AltWeeklies Wire
A Compilation More Safe Than Sorrynew
If anyone deserves a tribute album, it's the criminally underappreciated Escovedo, whose idiosyncratic songwriting -- a deeply personal amalgam of ragged roots-rock, haunted chamber-folk, righteous Tejano, corrosive country-punk, and countless other genres that haven't been identified yet -- is in a class of its own.
Illinois Times |
René Spencer Saller |
08-26-2004 |
Reviews
Country Superstar Clint Black Resets the Clocknew
Over the years, Black has dealt with just about every obstacle one can imagine, and somehow managed to stay near the top of the heap. When he hits the stage on his current tour, Black will be simultaneously celebrating his amazing career to date, and taking his first steps in a new direction.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
James Kelly |
08-26-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Clint Black, Spend My Time
Gogol Bordello Grows Upnew
From playing professional New York City clubs to Bosnian courtyards with no PA, and having been bootlegged in Eastern Europe, Gogol Bordello has seen plenty of variations but never seemed watered down. The group embraces syncopation without hesitation.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Tony Ware |
08-26-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Gogol Bordello, J.U.F.
The Song's the Thing for Today's Folkiesnew
In the world of today's folk music, the barriers between audience and performer are awfully thin -- but that actually means the quality of the music is higher
Metal Gone Mad: Robby Road Steamer's Macho Bombastnew
With six feet, two inches of undulating muscles and rippling chest hair, a feral baritone booming from beneath a combed moustache, flared trousers stuffed you-know-where with a plump beanie pig, Robby Road Steamer is a metal monstrosity.
Boston Phoenix |
Mike Miliard |
08-26-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Wild Oatesnew
For John Oates, turning over a new leaf meant shaving off his Freddie Mercury moustache. Oates still ain't as pretty as his taller, blonder, better-known partner, Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates, but for our money, the pint-size David Starsky doppelgänger has got to be a better sport than, say, Andrew Ridgley, the silent half of Wham! Better yet, judge for yourself via this exclusive Q&A.
Riverfront Times |
Mike Seely |
08-25-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Hall & Oates, Wild Oates
“Yeeaah!” vs. “Yeeaah!”
Confused? Learn the difference between Nickelback and Puddle of Mudd now!
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Bill Frost |
08-25-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Nickelback
The Return of Princenew
He strips down everything, including his ego, on his first release since 2001.
Seattle Weekly |
Michaelangelo Matos |
08-25-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Prince, musicology
Finding the Cure: Confessions of a Doom Dollnew
The Cure addressed everything an alienated teen could feel: sweeping romance, longing, regret, unhinged excitement. And it didn't candy-coat life the way mainstream pop did, or pump it full of greasy testosterone like hair metal.
Phoenix New Times |
Michele Laudig |
08-23-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Rick James RIP, Bitch: DJs Pay Homage to the Funky Onenew
Rick James was a junkie who banged black (and white) models, as did the Rolling Stones. What's more, he was utterly unrepentant about it all from glorious beginning to sorry downfall to pitiful end.
Houston Press |
John Nova Lomax |
08-23-2004 |
Music
Blackbird Fly: Americana the Way It Ought to Benew
The Houston native's music manages to sound both Depression-era vintage and strikingly contemporary, while her songs are full of pleas for good old-fashioned morphine and desperate failed romances, not to mention the talking starfish and singing mermaids that gambol and frolic on the beaches of her adopted San Francisco home.
Houston Press |
John Nova Lomax |
08-23-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Country Music Survives: Time for Hipsters to Ride Mechanical Bullnew
Country is cool again. And not hipster-approved alt.country. No, this here's Wal-Mart country, unabashedly poppy and populist.
East Bay Express |
Rob Harvilla |
08-23-2004 |
Music
The Jazz Tortoise: Charlie Hunter Simplifies the Equationnew
Hunter has a reputation as an absolute monster live. There's a killer instinct within him that comes out in a stage setting, despite his penchant for laid-back grooves.
East Bay Express |
Eric K. Arnold |
08-23-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Bond That Bonds: Spy-Fi Turns Out Album No. 001new
Specializing in re-creating the instrumentals of classic espionage flicks and TV shows from the '50s, '60s, and '70s, Spy-Fi spikes the themes from James Bond, Dick Tracy, Man From U.N.C.L.E., and dozens of others with volume and verve.
Cleveland Scene |
Jason Bracelin |
08-23-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Mohawks and Mullets Butt Heads on Ozzfest 2004new
The annual headbanger bacchanalia has undergone something of a sea change in 2004: Spearheaded by Superjoint, hardcore-influenced metal has taken over.
Cleveland Scene |
Jason Bracelin |
08-23-2004 |
Concerts
Tags: Various Artists, Ohio, Columbus, McGrath, Ozzy, Sabbath, Andy Williams, Black Sabbath, Buffalo metalcore quintet Every Time I Die, guitarist for Massachusetts metalcore bruisers Unearth, Judas Priest. Singer Rob Halford, Ozzfest 2004, Phil Anselmo, Symphonic black-metallers Dimmu Borgir, Vincent Price, concerts
