What River City Tanlines has proven on their sophomore LP (their first album in six years) is that not every new thing has to be completely unique from everything in rock history; sometimes innovation can take a backseat to just making a sound that is big, bodacious and ballsy. Coast To Coast is a marvel which exists in that line of thinking as, from the first blast of “I Don't Get It,”singer/guitarist Alicja Trout, bassist Terrence Bishop and drummer John...

Although the summer of 2012 is past its mid-point, one of the biggest tours of the dog days is just getting out of the gate and is already proving to be one of the hottest tickets around. Legendary bands KISS and Mötley Crüe have teamed up for THE TOUR of 2012 and, when it's all said and done, the bands will have hit over forty cities nationwide.

 With combined album sales of almost 200 million, KISS and Mötley Crüe are...

The perfect facade inherent within modern folk music is that it feigns intimacy very well but, in truth, is very carefully measured, calculated and produced.some readers might recoil at such candid, crass cynicism, but think about it – as knee-bucklingly intimate as Bright Eyes can sound, has Connor Oberst ever really been as alone in a room as he seemed to be when the tapes rolled and captured “Simple In The Moonlight?” Probably not. Was it Neil Young's idea to...

Since as early as 1958 (four years into his recording career), there has been a succession of records which have compiled Elvis Presley's songs. A multitude of angles have been taken to produce these records; there have been compilations of Elvis' hits, gold records, spiritual songs, love songs, Christmas songs, rock songs, country songs, blues songs, songs which appeared on soundtracks, "Elvis Sings His Hits," "Elvis Sings The Hits Of Other People," "Other People Sing Songs That Elvis Made Famous...

Before we really get into this review of Fergus & Geronimo's sophomore album, it's worth pointing out that some of the criticism contained herein has seldom (if ever) had any place in a record review before. It wouldn't appear here either, under normal circumstances, but it needs saying here and now so here goes: goddamn the members of Fergus & Geronimo are a homely bunch. I make that declaration knowing full well that I am a member of the music...

As good as the releases and catalogue reissues bearing the Jimi Hendrix name have been over the last couple of years (Sony has been much more careful with the work than EMI ever was), it was almost inevitable that something was going to come along which would tarnish that record. That release is Live At Berkeley – a document which is very representative of its time in all the wrong ways. The problem with it? Simply said, while the sound...

It might sound difficult to believe, but Shonen Knife's newest album, Pop Tune, reiterates the idea that a band really doesn't need to change very much in order to keep listeners interested as years pass. This is, after all, Shonen Knife's eighteenth studio album since the band formed in 1981 – and the only real change to the band's formula in all that time has been the players which comprise their rhythm section. Does that mean their sound is played...

In 1998, The Shape of Punk to Come album arrived. Its architects, Refused, were a small punk band from Sweden who were basically unknown until then but, when the record landed, the impact (and mark it left) was phenomenal; in fact, it was the punk to come. Classic punk was fun and bouncy, hardcore was raw, fast and gravelly, Nineties punk was fast and technical or fun and bouncy, but Refused were different; they mixed elements of dark electronica with...

Awright junky,So yeah, yeah, yeah I'm back an' blah blah blah i's good ta see me an' nah nah nah I ain't dead. Betcher thrilled, sure. So le's get down ta business; I been outta town an' ya know what I foun' when I got back? A fuck ton o' SWAG jus' layin' aroun'! An' some good, good shit too! Dis week, I got forty – FORTY – pieces o' primo dope fo' ya. Le's talk about some o' da...

Not every story has to be wildly dramatic and feature a series of cliffhanger dramas or recollections of terrible turmoil, sometimes it just has to be satisfying in the end to feel rewarding; like everything worked out how everyone wanted and the results were great and everyone is able to say it was just a good experience. That's exactly how it feels when one hears JEFF the Brotherhood singer/guitarist Jake Orrall lay out the series of events surrounding his band's...