As every musician can tell you, at a certain level it pays to not ask too many questions – eventually it just makes sense to go with what's presented to you and try to not dissect the finer points of the matter too much. Why do things work the way they do? They just do – and no one is complaining because everything is running smoothly, so the best course is not to question and not to wonder. That is...
Oh, what times these are that we're-a-livin' in! What does it take to get a new Blues Explosion record? Maybe it takes simple determination? Maybe it's the simple passing of time? Maybe it's revisiting your entire catalog and then reissuing it which makes you fall in love again? With the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, it might be all of the above. The last time I saw the Blues Explosion was ten years ago. That is not a typo, ten years....
The tone in Judah Bauer's voice would have you believe that everything is just business as usual at the moment. At the beginning of his conversation with Ground Control, the guitarist is almost cavalier as he checks batteries and packs equipment for the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's North American tour, but there's no doubt that cavalier attitude is really only a thin veil to diffuse the guitarist's excitement; he's finally going to get the opportunity to cut loose that, playing...
Heya junky,Man, ain't it nice when somebody sees ya workin' hardan' so jus' helps make yer job easier? Somethin' like'at happened ta me the otha day. Ther I was, truckin' through da interwebs an' swipin' everything I could find that wasn't nailed down, when somebody ova at spin sent me my fav'rit kinda care package: da kind I can flip ta youse. See, it's'at tima da year when CMJ is happenin' ova in Manhattan an' SPIN Magazine is givin' away...
Have you ever spoken with someone and just known that they were destined for great things at some point during that conversation? Speaking with Mo Kenney is like that. During Ground Control's conversation with the singer, it quickly became apparent that this young girl from Waverley, NS is the first in a new generation of singer-songwriters. She is soft-spoken but observant in the same way Neko Case was at the beginning of her career, and almost cavalier in her dismissals...
While 2012 has already proven to be another red letter year for punk and hardcore thanks to a series of excellent releases by NOFX, Gallows, METZ, OFF!, Pennywise and more, some young punks must have been hoping for an album which would come from a brand new band who didn't already have a history – that they could call their own – and make an impact so hard when it hit that it would at least loosen a few teeth...
Forgetting the fact that there's an inverted cross on the album's cover and the fact that the CD case is made of black pleather, something about listening to MellowHype's new album feels taboo. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Numbers feels like an achievement; with this album, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All and its stable of outlaw emcees and producers have proven they're capable of sustaining themselves beyond the flourish of hipster hype which...
Sometimes when a new band comes along, their music is just so affecting that it's like they grabbed you by the ears, slammed you face-first into the table at which you were sitting and then kissed you hard on the mouth while you were still trying to collect yourself and figure out what happened. The sensation is profound; it's shocking and fantastic and violent and inspiring and, when it happens, those who are stricken by it will find themselves just...
Has a record ever been able to blow a chill through you as you're listening to it? Such ideas get thrown around a lot in the press, but it rarely happens that a sound feels genuinely dangerous. It is rare to get the sort of excitement that comes from hearing something which feels forbidden or genuinely troubled, but those who crave it will find that feel on Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon. Murder By Death's seventh full-length album (first for Bloodshot...
It has often been said that change is inevitable in all things including music, but the first half of Coheed And Cambria's Afterman concept album proves that not all change is good. Now shockingly far from the mathy metal powerhouse that the band was when they released In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth (and now really only a shadow of the group who released Year Of The Black Rainbow too – and that was only in 2010), Coheed And Cambria...