I had to look twice to make sure I'd put the right album on for review as the lead-off track from Another Link In The Chain, “Birds Of Prey” kicked into gear. Then I went online to see if there were two bands called The Junction. Incidentally –...
'Designer impostor' products are funny things. On one hand, they're rather mawkish and genuinely looked down upon because, as the term implies, they're bargain-basement replicas of established and lauded matter. Sometimes they don't even bear a...
Australia has the particular ability to create things lovely and drastic and just above the edge of destruction. Take the tragic beauty of the Outback, for example, or the impossible tangle of muscle that constitutes kangaroos or Mel Gibson. Among this number—but...
Sometimes it takes looking at an experience through new eyes to really appreciate it. As a fan of live music in general, I've probably been to–conservative estimate–200 shows in my admittedly short lifetime. But you never forget your first one. Mine?...
Nearing the end of their 2009 Pandemonium tour in support of their latest release Yes, Pet Shop Boys return to the U.S. promising another avant-garde performance. Original members Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe—with four Grammy awards, dozens chart-topping hits and...
When he tried to sum up singer Richard Thompson's place in the grand scheme of the alt-rock pantheon in 1994, Spin/San Francisco Bay Guardian contributor Dirk Richardson wrote: “Even when his impeccably crafted tunes are covered by such established stars as...
I love shows with such a diverse line-up of bands that it not only crosses multiple genres of metal, but still bring out so many different types of fans, from the Stoner Metal Weedeater fans to the slightly geekish Melvins fans (I only say that because I am on of...
The problem with progress has always been that, as time marches forward and new ideas ultimately become the norm (well, if they're any good), invariably a few really good, established stylistic ideas lose ground and run the risk of being forgotten. It's...
To say that the last five years (give or take) have been less than charitable to bassist Nick Oliveri is a polite understatement. Since his eviction from the bass seat in Queens Of The Stone Age, Oliveri has bounced to any and every outfit goodly enough to have him...
If music is the food of life but every second of an album chronicles one man's struggles with addiction, might said record be considered a gateway drug? This is the sort of question that comes to mind as a listener is ensnared by the answering machine message...