Awright junky,So I'm gonna break da news a little early an' steal a little bit o' ol' fi' dollar Billy's thunder. I gotta email from 'im the otha day sayin' that he's gettin' married inna coupla weeks. First, I wanna say congratulations to 'im an', second, I gotta know what he doused her with – after all, bein' a music pusher like me is one thing, but no girl in her right mind marries a writer. But good lick to...

It's instantly attention-grabbing and captivating when a musician takes a different approach to an established paradigm and that's exactly what Patti Smith has done with Outside Society. Historically, the rules and/or commonly held values for best-of compilations are sinple: Establish the artist's importance with the string of blockbuster hits they've had over the years. Throw in a few “artist favorites” to let the auteur have their say in the structure of the release. Most recently, remaster the songs included and...

Peter Hook will be playing Joy Division’s 1980 final album Closer in its entirety at San Francisco’s Mezzanine on September 17, 2011. The former Joy Division and New Order bassist will be appearing with his band The Light and, at select venues, will be performing the landmark Unknown Pleasures which was released in 1979. With two seminal albums such as these, it’s a hard call to decide which show to see given that both are such essential chapters in the...

Public Assembly isn’t the biggest venue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It's not even the biggest venue on the block – so it can be forgotten, sometimes. Here’s a tip: don’t sleep on it. You could end up as one of the few lonely strangers who get to see a hyper-talented band play whatever song you request, as was the case when the Wave Pictures hit the stage a few weeks ago. Seriously, they were taking requests from the audience. It was...

Hey – remember when the Red Hot Chili Peppers were the most fun in rock? Between fifteen and twenty-five years ago, RHCP was absolutely outrageous – they'd slap socks on their cocks while gibbering “Those fuckers are red hot” and dance like Iggy Pop while standing in line at a coffee shop and plan uplifting mofo parties while on camera with Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Dana Carvey just for kicks. It was great but, as...

While there's little doubt that tween-age kids will probably flock to the pop-aggressive sounds that I Set My Friends On Fire have concocted on Astral Rejection, it's also hard to not feel like every single, solitary micro-tone of the album flies in the face of every tenet that punk rock has held dear for decades. Remember how punk of every stripe used to work? It was simple: Write some songs (the length of which was irrelevant). Get them on tape,...

Now fifteen years after the band first formed and seven albums after they released Goddamnit and showed listeners that (unlike so many other forms of pop music) punk rock could be dark without being dirge-y, Alkaline Trio has already made an indelible mark on punk, but nothing lasts forever. That isn't meant to sound like critical commentary, it's just common sense; because their music is an inherently youthful form, punk musicians can only stick to one artistic base for so...

It's unfortunate how rockabilly music has become increasingly reliant upon outside sounds and cliches to keep it looking even passably vital as time and trends have passed. Like some kind of parasite, rockabilly will attach itself to another kind of music (rock, punk, hardcore and the soundtracks to horror movies have all been previous victims) and sycophantically leach its essence until there's nothing usable left to take, and then move on to another victim. Nothing really changes and rockabilly hasn't...

Here's a quick side of editorial before we get to the heart of this thing. The recent trend among touring bands with a sizable catalogue and history has been to host concerts where they'll play a classic album from front to back and top to bottom – essentially playing human jukebox for fans. Some fans seem to enjoy it, but there are critics (including me) who just don't understand; part of the attraction for a live show (for me, and...

Hey Junkie, Don' tell nobody, but I got somethin' extra special fo' ya dis week. Ya know how a usually nickel an' dime it aroun', swipin' one song from those who ain't lookin'? I'm proud of myself this week because this week I been really bold – ther's still single songs-is week, but I nabbed more full albums than singles an' I put 'em all innere. I ain't gonna talk too much so as not ta draw too much attention...