There seemed to be several different motivations fueling the show on Friday night at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA. At times, it felt like a bona-fide, big-talent rock show and yet my fear was that the tour was simply conceived so that the creative...
Following Dave Gahan's diagnosis and continuing recovery from the removal of a malignant tumor in his bladder, Depeche Mode is announcing rescheduled dates for their currently on-hold summer tour. On doctor's orders, Gahan is resting until June 8th, when the...
Those in attendance at Oakland’s recently spiffed-up Fox Theater were witness to a veritable menagerie and quite the spectacle of a live show. In support of their latest album The Hazards of Love, The Decemberists, fronted by consummate storyteller Colin Meloy,...
Oh, what a corner Green Day found it had painted itself into following the release of American Idiot. When that album came out, it seemed like the greatest triumph the band had ever achieved; the band's initial foray into the concept album format was welcomed with...
It’s been said before, I’m sure, but Mike Watt needs no introduction. If the name doesn’t sound familiar to you, a quick search on Wikipedia will change your perspective on that name. The important thing to me on May 1st was that I was going to meet...
Inspiration is a funny thing—a remarkably capricious beast to try and pin down. If one asks them, most musicians tend to make one particular sound the focal point of their interest; it inspires them, consumes them, drives them and acts as a springboard for their...
After the red hot and poetic political dismissal she expunged in 2007's American Doll Posse (one of the most prescient and incendiary commentaries to be released in the twilight of George W. Bush's presidency), Tori Amos hasn't so much returned to center...
Twenty-three year old U.K. grimer Lady Sovereign, S-O-V, Louise Amanda Harman or whatever you'd like to call her, is pretty new to the American scene as she only broke ground a few years ago with Jay-Z's Def Jam backing her Public Warning album up. Her single...
Rare beauties emerge in Iron & Wine’s latest release with a two-disc collection of a rare, never-before-heard and new-to-print collection of unyielding goodness. From hidden treasures of 2002’s The Creek Drank the Cradle to soundtrack-bound leftovers...
Hope and belief, particularly when combined in a desperate mind, can be potentially intoxicating things. For example, when the Kirkwood brothers reunited under the Meat Puppets moniker and released Rise To Your Knees in 2007, it felt and (at the time) sounded like they...