Swan Lake are a supergroup of sorts, albeit a modestly super one. We’ve got Dan Bejar (Destroyer), Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade), and Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes) making the noise behind this. Although I can honestly say that I did not know one lick of Wolf Parade's music before this, I am in trusted, committed relationships to the music of both Destroyer and Frog Eyes and was willing to judge a man by the company that he keeps rather than the...
After the massive US mind-fuckery of a tour w/ rock legends THE MELVINS, Seattle's (check, now LA's) heaviest hitters BIG BUSINESS are headed to the UK to blow some minds, and eardrums, but not before they tease us a bit more, this time by leaking the track "Grounds for Divorce," off their upcoming March 6, 2007 release of "Here Come The Water Works" on Hydra Head BIG BUSINESS UK (and select US) Dates w/ The Melvins Dec 9 2006 ATP...
ISIS embarks on their first headline run supporting "In The Absence of Truth" (they'd spent late Summer/Fall opening for Tool). Tickets go on sale for all shows on Dec. 16. Here are the dates (a handful of additional dates will be announced in the new year): Feb. 22 San Diego, CA Casbah Feb. 23 Tempe, AZ The Clubhouse Feb. 24 Albuquerque, NM Launchpad Feb. 26 Oklahoma City, OK The Conservatory Feb. 27 Ft. Worth, TX Ridglea Theater Feb....
Sometimes there are bands you’ve heard mentioned a million times, but you’re just not sure who they are. When I told people I was going to see The Melvins, most people looked at me, nodded and said, “Ah, yeah, The Melvins…” with no rhetoric to follow. The band definitely has name recognition, but not without a lack of fans. The show at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa was reportedly the first-ever online sell-out in the venue’s history as the top...
What's a 7th grade kid to do when a behemoth Nazi skinhead extends him an olive branch in the form of a cassette with a hammy picture of Ronald Reagan on the cover? One, he could decline and risk raising the ire of the biggest kid in school who was rumored to have knocked out a high schooler. Or two, he could take it, smile, and then head straight home to put it in the deck, thereby sidestepping the beating...
^ = w/ The Lemonheads12/5 Minneapolis, MN @ The 400 Bar ^12/7 Chicago, IL @ Double Door ^12/8 Chicago, IL @ Double Door ^12/9 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop ^12/10 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick ^12/12 Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace ^12/13 Philadelphia, PA @ North Star Bar...
Liverpool quartet Clinic will make their first U.S. live appearances since 2004 this March with eight select performances. The Grammy-nominated masked band will be touring in support of their fourth full-length, Visitations, due in stores January 23rd on Domino Records. These shows will be their only appearances in these markets in 2007. Heralded as one of the most distinct creative groups of the past decade, Clinic burst onto the U.S. music scene in 2001 with the release of their debut...
Once again due to a delay at the production plant, Gold Standard Laboratories is pushing back the release of BIG SIR “Und Die Scheiße Ändert Sich Immer” to February 2007. Press copies have been sent out, but please let us know if you have not received one and would like to. In their very rare free time from their other projects, BIG SIR will be playing a handful of dates in the LA area (dates listed below). BIG SIR is...
It’s one of the more annoying things about writing about music. An album crosses your desk in a little cardboard sleeve or a jewel case with no cover. It’s a band you’ve never heard of, one of twenty or so in the stack you have to listen to that day. Each CD gets about three minutes, usually enough to tell if it warrants another listen or will just go in a box and clutter up your office/bedroom for a month...
Australia’s The Drones made a splash with last year’s Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By. The album—which won an Australian Music Prize—garnered a lot of attention for the Melbourne-based band, making them critical darlings in the European and American indie press for its jagged stabs of guitar, densely-layered harmonies and haunting tales of drunkenness, suicide, despair and the occasional prospect of being devoured by shark. Founded five years ago by lead singer...