Ever been in a situation where, while you're sure you know where you are and are well familiar with those around you, you can't get a sense of place and feel like a stranger in a strange land? It can be a more disconcerting sensation than being hopelessly lost sometimes. Such is exactly the sensation one gets when listening to Floored By Four's debut; the collection of artists involved are well-established and have historically had a very intimate relationship with...
Something needed to change about how The Creepshow was working. While the band has never let their fans down (quite the opposite – they've overcome every adversity placed before them gracefully, in fact), something had to change because – to be perfectly blunt – everything already had; when the band first appeared five years ago, they asserted themselves triumphantly as a premier-grade horrorbilly act. They came out of the gate strong with their debut album, Sell Your Soul, flanked by...
Having celebrated its' thirtieth anniversary in operation this year, the members of Bad Religion must have begun to take stock of where they were in their careers right now, where they'd been and where they might be headed. Who wouldn't? Thirty years is a milestone that most bands don't achieve. Something about the fact that they've not only outlasted but outlived many of their peers must have been on the bandmembers' collective mind when the writing and recording of The...
Hey out there,So how's it goin' 'ere? What's new and exciting in your life? I'm askin' because, you know? I feel like I'm talkin' to myself wit' youse. I mean, here I am peddlin' dubiously acquired music at 'chu, an' I don' even know whatcher thinkin'. Are you likin' it? Am I givin' you da right fixes? See, I'm askin' because I don' know – I'm just grabbin' the shit that I think is good. So I tell you what...
As inconvenient or unfashionable a truth as it might be, most bands do not simply appear as great, dynamic entities from nowhere. That isn't to say a listener wouldn't be able to recognize a group's promise or get a sense that they might be capable of making profound artistic and cultural waves eventually, but it's unreasonable to expect that a band would simply change out of the gate at the pinnacle of its' powers; for every Nevermind, Badmotorfinger, Dirt, Dookie...
Neil Young has never been afraid to experiment and, with Le Noise, he has caught the bug again. This time it’s just Neil alone with his guitar, but he’s not completely alone as this disc is really a collaboration with producer Daniel Lanois (whose producer credits are too long to list here, but I bet you know at least the big ones, like Bob Dylan and U2). Of course, Neil Young alone with a guitar isn’t really a new thing;...
To paraphrase Heath Ledger's impression of a much-beloved sociopath, when and why did rock n' roll get so serious? There once was a time when rock was THE great refuge of brilliant misanthropes who had to laugh at the dismal state of the world to keep themselves from either crying or scaling a bell tower with a high-powered rifle. There was a time when wits were honed to razor-keen edges and used to cut holes into listeners before wisdom was...
It was all the buzz in multiple news outlets on September 23, Katy Perry's musical performance with Elmo was put to the curb of Sesame Street when the segment leaked to the internet prior to broadcast. The deletion of the segment came on the heels of a chorus of complaints about the singer's “racy” attire and included sentiments like, "They're gonna have to rename it cleavage avenue." Since this news broke and the uproar spread, Perry has appeared on Saturday...
When one thinks of bands currently producing consistently perfect pop music, it’s hard not to think of Maroon 5. After the band’s 2002 debut, Songs About Jane (which garnered multiple Grammy awards) and a successful, more dance-y follow-up (2007’s It Won’t Be Soon Before Long), Maroon 5 returns with Hands All Over. On the Los Angeles band’s third disc, the choruses are broader and the sound more expansive – even if the lyrics are fairly generic. What makes the songs...
Green Day wrapped up its' North American tour on Saturday, September 4 at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, Ca. to a sold out crowd. The band will resume touting in October with stadium dates in South America.Photos:Raymond Ahner's photo essay of Green Day's show at Shoreline Amphitheater – September 4, 2010. Further Reading:Ground Control – Green Day Discography review Artist:www.greenday.com/ www.myspace.com/greenday Albums:All of Green Day's full-length albums remain in print. Buy them here on Amazon...