How does an album which claims to trade in electronic music (an idiom which has historically prided itself on “New! First! Now!” aesthetics) come off sounding totally retro? There's no easy way to explain it, but that's exactly what The Internet has done with Purple Naked Ladies, producer Syd Tha Kyd and Matt Martians' debut album apart from Odd Future. From the moment “Violet Nude Women” opens Purple Naked Ladies, listeners will find themselves immersed in exactly the same kind...
Award-winning activist and musician Tom Morello has joined forces with Occupy Austin to rock SXSW Occupy style. Morello has opened up his official showcase at the festival as an Occupy SXSW show. This event will take place beginning the evening of March 16th, at the Swan Dive (651 Red River Street). The show will continue into the wee hours of March 17th, with Morello's performance beginning at 12:30 AM. Occupy Austin plans to start a flash mob dance party march...
Now almost twenty years into their career, it could be said that fans never know what to expect when Korn announces a new album and supporting tour. Any misgiving that even the longest-running, most devout fans might have is understandable; Korn is short two founding members these days and has made a lot of changes to their sound (from nu metal to electronic to goth to meddling with dub step and more) – so the idea that the band may...
Hey there alla you junkies out'ere,How's it goin' you? Sorry I missed ya las' week junky, I hadd'is t'ing ann'I couldn' get outta it – I'm sure ya understand. I wanted ta make it up ta youse though – so I got my shit tagetha an' I biltcha a nice big bagga SWAG – thirty tracks 'is time – jus' fer you an' yer friends. Dis week, yer gonna love me junky, an' ferget thit I fergot ta come see...
Kyuss members Scott Reeder and Joshua Homme have been forced to file a federal lawsuit against John Garcia and Brant Bjork a/k/a Kyuss Lives! The suit alleges trademark infringement and consumer fraud by Kyuss Lives! Such an announcement may not come as a shock to readers. Over the last few years (since 2004), the members of Kyuss Lives haven't been the poster-boys for unimpeachable ethics or acts of perfect honesty, so some would say that such a case is inevitable;...
Alan Wilkis – "Shadow (CHLLNGR mix)"https://groundcontrolmag.com/music/SWAG97Alan_Wilkis-Shadow-CHLLNGR_mix.mp3 B.A. Johnston – "Best Day Ever"https://groundcontrolmag.com/music/SWAG97BA_Johnston-Best_Day_Ever.mp3 Beast Make Bomb – "It Snowed Last Night"https://groundcontrolmag.com/music/SWAG97beast_make_bomb-it_snowed_last_night.mp3 Bidiniband – "Big Men Go Fast on the Water"https://groundcontrolmag.com/music/SWAG97Bidiniband-Big_Men_Go_Fast_on_the_Water.mp3 Big Baby Gandhi...
As unjustly maligned as some bands have been by the press before “the world smartened up and caught on” (Rolling Stone famously eviscerated every album Led Zeppelin released before 1973 – for example), no band was as consistently attacked by critics for everything they did as the Red Hot Chili Peppers were for the first eight years of their career. Seemingly from the moment the band formed in 1983, the Chili Peppers drew criticism of a tenor so harsh for...
At any concert, a performer hopes for a bit of audience interaction while they play, but the downside to such an exchange is that, under just the wrong circumstances, the show could fall apart completely if the performer relinquishes too much control and allows the crowd to play too great a roll in the performance. That is exactly the variable which makes a show like those Mike Doughty did on his Question Jar Tour in 2009 so potentially harrowing; leaving...
In a creative pace to match the breathless vehemence of their music, punk/hardcore luminaries OFF! have announced that the follow up to their much heralded debut First Four EPs will arrive in the form of a self-titled full length May 8th, 2012 from Vice Records. Barreling through sixteen high-intensity tracks in as many minutes, the album demonstrates the LA quartet had still further to ratchet up their visceral sonic maelstrom, delivering a "dark party" soundtrack of unleashed exasperation and bitterness...
Be a platinum-selling rock band for as long as The Rolling Stones, and there's no doubt that your music will touch a lot of people in a lot of different ways. The Stones can easily claim (with authority) that their music has made a lot of memories for a lot of people; it's been played at weddings, been requested by millions of people at millions of radio stations, been either responsible for or just playing as innumerable people lost their...