'Ey youse,Awright, I'm runnin' late today (sue me) so I'll keep this short so ya can make wit' the thievin'. Yer gonna thank me though – ya filthy junkies youse – cause I got some good, good shit this week! Check it out – I scored the new Raekwan tune! Pilfered it right out from unda his nose! Somebody hadda do it – he's been suckin' for a coupla years – but this new tune's solid man, total double live...

On July 12th, 2011 Chicago's The Cool Kids will release their long-awaited full-length album, When Fish Ride Bicycles on Green Label Sound. When Fish Ride Bicycles features 11 brand new songs and finds Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish working with the likes of Ghostface Killah of the Wu Tang Clan, Bun B, Mayer Hawthorne, Asher Roth, Travis Barker and more. Recording began with Pharrell Williams at Miami's South Beach Studios in December 2010 resulting in Williams' production of album closer...

When Rammstein stormed The Oracle Arena in Oakland on May 18, 2011, photographer Raymond Ahner was there to catch all the fire and brimstone-breathing, coal mining, Germanic ecstasy of the event. Click here to see the view his camera lens got – it's not to be missed.Artist:www.rammstein.com/ www.myspace.com/rammstein www.facebook.com/Rammsteinwww.twitter.com/#!/latestrammsteinPhotos:Raymond Ahner's photo essay of Rammstein's show at Oracle Arena, May 18, 2011 Albums:Most of Rammstein's catalogue remains in print and...

Artist: Black Lips Album: Arabia Mountain Label: Vice Records Every two years when Black Lips re-surface, each new recording is slightly more polished than the last, each managing to sound as though it cost nothing make. Sometimes it costs a lot to sound cheap, and with in-demand producer Mark Ronson helming their new opus, the trashy garage sound synonymous with the Lips was in question. However the result is perfect with Ronson’s diverse musical taste fueling the integrity of their...

Some records just seem to be naturally predisposed to coming on strong at their start and leaving listeners to feel a little cheap and dirty at the end. That isn't always a bad thing – there are occasions when a little light BDSM is just what the doctor ordered to turn a crooked frown upside down – it's just not a common topic that comes up during polite dinner conversation. That unspoken, pleasurable torment is the thing that will make...

My Morning Jacket records have always been "creepers" for me; meaning that they take a while to "sink in" and be fully appreciated. This is not a complaint as I thoroughly enjoy being surprised by what I missed in earlier listens and further enjoy the moment of epiphany where the album suddenly emerges. This "creeper" characteristic has become even more prominent in recent years as the band has strayed far away from the mellow, reverb-heavy sound of their earlier work...

There are some schools of philosophy which uphold that if you travel far enough, you'll eventually meet yourself – but can the artistic community of an entire landmass accomplish such a feat? That question becomes perfectly valid when one hears What Did You Expect From The Vaccines; for those who don't know, the band is from London, England and, on their debut album, they drag the sounds, styles and aesthetics of every truly great Brit-Pop band from both the Eighties...

Ah, expletives – they may be the last taboo that kids can call their own because they haven't been co-opted and blanched by grownups just yet. In the right crowd, dirty words can still make adults blush or incite them to disproportionate levels of anger. They're uncouth, regarded as the province of the ill-mannered and under-educated and (because most of the basic ones are single syllable in construct) are the syntactic equivalent to a blunt instrument – no wonder kids...

At this point – seeing the different directions in which the members of Guns N' Roses have gone, seventeen years after their hiatus began in 1994 – it's incredible to think that Duff McKagan would be the one to boast the most credible band, and have the most consistent output. Duff made a strong return from the GNR wreckage with the one-off all-star group Neurotic Outsiders in 1995 before joining Velvet Revolver in 2002. He survived that band's implosion and...

Sometimes a classic album can be found in the most unlikely place. For example, back in 1980, the common opinion was that Ozzy Osbourne had had his day; he'd ridden high (really high) with Black Sabbath and, with songs like “Paranoid,” “Iron Man,” “Symptom Of The Universe,” “The Wizard,” “War Pigs” and “Children Of The Grave,” left an indelible mark on rock n' roll – but Ozzy's fall from grace as well as the ranks of Sabbath is an equally...