On a night when ball-shrinking coldness gripped the southland, one backward railroad town on the edge of the Inland Empire kept the faithful warm. That was when Pomona’s venerable but haplessly off-the-beaten-path Glass House played host to eternal slack godhead Stephen Malkmus and his merry band of Jicks. And on an evening when a $17 ticket might have been well-spent just to get shelter from the frigid conditions, Malkmus put on a memorable show that highlighted his rapidly proggifying band’s...

When J Mascis and Lou Barlow parted ways in 1989 following three hugely acclaimed and enormously influential albums it was generally understood that the relationship was, sadly, irreparably damaged. While J continued with Dinosaur Jr, Lou went on to form Sebadoh & Folk Implosion and the original Dinosaur Jr line-up seemed unlikely to ever rekindle their magic. Dinosaur Jr are now widely recognized as one of the most significant American rock bands of all time; the sound they pioneered in...

(New York, NY) Formerly known as Tarantula AD, Priestbird will release their debut full length In Your Time on April 17, 2007. The band will support this release with a tour this Spring opening for The Sword. Since the release of Book of Sand in late 2005, Tarantula AD’s sound has been constantly evolving to the point where the band members felt an overall change was in order. Taking their name in reference to a character in one of their...

In the days before “pop” was a dirty word, the music was funky, unpolished and not at all dumbed-down. The songs were so exciting, they could make you dance with wild abandon, and sing along euphorically, never caring who was in earshot. Everybody Else (named for a Kinks B-side) have created a record of just these tunes. With twelve back-to-back gems, Everybody Else’s self-titled debut is an album so refreshingly un-jaded it will leave you wondering why anyone would ever...

DJ John Digweed and dance rock outfit MSTRKRFT will team up for the first Diamonds 07 tour this spring. The trek begins March in Portland, OR, and will run through March 31 in New York. It will also visit the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas (March 16) and Miami's Winter Music Conference (March 20). "We are always in search of the best party possible and this is probably about as close as you can get," says MSTRKRFT's Jesse...

Having toured last year with his A Tribe Called Quest mates for the first time since 2000, Q-Tip is back on the solo beat. The Universal Motown artist is gearing up for the spring release of The Renaissance. Q-Tip put together a hip-hop band for project, but, according to the New York-based rapper, it's not a band simply in the sense of everyone just playing an instrument. "I wanted a hip-hop sonic feel, something pure to the sound of hip-hop...

Bjork has worked with a typically eclectic crew of collaborators on her next album, due in late spring via Atlantic. According to a post on the artist’s website, the as-yet-untitled album features two tracks produced by Timbaland and another two featuring vocals by Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons. Additional guest appearances have been turned in by Toumani Diabate on kora, Konono No. 1 on electric thumb piano and drumming from Lightning Bolt’s Brian Chippendale. “This record is a...

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are moving forward with a documentary film and live album from the quartet’s Freedom of Speech ‘06 North American tour, both of which are expected to be released this year. David Crosby tells Billboard.com that Neil Young is currently working on the film amidst his other well-chronicled archival projects that are due out this year, while all four are listening to show tapes for the CD. The documentary, he says, will be more ambitious than...

Every once in a while a band comes around that no one’s ever heard with a collection of songs that should be called “Greatest Hits,” but can’t considering, well, technically there are no hits. So you can go the “An Introduction to” route, but that seems to work better for Nick Drake and Shuggie Otis. For Stockholm’s cerebral rockers Audionom, Retrospektiv seems like an appropriate album title as nothing this band does can really be explained in one Virgin Megastore-friendly...

Walking into the Comets on Fire pre-Christmas bash at 12 Galaxies in SF’s Mission District, there’s a slight, although not overwhelming, feel of camaraderie. Here were the boys of the hometown sort, who had muddied their way up from the coast located at the bottom of the Santa Cruz mountains just a few years ago and were now making highly visible, highly praised cosmic dirt rock. Maybe not for the masses, but for a big enough selection of underground rock...