AltWeeklies Wire
Deeper Into Fretnew
The guitarists on Wayfaring Strangers reveal the extent of John Fahey's influence.
Washington City Paper |
David Dunlap Jr. |
02-21-2008 |
Reviews
Living in Synthnew
These days there’s no shortage of retro-styled cosmic rockers: Black Mountain, Witchcraft, Dungen, Comets on Fire, and even the likes of Bigelf. The question for Portland quartet Danava is how to distinguish itself from that undifferentiated blur of longhaired reenactors.
Washington City Paper |
David Dunlap Jr. |
02-08-2008 |
Reviews
Forest Slumpnew
Dead Meadow has somehow misplaced its shuddering, guitar-rock effervescence. Perhaps the band members left it in a truck stop after they decamped from D.C. to Los Angeles last year.
Washington City Paper |
Casey Rae-Hunter |
02-01-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Dead Meadow, Old Growth
Beck's Old Pollutionnew
There are 19 extra tracks on this reissue, and it's hard to recommend them. You get a couple of decent B-sides and some intriguing demo versions, but mostly, I guess, you're supposed to marvel at the variety.
Washington City Paper |
Andrew Beaujon |
01-24-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Beck, Odelay--Deluxe Edition
'Jukebox' Give Us the Same Old Channew
Jukebox could've been a mere promotional ploy, good for an iPod commercial or a House of Blues New Year's Eve gimmick. But as a loving salute to the idea of back catalog as salvation, the album is more convincing than Amy Winehouse's career.
Washington City Paper |
Jason Cherkis |
01-17-2008 |
Reviews
Black Mountain's Time Lapsenew
The band's idea of looking forward sounds an awful lot like 1970.
Washington City Paper |
Brent Burton |
01-17-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Black Mountain, In the Future
Is Robert Pollard Sowing Ecological Catastrophe?new
Recently rock musicians have become more conscious of their carbon emissions than their hotel-room-smashing, Maserati-driving forebears, but Pollard is apparently not among the enlightened. He continues to emit at least three records every single year, regardless of the environmental implications.
Washington City Paper |
Aaron Leitko |
12-20-2007 |
Music
Old Music, New Technologynew
When it comes to archival music, being a Luddite means embracing new technology.
Washington City Paper |
David Dunlap Jr. |
12-20-2007 |
Music
In 2007, Techno Earned the Right to Be Popular Againnew
The genre is on the upswing, and the proof is in the pages of Wire.
Washington City Paper |
Brent Burton |
12-20-2007 |
Music
The Tale of the Takenew
I fell hard for the albums on this list. All of which I stole.
Washington City Paper |
Jason Cherkis |
12-20-2007 |
Music
Pitbull Gives a Shipshape Performancenew
On The Boatlift he sticks to his strategy of blending English and Spanish lyrics on a slew of club bangers, rhyming a blue streak over Miami bass and crunk tracks.
Washington City Paper |
Alfredo Flores |
12-06-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Pitbull, The Boatlift
A Beast of a 'Belly'new
FFA's second disc, Belly, picks up where 2004's criminally ignored Scavengers left off: Its beats are constructed almost exclusively from crackle and fuzz, and its rhymes veer from the personal into the impressionistic.
Washington City Paper |
Joe Warminsky |
11-29-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Belly, Food for Animals
Analog Jetpacks Leaves Politics Off 'And How They Flew'new
The group recently toured in support of D.C. voting rights and is attempting to sell MTV on a reality series about the subject. But its debut album is a largely apolitical series of easygoing (if verbose) good-time tunes that bend over backward not to take themselves too seriously.
Washington City Paper |
Ben Westhoff |
11-29-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Analog Jetpack, And How They Flew
My Teacher is a Rockstar?new
From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every weekday, the former Dismemberment Plan bassist Eric Axelson morphs into Mr. Axelson, a mild-mannered English teacher who quizzes his juniors on The Crucible at Columbia Heights' Bell Multicultural High School.
Washington City Paper |
Jessica Gould |
11-15-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Lies and Rhetoric, Statehood
Dillinger Escape Plan: In Livid Colornew
The group's membership woes have only fired up and brightened its music.
Washington City Paper |
David Dunlap Jr. |
11-15-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Dillinger Escape Plan, Ire Works
