I have spent the past year in every record shop I could find up the coast of California looking for albums by the Mexican alternative rock band, Zoé. The song "Deja Te Conecto" was burned on a mix CD for me a few ago, and has been on repeat in my car ever since. Zoé still hasn't gained mass popularity in the United States but that's about to change as the group just embarked on their first official U.S. tour...

Whether or not the title of The Ponys’ new record, Turn the Lights Out, has anything to do with Interpol’s famed 2002 release Turn on the Bright Lights (or whether it’s remotely related to the fact that the Chicago foursome just got signed to Matador, making them post-punk cousins and label buddies alike) is of minute importance when it comes down to musical comparisons. It may be one of those funny things that happen sometimes, and it might put me...

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club will headline a spring tour that will start with support from The Fratellis in San Diego on May 6th and have them touring through June. The tour will fall on the wings of the release of their fourth album, Baby 81, out May 1st on RCA Records. With their 2005 critically acclaimed album, Howl, BRMC proved their stalwart musicianship with their own brand of stripped down Americana and are now deftly transitioning back towards the color-saturated...

ARTIST: The Decemberists – DATE: 03-07-07 REVIEW BY: Clara Druzgalski ALBUM: The Decemberists: A Practical Handbook (DVD) LABEL: Kill Rock Stars   The Decemberists are headed up. They recently signed to Capitol Records for their fourth studio album The Crane Wife, have been touring to promote it with sold out shows, and have somehow managed to get their name on the Coachella poster printed larger than Sonic Youth’s. I have no idea how that happened, but it just goes...

The Decemberists are headed up. They recently signed to Capitol Records for their fourth studio album The Crane Wife, have been touring to promote it with sold out shows, and have somehow managed to get their name on the Coachella poster printed larger than Sonic Youth's. I have no idea how that happened, but it just goes to show that their fan base, once a small following comprised of Merlot-drinking intellectuals and indie kids in tight jeans, is expanding beyond...

Undoubtedly, one of last year’s best albums was Midlake’s The Trials of Van Occupanther. Actually, inarguably is probably a better word than undoubtedly, because while non-listeners may doubt its brilliance, they can’t argue after hearing “Roscoe” or “Young Bride” All this is to preface the fact that a nearly two hour drive to...

This is the first finger-to-buzz-modulated-button that Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin from Air have raised in three years—and it doesn't even buzz. In their latest effort, Air take a classical bend to their breathy electronic soars: the prominent presence of a piano in nearly every song exerts its wooden sound and classical weight, pushing the delicate wisps of the electronic arrangements to the back of the stage. To be sure, Air's sonic spaces were never cluttered to begin with, and...

The evening of March 3, 2007, marked the return of Bikeride, who chose local Long Beach venue DiPiazza’s to unleash their latest release The Kiss upon the world. It’s been four long and eventful years, but the time was well spent, making an incredibly wonderful album, all while dealing with unthinkable events that should, in most cases, leave lesser bands in squalor. Not this tight group of friends. They stuck together and made for a momentous record-release show that left...

The Sea and Cake are like a modern day classic rock band. While their sound has morphed stylistically over the past six albums, like a fine wine, their brand of post rock has aged well over the years. Nowadays, when one is required to navigate a complicated minefield of nuwave-disco-lofi-neo-proto-mustache-post-nude-ironic stylings in order to keep up with the current scene, a new record by these timeless Chicago overachievers is just what the doctor ordered—and Everybody delivers in full. The record...

Los Angeles epic instrumental quintet Red Sparowes kicks off a U.S. tour in support of its sophomore Neurot Recordings album Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Red Sun this week. The band had previously played select dates on the east and west coasts (as well as in the U.K.) last fall, but this is the first full scale jaunt for the quintet due to the busy schedules of its members who also split time in metal heavyweights ISIS, Neurosis, Battle...