Our fourth installment of Lunarcast features the Los Angeles rock band Amateurs. This break-the-rules quartet began working together behind guitarist/vocalist Keith Waggoner and drummer Stephen Garver as they honed in on what would eventually become the blueprint for...
Lately the Los Angeles Philharmonic has been making the move from hip replacement to placement in hipster vocabularies. Last year it was Belle & Sebastian teaming up with the orchestra, July sees them joining forces with the Decemberists, and now it's been...
Actual brother-sister duo The Fiery Furnaces (and their stalwart bandmates) have let it be known that their forthcoming album, Widow City, will be released this fall on Chicago's Thrill Jockey records. In addition to–but not in support of–the album,...
Broken Social Scene's got a bastard bun in the oven. Deciding to expand the (metaphorical) family the old fashioned way, co-founder and lead singer Kevin Drew will be the first to slap his name on the new line of quasi-solo albums, the Broken Social Scene Presents...
The best thing about live radio is the on-the-fly amusement that comes about from the fact that you don't get a second take. So later, you look back on bits of banter (like this week's Brandy & Monica dissertation) and laugh at the fact that you would have...
The National is the United States of America—with guitars, and occasional piano, and a lead singer whose commanding baritone summons the storytelling majesty of Dylan (minus all the nasal whining and general suckiness). It’s true that–back in the days...
If you've never seen a show at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, you really need to make it a priority. The main floor looks up at this beautiful stage (high up, not too high) while it's flanked by these warm browns and reds, amazing woodwork and...
Lookout, it's attack of the two-headed press darlings! Once upon a time, The White Stripes were a buzz band, heralded as the saviors of rock. If blogs had existed (and I'm not saying they didn't, but admit it, you didn't know what they were back then)...
Evil is lurking this summer, that’s all there is to say. Slayer and Marilyn Manson are teaming up for a tour that’s sure to bring two of the craziest groups of people together for one big show. We’ve witnessed how these things can work at tours like...
In 1984, 19-year-old Darryl Hunt was accused of the rape and murder of newspaper reporter Deborah Sykes in Winston-Salem, NC. Hunt, who is black, was sentenced to life in prison for the crimes committed against Sykes, who is white, by an all-white jury. In 1994, DNA...