AltWeeklies Wire
Jackson Pop-Punkers At Cliffs End Know How to Go Through Vansnew
In the less than two years since the band formed and began touring, the group has seen one burn due to wiring problems, another destroyed when they collided with a tree, and a third is currently under repair.
Jackson Free Press |
Candace Parker |
12-29-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
R&B Hasn't Only Gone Soft, It's Become Downright Bullshitnew
The watering-down of the genre is one reason R&B has been disparaged as "Rap & Bullshit" by everyone from RZA of Wu-Tang Clan to rap bloggers at Cocaine Blunts to the now-defunct music site Stylus. Another is because it's artistically moribund.
Seattle Weekly |
Ben Westhoff |
12-29-2008 |
Music
The Avett Brothers Herald Fame with a Rick Rubin-Produced Albumnew
Acoustic roots-rockers the Avett Brothers are poised for their big break, but even as they look forward to the coming year, band members seem unwilling to make any predictions.
Mountain Xpress |
Alli Marshall |
12-23-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: The Avett Brothers
Video Game-Influenced Music Isn't Just Playing Aroundnew
Bands like Minibosses and California's The Advantage have found a nice little niche playing covers of classic game music. Other acts are drawing inspiration from the sounds of the eight-bit world to create chiptune soundscapes that are among the most interesting electronic music out there right now.
Phoenix New Times |
Martin Cizmar |
12-23-2008 |
Music
The Best Christmas Album of 2008 is ... Metal?new
With the ever-optimistic attitude of a kid setting out milk and cookies for Santa, we set out to find a few 2008 holiday albums that don't suck, and -- praise the Lord -- we actually found a few.
Houston Press |
Chris Gray |
12-23-2008 |
Music
Tags: holiday music, christmas albums
Polyphonic Spree's Holiday Extravaganza Haunted by Tripping Daisynew
Even amidst the spectacle of the Polyphonic Spree's annual holiday extravaganza show, reminders of Tripping Daisy abound.
Dallas Observer |
Pete Freedman |
12-22-2008 |
Music
David Lineal Reaches Out to Illinois' Beleaguered Governor in Songnew
The frontman of the local pysch-pop band Bird Names recorded For the Love of Rod, a bizarre song cycle celebrating the governor, in 2005. He gave CD-Rs to a few friends, but the music never saw a proper release. Within hours of Blagojevich's arrest, though, he'd posted it as a free download on the Bird Names site.
Chicago Reader |
Liam Warfield |
12-22-2008 |
Music
Navigating the Host of Holiday Music Releasesnew
From New Kids on the Block to Jim Jones & Skull Gang, we break down some notable holiday releases.
Tags: holiday music, holiday albums
Why I Still Make Tapesnew
I still make tapes because I have always made tapes, and I tend to continue to do things that I have always done.
North Bay Bohemian |
Gabe Meline |
12-19-2008 |
Music
The Revamped Sounds, Songs and Suits of The New Familiarsnew
Charlotte, N.C.-based folk-rock outfit The New Familiars blends traditional roots music with energetic, modern sounds and great vintage suits.
Mountain Xpress |
Alli Marshall |
12-19-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Expressing Oneself Through Music Torture Programmingnew
Music as torture makes intuitive sense to us. In milder incarnations, we've been subjected to it, and practicing it, for years. In the context of genuine warfare, however, what role should music and other forms of pop culture play?
Las Vegas Weekly |
Greg Beato |
12-19-2008 |
Music
Mercury Rev Delivers One of the Year's Most Intriguing Albums
If you played Snowflake Midnight next to one of the band's early-'90s guitar-noise workouts, you'd think the two were recorded centuries apart.
Be Your Own Pet Releases a Miniature Pop-Punk Teen-Girl Party Piece
At three tracks and barely six minutes in length, does this even qualify as an EP? Well, kind of -- the three songs on this, the swan song for the Nashville garage quartet, were removed from the U.S. release of the band's early-2008 Get Awkward disc by Universal lawyers for being "too violent."
The Modern Folk Sounds of Fleet Foxes Are Simply Divine
This reverb-drenched beauty seems to be gunning for the title of coolest record ever to be sold across a Starbucks counter.
One Day As A Lion Rages Against Change
Zack De La Rocha returns from exile, a little changed but no worse for wear.
