My mother threw out the family record player just as I started to carve out my own musical identity. Four years later, she was the one who bought me my first turntable. Since then I've amassed a few hundred records in various sizes and colors. Music is increasingly...
A record label that considers black vinyl rare in their catalog speaks volumes. Few labels represent the scene as well as No Idea Records. Started in the late 80s, No Idea has grown to uber-label proportions, and, strangely enough, kept its' dignity throughout. In...
What is it about the dark horse that makes people actively watch a race and quietly hope it wins? People can deny that they do it all they want, or lie and say they saw it coming all along, but maybe it's just symptomatic of the human condition to pray that the...
Mexican architect Luis Barragán was once quoted as saying, “I think that the ideal space must contain elements of magic, serenity, sorcery and mystery.” It's an understandable assertion to make; a structure is just that without those things but,...
As anyone that suffers from chronic nightmares can tell youthere reaches a point in every dream sequence when the dreamer knows events are about to turn into something very dark, disturbing or ugly. That's when the nightmare starts. On Becoming a Jackal –...
There are moments when one has to wonder what the mitigating factor might have been that prompted a band to spontaneously re-think its' sound from the ground up, and listening to Born Ruffians' sophomore effort, Say It, is one of them. When the band released...
After an almost two year absence from American soil, the mighty Iron Maiden have returned with a vengeance. The band has just launched The Final Frontier World Tour, and will be playing twenty-two dates in select cities across the US and Canada before heading over to...
There's no arguing that there is an artistry in making records, but few bands realize all of the artistic possibilities that putting together and releasing an album affords. There are some conventions that many bands don't think to challenge – like how to...
In some ways, it's almost unbelievable that Oasis' core line-up was only together for fifteen years. The band's stack of headlines and tabloid press is literally leagues deep; the tempestuous relationship that siblings Liam and Noel Gallagher have run...
It has now been seven years since Sarah McLachlan last released a full length studio album (the Christmas album, Wintersong, doesn't count – nor do Closer: The Best Of…, Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2, Bloom or any of the four live albums...