How does one adequately express when a new album sounds good without actually sounding new? It's not that the songs are re-recordings of old material done to reflect the changes a band has undergone over time, just that the album sounds incredibly derivative of several other sources compiled into one. Listening to Smoke Or Fire's new album is like that; from the opening run of “Integrity,” listeners will be able to pick melodic and instrumental similarities between some of the...

When I first heard about this album, it sounded like an odd pairing – a pop superstar and an old-time rocker whose brief moment of glory had come and gone nearly forty years ago. But once I heard the history behind it, the collaboration made much more sense. Elton John was the opening act for Leon Russell's 1970 U.S. tour; a point when Russell was the rising star, and John just a struggling beginner. Over the years, their status flipped...

Hey junky,How're ya keepin'? Have ya got the shakes yet or what? Don'chu worry, doctor Donnie's here to cure what ails ya witta great big bag o' new tunes. An' I got some doozies for ya this week too — I tracked down some o' the new Dre reckid that ain't come out yet (same Dre a decade later, but I ain't shortin' him – it's still great), an' I foun' some Kanye West to getcher inner street thug movin'....

As early as 1982's Imperial Bedroom, Elvis Costello demonstrated that he was more than just an angry young man with a talent for hooks and clever wordplay. He was one of pop's great songwriters; able to conquer a wide variety of styles and emotions. Throughout his long career, he has consistently proven this. He has had his share of hits and misses, of wild experiments (Juliette Letters, North and that collaboration with Burt Bacharach), of stylistic expansions (from Almost Blue...

Four years ago, Damon “Badly Drawn Boy” Gough hit the wall. After the tepid reception for his fifth album, Born In The U.K., failed to live up to the singer's own critical expectation, he began to slow down dramatically as he battled depression and attempted to discern his next course of action. The failure of Born In The U.K. was a difficult blow to take for the singer, and it's easy enough to understand why; after gaining momentum with his...

In the four decades since his passing, Jimi Hendrix' name, likeness, music and legacy have all been rehashed, re-serviced, re-imagined and reissued so often that everything about his body of work has become very superficial; “Hendrix” has really become a set of four albums, a series of classic singles and riffs and a surprising number of posthumous releases. Sure – people will concede that the guitarist has a rich and storied history, but most don't even know the half of...

As the adage goes, “Peel an onion, there are a lot of layers.” It makes sense when you think about it – an individual's personality is the combined expression of myriad experiences, joys, sorrows, successes, failures and life lessons learned; and for each of those stimuli, so develops another skill set to solve the problem. Those skill sets manifest in what people usually call a specific “side” (as in, a “dark side,” a “professional side” and so on) to a...

Gary Numan brought his 'Pleasure Principle 2010' tour to San Francisco last week, and proved to everyone in the near sold-out crowd that traveling back in time may just be a possibility after all. From the first Moog infused notes of "Random," Numan and his colleagues delivered a set of cold synth-infused music that sounded like it could have taken place in a dark club in Manchester circa 1980. As they ran through every track from the groundbreaking record, including...

Alright ya mugs,So this week, yer makin' out like bandits, lemme tell ya. I actually hadda be a their o' discernin' taste this week – what wit' Christmas comin' up an' all there ain't no shortage o' new reckids comin' out. Reckid labels are RUNNIN' ta get shit out! As much as they can! They're rushin' everything they c'n think of out the door! Fi' dollar Billy tells me he's up to his EARS in stuff ta work on, but...

Revealing secrets of their longevity, the core members of …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – Conrad Keely and Jason Reece – are back with their seventh long-player.  Aptly titled, Tao Of The Dead, …Trail of Dead (also lovingly known to some as the band that won't die) come back yet again with a surprisingly forceful yet sophisticated new album that evokes a refreshing nostalgia (paying faithful homage to Pink Floyd, Rush, Steppenwolf, and Neu!…yes NEU!).  To retrace...