No fanfare. No fake attempts to elicit enthusiasm from the audience. At Oakland’s Fox Theater, London’s The xx emerged quietly and began to make their presence known with a rich, swirling statement of music. Sounding just as they do on their eponymous debut...
The two most classic themes in Country music are heartache and heartbreak. Some naysayers or those that have never listened to Country music will ask what the difference is, but those on the inside know; the difference is all a matter of time. 'Heartbreak'...
Anyone who's been paying attention over the last few years had to have seen the possibility of Taylor Hawkins restarting The Coattail Riders coming. Recently, Hawkins has leant his voice to a series of albums including those by Dennis Wilson (where he filled in a...
Hey there you reprobates,Alright, I'm early – live with it. But I'm gonna make it worth your while, I swear; some things I just can't sit on. Like this monster load o' SWAG for example; this one's a beaut. Can you believe there are folks...
Those of us that grew up in the Eighties understand just how bizarre a time it was. While the underground was busy brewing many of the bands that would go on to inspire and influence a staggering amount of the music that would come out through the Nineties and early...
It seems bizarre to think this way, but there are a very great few moments when trash culture can have a profound effect and influence on pop culture – even if it's totally impossible to understand why or how it happened. Such was exactly the case with Big...
Ever wonder what it would sound like if The Kills got together with The Black Keys and did one enormous, bluesy rave-up? Probably not (who, other than the biggest music geeks, ever thinks about stuff like that?), but such a question might get more valid consideration...
Awright youse, So we reached the milestone of five posts full o' ill-gotten SWAG, and nobody's caught up with us yet – nobody's complainin'. Suits me, I can scour the web lookin' for free shit all day! And wouldn't you know? I've got a...
It's funny how a musical style is able to mutate after the initial bloom comes off its' rose. Take the creature that punk rock has become for example. After the first wave of punk bands crested and receded, in smashed hardcore and that made sense – the...
Lots of bands say they're committed to working as hard as possible and that they're hungry to break through to a mass audience, but one look at their actual itinerary illustrates that they're still working well inside a leisure industry paradigm; things get...