AltWeeklies Wire
Travel Portland Tries to Woo Tourists with Indie Rocknew
The "private nonprofit destination marketing organization" is running an "Indie Music Hotel Package," which courts the would-be indie tourist with hip package deals for lodging and a free sampler of local music.
The Portland Mercury |
Ezra Ace Caraeff |
07-03-2008 |
Music
Nathan Brown Hopes to Bring Back the 8-Tracknew
The 8-track is such an object of obsession for Brown that he's hoping not only to repopularize, but almost literally to resurrect it. This year he has recorded and engineered releases by two Arkansas bands -- the Crisco Kids and San Antokyo -- solely on 8-track, with plans to do the same for The Thing That Always Explodes, Magic Hassle and the Evelyns.
Arkansas Times |
Sam Eifling |
07-03-2008 |
Music
50 States, 50 Bandsnew
We picked the all-time best band, all-time best solo artist, and best new(ish) band from each of the 50 states (plus a set from DC). We say the all-time best band to come out of Connecticut was the Carpenters. Michigan? The Stooges. Massachusetts? The Pixies. Care to argue about it?
Boston Phoenix |
Michael Brodeur, Carly Carioli and Lance Gould |
07-01-2008 |
Music
Stevie Wonder on the Death of Ray Charles and His Hopes for Barack Obamanew
His 2007 U.S. tour, A Wonder Summer's Night, is his first broad-based national tour in over a decade, inspired by the 2006 death of his mother, Lula Mae Hardaway, a sharecropper's daughter born in Alabama in 1930.
Boulder Weekly |
Ben Corbett |
06-30-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Katy Perry on Kissing Girls, Dissing Boys and Making it Bignew
Between her hit single and her gossip-fueling relationship, it seems Perry has already reached full-blown pop star status. But the Santa Barbara-raised youngster asserts that her road to fame has not been easy. Prior to recording and releasing One of the Boys, Perry was just another pretty girl struggling to make it in the industry.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Aly Comingore |
06-30-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Katy Perry, One of the Boys
Public Enemy's Chuck D on Nas, Obama and Rhetoricnew
"I think for about six months after, if he gets elected, there will be a sense of euphoria all around the world. Then the real world will set in. He might take some right-wing stances, he's going to try to appease certain elements in society that I don't necessarily gel with. But also, the support and belief in him could lead those factions to sway away from the right."
Montreal Mirror |
Narcel X |
06-27-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Ramon Hernandez Squeezes a History of Latino Music into His Apartmentnew
In the early 1960s, he began collecting literature, periodicals, recordings, photographs, and other memorabilia on Latinos in the music industry, from the crooners of the '40s to the rock 'n' rollers of the '50s to anyone who has ever been associated with Tejano, conjunto, and musica ranchera.
San Antonio Current |
Kiko Martinez |
06-25-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Two Queer Legends of Indie Rock and Queercore Look Backnew
Pansy Division's Jon Ginoli and Camper Van Beethoven's Victor Krummenacher got together recently to talk about the way it was, coming out in the repressed 1980s and coming into their own experientially, politically, and musically in 1990s San Francisco -- each, as Krummenacher puts it, a "gay guy suddenly in Candyland."
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kimberly Chun |
06-25-2008 |
Music
Former Korn Guitarist Brian Welch Finds Jesusnew
Welch's journey started six years before his baptism, the night he punched his wife in the face.
Phoenix New Times |
John Dickerson |
06-24-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Christianity, metal, Jesus, meth, Korn, born again, crystal meth, alternative metal, Brian Welch, explicit lyrics
Halftime Report: Examining the Most Buzzed About Albums of the Yearnew
Taking stock of some of the top releases thus far (Al Green learns to Lay It Down), flops (Trina is not Still Da Baddest), and annoyances (Mariah Carey — nobody but Nick Cannon even cares anymore), here's a look at some of 2008's most talked-about albums.
New Times Broward-Palm Beach |
Jonathan Cunningham |
06-24-2008 |
Music
Major Labels Could Learn a Thing or Two About File-Sharing from Lil Waynenew
Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III, which came out June 10 on Universal subsidiary Cash Money, was one of the most anticipated albums of 2008, even though the sheer amount of material Wayne has already released in the past year -- including dozens of web-only tracks and several album-length mix tapes -- threatened to try his fans' patience as well as overload their hard drives.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
06-24-2008 |
Music
Sub Pop's Twentieth Anniversary Spurs Denver's Unlikeliest Band Reunionnew
The Fluid was the first group based outside the Pacific Northwest to ink with Sub Pop, the indie that served as the launching pad for what became known as the grunge sound; as such, it became a key component of a musical revolution that helped define the late-'80s/early-'90s rock era.
Is Hipster Metal for Assholes?new
Lately, like scores of other music critics, I've been getting into some "hipster-metal bands," so named because guys like us listen to them. Real metal dudes hate people like me. And that certainly includes D.X. Ferris, my co-worker and author of a new book about Slayer's Reign in Blood, which is apparently some sort of classic metal album.
Cleveland Scene |
Michael Gallucci and D.X. Ferris |
06-20-2008 |
Music
How US Terror Policy is Ruining Your Summer Concert Seasonnew
Summer concert season has just begun, but some of your favorite acts won't be coming to a city anywhere near you -- they'll be stranded in visa purgatory.
Boston Phoenix |
Jason O'Bryan |
06-19-2008 |
Music
Where's This Year's Song of the Summer?new
After Gnarls Barkley raised the bar, we're still waiting for this summer's hook-filled hit. And Walter Meego has my vote.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
06-19-2008 |
Music
