It takes a unique band to be of the mental disposition that, as much as they might like it, they can't help but believe that slogan they see on T-shirts, “Punk is dead.” It doesn't happen to every group of course, and even those that do reach that...
I saw Saviours for the first time at a dirty little rock club in the South Side of Chicago. I had a feeling I was in for something unique when lead singer Austin Barber's first words to the crowd was "Lets get weird!" Let's do it, I thought. After...
Ever since I heard them, The Avett Brothers have held a special place in my heart. They’re one of those bands that came at the right time and delivered the right content. And as anyone who has heard their album, Emotionalism, will tell you, the Avetts have...
There's a misperception among music fans that the material a player is most commonly associated with is also the stuff that sums up who he/she is. It's a reasonable enough assumption to make; in every other line of work, if you sign your name to something,...
Since the late 1980s, with the emergence of every new pocket of alt-rock (or 'indie rock,' or 'college rock' – pick your favorite title) bands that come together and get noticed for their sound as a community, there are always a few bands that get...
Listening back, it's funny and strange to hear these lost sessions by Snoop Dogg – if only in observation the distance between them and the position that the emcee occupies now. Recorded during his stretch on Death Row Records, this album puts into relief how...
Ever get the impression that you might be bearing witness to a trend forming? Less than a month after the release of Sufjan Stevens' incredible instrumental offering Run Rabbit Run that offered a thrilling outlet to explore, now audiences receive a second such...
As the story goes, when Rosanne Cash was eighteen years old, her father (Johnny Cash, for the clueless) gave her a list of one hundred essential country songs as a gift to educate her about what he did at work. That list lay fallow in the singer's effects for...
Since forming twenty-eight years ago, Slayer has established itself as one of the most blistering and aggressive metal acts in North America – that's on the books, it's not news. The band has won a wildly dedicated following on the strength of their...
To paraphrase The Tragically Hip, a couple of years ago when most of his bandmates started splintering off from The Strokes and starting their own solo and side projects (drummer Fabrizio Moretti formed Little Joy, Albert Hammond Jr. has released two solo albums now,...