |
Jason Harper |
04-08-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Fifteen Years After Kurt Cobain's Death, Would-Be Nirvanas Share His Broken Crownnew
Ever since Kurt Cobain, Seattle's seminal grunge hero, shot himself in the head, slews of would-be successors to Nirvana's sonic throne have come and gone.
Phoenix New Times |
Niki D'Andrea |
04-08-2009 |
Music
Kelly Hansen Joins 'Hot Blooded' Rockers Foreignernew
After more lineup changes than the average Astros season, Mick Jones reconvened Foreigner in 2004 and enlisted Kelly Hansen, formerly of the '80s L.A. heavy-metal band Hurricane, to sing lead.
Houston Press |
Chris Gray |
04-08-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Jamie Stewart's Infinite Sadness Is Exhaustingnew
Jamie Stewart is a morgue-serious songwriter. And yet it's impossible to take the Xiu Xiu frontman seriously. The ache in his indie rock takes introspective moping to such an exaggerated extreme it's difficult to endure with a straight face.
SF Weekly |
Jennifer Maerz |
04-08-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Leslie Hall Is Known for Electro-Dance Pop Beats and Gem Sweatersnew
Though Leslie and the LY's' music is similar to other alternative-electro types, their inspiration remains in the craft-store and thrift-store aisles, with a little (clothing-specific) party mood thrown in.
Gambit |
The Gambit |
04-08-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Electro-Maestro Dan Deacon Unveils an Android Symphonynew
The unruly Baltimore DIY artists' collective Wham City was evicted in 2007, and the scope of Bromst in turn reflects a post-party Deacon.
Gambit |
Noah Bonaparte Pais |
04-08-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Detroit's Fabulous Counts Never Got Their Duenew
They are the best funk band you've probably never heard of -- or even heard. And if you have, you're probably already burning a candle in hope of future stateside dates.
Metro Times |
Don Waller |
04-07-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Doors and the Dead? Hendrix and the Who? What Were They Doing in Colorado Springs?new
It was a marriage made somewhere other than heaven: The Lizard King and the Homecoming Queen, together for the first and last time at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Bill Forman |
04-07-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: live music, Colorado Springs
Audrye Sessions Contemplates the Good Lifenew
Audrye Sessions has gone through a lot, including the dissolution of a romantic relationship, extended recording sessions in a haunted barn, and a close encounter with a plummeting airplane. But let's begin with the truck-stop orgy.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Bill Forman |
04-07-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Audrye Sessions, indie rock
The Members of Los Campesinos! Know How Lucky They Arenew
The music scene is clogged with performers desperately seeking stardom. So Los Campesinos! guitarist/songwriter Tom Campesinos! sees the irony in the quick rise of his group, which quickly earned buzz-band status even though none of its members actively sought it.
Westword |
Michael Roberts |
04-06-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Light in the Attic Releases the "Sgt. Pepper's of French Music"new
Seattle-based Light in the Attic Records has become the first label to release Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson in the United States. Knowing this, the question is: Why didn't anyone else ever think of doing it?
Seattle Weekly |
Brian J. Barr |
04-06-2009 |
Music
