Ground Control's coverage of the Paid Dues Festival is in three parts. This is Part II. Click here to jump back to Part I or here to read Part III . I wasn't prepared for Hieroglyphics. I'd seen the logo on t-shirts and stickers, I bought Handsome Boy...
Mezzanine section, row 0, seat 212. Located at the very top of the Wiltern; I could almost touch the venue’s ceiling. That increased elevation only accentuated the rush given off by the night’s performers: Austin’s Explosions in the Sky. By the end of...
After two and a half minutes of anticipation and grand orchestration on an almost non-track fittingly titled “Opening Credits,” Ghostland Observatory’s new disc transitions to the monotonous strains of “Heavy Heart.” With vocals that sound...
Ground Control's coverage of the Paid Dues Festival is in three parts. This is Part I. Click here to read Part II and Part III. You almost didn't read this. Maybe because it was a hip-hop show, or maybe because it was San Bernardino, but either way, security...
The singer/songwriter perhaps best known for her work with the Moldy Peaches, and now for her magnificent contribution to the Academy Award winning Juno, will be embarking on a massive 30 date US tour. Mixing humor and sorrow with wordsmith agility, Kimya has...
There’s a common misperception among many groups of music enthusiasts that those making the stuff that the rest of us listen to are somehow different. They’re artists. They’re special. At some point in the last forty years, pop music groups—no...
Before I knew any better, I asked Honus Honus (Ryan Kattner) a rather innocuous question after one of his band’s harrowing 2006 sets showcasing the Tom Waits/Frank Zappa/Gogol Bordello Molotov cocktail that is Six Demon Bag. “Where are you guys from?”...
There are definitely a few issues when it comes to live albums. For one, you can’t see the band. And when said band is known for their showmanship, and I put the emphasis on “man” here, you kind of lose everything the band is known for. However, if...
Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, the he and she music factory known as Mates of State, have confirmed the May 2008 release and track listing for their fifth full length album, Re-Arrange Us. The album is argued to carry the most complex tunes put out by these...
If you haven’t slept in about ninety-six hours, the world is a very strange place. Edges don’t look clean anymore—they sort of vibrate with an energy like snow on a television screen—your eyes have difficulty focusing and the most mundane things...