Maybe a year or two ago, local rock stations started playing a song called “Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked,” a catchy little tune with some bottleneck guitar and slick lyrics that would easily get stuck in my head. Eventually I caught the name of the...
When Los Campesinos first appeared on the pop radar with the Sticking Fingers Into Sockets EP four years ago, indie rock fans of all stripes got excited. Here was a band who was having fun, but Campesinos weren't just some sort of contrived corporate machination;...
It’s hard for me to knock New Found Glory. First of all, I didn’t know they were still around. Second of all, I saw them play at Vans Warped Tour almost ten years ago and their lead singer, Jordan Pundik, had thrown out his back the night before. He was in...
When Los Campesinos first appeared on the pop radar with the Sticking Fingers Into Sockets EP four years ago, indie rock fans of all stripes got excited. Here was a band who was having fun, but Campesinos weren't just some sort of contrived corporate machination;...
I’m no scientist, but I’m pretty sure that the dudes from Ivan & Alyosha have the same singing coach as My Morning Jacket’s Jim James or, at least, the dudes try to copy him. With the release of their second EP, Fathers Be Kind, the quartet band...
I’m pretty sure that the whole “Piano Man” scene sort of hit its peak in the late Seventies and early Eighties (see Elton John, Billy Joel et al) and went to ground hard after punk broke and got pounded even deeper when alternative reared its head...
After having been apart for fifteen years, Guided By Voices' classic lineup – with Robert Pollard on vocals and guitar, guitarist Mitch Mitchell, drummer Kevin Fennell, bassist Greg Demos and multi-instrumentalist Tobin Sprout – announced in June 2010...
Seriously, who smokes weed after/during a NOFX show these days? I am walking out of the House Of Blues on a Thursday night in October thinking just that. I know NOFX have graced us with some of the best punk/reggae the Nineties had to offer (“Kill All The White...
Sometimes, without even having a clear plan in mind necessarily, a band manages to fall ass-backwards into a charmed rock n' roll rhythm which instantly connects with listeners. It's never one particular aspect of the band's songs which ends up being...
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Ani DiFranco has announced the upcoming release of her eagerly awaited new album. Which Side Are You On? arrives via the Grammy-winning artist's own Righteous Babe Records on January 17, 2012. Which Side Are You On? marks DiFranco's...