From the moment “Blood Red Youth” eases its way in to open Art History – California Wives' debut album – some listeners will just have a flood of images come rushing at them all at once: John Hughes movie posters, sequences out of Christian Slater movies, scenes from Cure music videos circa 1992, Replacements music videos released between 1985 and 1990 and more. Listeners will be surprised at how vividly and vibrantly those images come rushing back, and the storm...

Everyone knows that, when the man calls his children, they come running and line up to be counted. That is a constant, and Muddy Waters' performance at Buddy Guy's Checkerboard Lounge in 1981 proves it; The Rolling Stones were not scheduled to perform onstage that night (they had the night off between shows on their mammoth 1981 American tour) but, when Muddy Waters spotted them in the crowd watching him play, he called each of them up – Mick Jagger...

How do we fall in love with a famous person (an actor, a musician, any kind of celebrity)? There are many people walking this planet who have an undying adoration for someone that, for the most part, could be completely made up or already dead. Dare I try and fall in love with someone with whom I’ll never meet? Let’s do it! Who should I pick? My simple requirements are dark hair and light skin. My editor suggested that I...

After the spectacular letdown that last years reissue of Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard Of Ozz turned out to be, it's hard not to look at new releases of the singer's old material a little more closely. Part of that reissue's failure was that it just didn't seem to make any logistical sense at all; there, portions of the songs sparkled with fresh digital polish and the fact that it wasn't applied evenly (the rhythm section sounded very '2011' while the guitars...

Some people on this planet have a hard time coming to the realization that they are a sidekick and not a protagonist. They simply are not built to have their own story; they're okay, but if they ever tried to rock a big deal production, it would never be Billboard quality, or kingpin status. The work that they execute won’t be unmemorable, forgettable or unworthy of our time, it just doesn’t get played out. It resides in this unique category...

Some albums come along which make me want to give up on hip hop. Part of that has to do with personel and practices in the business; for example, there are many artists who are great to be featured on a track but should never put out their own albums. Who’s at the top of the list for me in this category? Fucking Rick Ross. While his appearance on one song or another has been nice, I can’t name a...

I have two concerts on my belt that come up at the top of my list when I get asked the question of all questions when I get a music head in my face: “What’s the greatest concert you’ve ever been too?” Yelle, a little band from France that 99 per cent of the people I say this to never know, quickly followed by Childish Gambino in Los Angeles after he put out Camp. I paid for that album with...

Serj Tankian, lead singer of the world renowned metal group System Of A Down, has been trekking down the solo road for half a decade now. He’s left in his wake a slew of music that, improbable as it might seem, is even weirder than SOAD itself. That said, you can’t help but get sucked into his imagery and infectious beats. Harakiri is Serj’s third and latest solo album, released on July 10th, 2012. Harakiri is, at its heart, a...

Everyone who has been following Gaslight Anthem over the last few years has been waiting for the band to make Handwritten. Fans knew they had it in them, they just had to wait for the band to realize it too; after getting their shit together in the underground (the band's XOXO album, Sink Or Swim, was well met, in spite of having no attention from big-name publications), The '59 Sound introduced Gaslight Anthem to a large audience as the working...

Aw yer damn right I'm back junky!How ya been ya vein-spikin' reprobates? I know whatcher sayin', yer cursin' ol' Donnie cause he ditched on ya an' lefcha itchin' fer eight weeks. Sorry about'at, but I wis outta town; I got held up doinn'is thing outta state an' that thing turned inta a held-over stay inna cell while I awaited my hearing an' so on. Not that it makes much difference ta youse right? The point is, here I am ta...