On October 18, 2000, Zack De La Rocha announced that he was leaving Rage Against The Machine. Less than a month later, in a storm of irony that not even Oscar Wilde could have dreamt up, our current president won his first presidential election. Rage had always flown...
Almost a year-and-a-half after releasing the darkly mellow album Makers, Rocky Votolato is heading in a new direction with his soon-to-be-released The Brag and Cuss. He is still the same singer/songwriter whose raw vocals evoke real emotion, but this time he's with...
Just when you thought you’ve outgrown heavy metal, along come a band called Mastodon. Their name alone evokes a primal, prehistoric struggle for survival in a world that can be both dangerous and healing. The growling wails of vocalists Troy Sanders and Brent...
A recent discussion went like this: Me: Dude, Bill Callahan is playing with Jandek. Female Friend: The only good thing Bill Callahan has done recently is to put it to Joanna Newsom. Me: Are you kidding? His records keep getting better. Female Friend: What? No way. Me:...
Is it me or do all music festivals have to have ridiculous names? Lollopalooza is pretty dumb. Bonnoroo sounds like there will be an overwhelming amount of patchouli and hacky sacking to enjoy. And then there’s Sasquatch! who could probably use a few dabs of the...
Having just experienced Mastodon live last night at the Wiltern in L.A., this news is quite welcome to my everlastingly ringing ears. According to a MySpace bulletin witnessed by Press McGee himself, it looks like Stoner-rockers High On Fire have confirmed that they...
The Echo is a place for atmosphere. While the enclave often finds itself housing playful local bands adopting a more lighthearted approach, there are some of those nights that remind Angelenos why they go to shows in the first place. The ethos of the night was set by...
The third installment of Lunarcast features David Wingo, the lead-vocalist and songwriter for the Brooklyn-based band, Ola Podrida. Wingo has been back and forth from Austin to Brooklyn—as well as a few months in San Francisco—before settling down to write...
The Polyphonic Spree are launching a new album, THE FRAGILE ARMY, coming out on June 19, 2007. In order to give a preview of their current sound an eight-minute mashup was produced using parts of all 11 tracks. Frontman Tim DeLaughter commented, "You are about to...