Hey Junky, Haya doin'ere ya reprobates? Afta da las' time I came callin' I decided ta make ya wait an' sweat a bit fer yer nex' bag o' SWAG, 'cause I wanted ta see if yu'd miss me – but I think I've made ya wait long enough now – don'chu? It helps'at I gotta great big bag o' what'll soothe yer bones too! Awright, dis week I got all kindsa goodness. Fer youse what like yer religiously tempered stuff,...

Those who followed Soundgarden during the band's glory days in the 1990s may remember that, as moody as the band's members were given to being, bassist Ben Shepherd was the darkest, quietest and most perfectly removed man in the group. True, the band made lots of newsprint together, but think about it – how often did anyone read a quote from the bassist? He was almost always painted as “the quiet one.” The same was true when Shepherd appeared in...

Oh boy, here's a big one. It's funny writing this review, because I was completely oblivious to the anticipation surrounding Daft Punk's Random Access Memories and picked it up with a lot of hesitation. 

I have said this before (and love repeating it), but punk rock is mostly my forte so I was quite surprised to find myself enjoying this album. So, looking at Random Access Memories, what do we have? 

I can't help but think of the Spits when...

While the business might often seem like an exercise in organized chaos, in fact there is often some very rigid methodology as well as a few time-honored conventions set deep within the madness of the music industry which all help to make it run smoothly and be exciting to watch. One of the oldest and most universally followed traditions revolves around what is known as (in industry parlance) the 'album cycle.' The concept of an album cycle is so simple...

Just as the Mountain Goats and Patrick Watson did before them, Hey Marseilles have emerged wearing their theatrical persona front and center on Lines We Trace – the band's sophomore album. This time, the elements of theater and drama which were only just implied on the band's debut album are pressed to the forefront of their sound proudly for all to see from the moment “Tides” introduces the album and runs unchecked until “Demain” closes it. This time, singer Matt...

The problem with rock n' roll and the new bans and records which have come along over the last few years is that it has all attempted to diversify so much that a lot of it has just ended up becoming static in the process. Everyone seems to want to really stand apart from the pack and the first way to do so has been to add some oddball extra sound which just sits awkwardly in the mix. That so...

If one were to expand the scope of the outsider/outcast allegory which has run through all of the music that Mark Oliver Everett has recorded over the span of his career, it should almost be expected that a prequel album which helped to lay the groundwork for Eels would exist, somewhere. As it turns out, there IS one – but Everett is a little embarrassed by it and has gone out of his way to keep it from circulating too...

Hiya junky, Nice ta see youse – yer lookin' well how have you been? Ya see what I did there? I went outta my way ta be nice an' polite ta youse moogerfoogers, 'cause dat's what gets readers, according ta fi'dollar Billy. 'At ain't me though, an' youse all know it! I'm da guy thit gets ya some new music wit' a sneer on my face an' answers ta da name Don Loder! So here goes…. Dis week, in addition...

It might not sound like a glowing endorsement at first sight, but look at the following sentence twice and understand the compliment that it's meant to serve: “No band sets out to make an album like Health – The Heavy Blinkers' fifth album.” It is meant to compliment the effort, patience and care which was put into the record's crafting and to recognize how fine the results are;  Health is the sort of treasure which gets revealed to everyone eventually,...

I first saw Raw Geronimo in a packed, hot performance space in Echo Park on my birthday; they were performing on a bill with a friend’s band, Jail Weddings. Some readers might be interested to get that background on how I cam upon the band but, really, it's completely irrelevant; what matters is that I was floored by the energy and complexity of their music. “Prog-punk,” I thought to myself. “Or is it punk-prog?” Either way, they played prog structured...