There are few things in the music spectrum more attractive than a band with a really, really melancholy and introspective demeanor who makes lush, beautiful and guitar-driven pop music. Those rock fans who have happened upon such groups have been both cursing and celebrating them for decades; bands like The Smiths, The Cure, The Screaming Trees and The Lemonheads have been baring their broken hearts and bruised souls for years and had it lapped up gratefully by fans – and...

The promotional material for Lady From Shanghai proclaims: "Smash the Hegemony of Dance. Stand still. … Lady From Shanghai is an album of dance music… fixed." That is an apt description of the music on Pere Ubu's fifteenth studio album. It almost sounds like dance music, but good luck trying to dance to it. This has been the essence of Pere Ubu's music for their entire career. It straddles the line between almost normal and completely off-the-wall bizarre. I'm not...

Is it possible for folk music to sound epic? Really, decades of history preclude the possibility of any listener expecting to be hit with an act of fantastic rock grandeur on a folk record but, on his fourth album, From The Top Of Willamette Mountain, singer Joshua James proves that such a record is absolutely possible to find. Not only that, but he can show listeners just how powerful his music can be and win hearts without leaving the “folk”...

About four years ago – when Tom Fun Orchestra released You Will Land With A Thud on the world – they took everyone by complete surprise. Sounding like the score to a Newfoundland kitchen party that Tom Waits crashed, TFO shocked and awed listeners because, as odd as they were, they were also an epic rock band, the likes of which the world had never heard before. Now, four years later, Tom Fun Orchestra has returned with Earthworm Heart and,...

I'm dingin' an' dongin' merrily junky, are you high?Howzat holiday spirit treatin' ya junky? Me? I'm on cloud mothafuckin' nine! I'm swipin' right, I'm swipin' left, I'm swipin' everything that ain't nailed down fer youse junky, howzat grabbin' ya. Dis week too, I'm swipin' whole albums an' EPs fer youse – not jus' individual songs, but dose individual songs I did grab are pretty awesome. Like dis new tune “Santa Is An Asshole” – have you heard...

The funny thing about benefit compilation records is that no matter how good they are, they usually end up being pretty disposable when all is said and done. One look at the history of the phenomenon proves it – sure, that Free Tibet album which came out in the Nineties was good for its moment, but who still owns a copy? What about the one which hoped to raise money to stop abuse against women, Home Alive? Or Sweet Relief?...

Do you remember how it felt the first time you heard Dinosaur Jr.? It felt good and weird all at the same time right? You probably picked up on the band because somebody  told you were the greatest band ever to come out of the independent rock underground. You probably liked punk rock at the time, so the idea of checking something like that out sounded good to you. Why not? New music is always good. So you started listening...

The great musical flaw which ultimately led to the downfall of the whole pop punk/melodic hardcore wave which broke bands like Green Day, The Offspring, NOFX and Rancid in the Nineties was that, eventually, the biggest, most successful bands eventually got bored and began pushing a few boundaries to see what else they could accomplish. Granted, some of them didn't venture too far – but it was enough that vans began to disperse in several different directions at once, leaving...

Ohwowohwowohwowohwow are youse eva lucky Junky,Ya know what time o' da year it is, right junky? I's supposed ta be da time o' year when i's supposed ta be betta ta give thin receive an' all'at nonsense (who eva bu-leaves dat shit anyway?), but dis time it's true – I got a buncha SWAG ta unload on ya, ann'it's all fuckin' primo dope! An' I'm not jus' sayin' it — it's fuckin' awesome! I gotta heavy bag fulla heavy hittas...

Some will be surprised (that it's only happening now) and some will say it's about time, but Rush will finally be inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall Of Fame on April 18, 2013 at the Nokia Center in Los Angeles, CA. Other inductees will include Public Enemy, Heart, Randy Newman, Albert King, Quincy Jones, Lou Adler and Donna Summer. "It's a terrific honor and we'll show up smiling… It made my mom happy, so that's worth it," said singer/bassist...