Although the line-up on the main stage for the 2010 Live 105 BFD was nothing short of stellar with Sublime, Deftones, Hole, Silversun Pickups, and Cage The Elephant all slotted to play, what I was most excited about this year was the chance to see some of the lesser known bands that were playing on the smaller stages. Some of these groups had been on my radar for a long time, and I was stoked that Live 105 had brought...

My mother threw out the family record player just as I started to carve out my own musical identity. Four years later, she was the one who bought me my first turntable. Since then I've amassed a few hundred records in various sizes and colors. Music is increasingly becoming digital, formless. But vinyl is a strictly physical, stationary format. I sit in one room and manually flip the music. I revel in the sounds. Vinyl Vednesday is a new column...

A record label that considers black vinyl rare in their catalog speaks volumes. Few labels represent the scene as well as No Idea Records. Started in the late 80s, No Idea has grown to uber-label proportions, and, strangely enough, kept its' dignity throughout. In other words, quality and quantity are not mutually exclusive for this Gainesville label. A quick look at No Idea's roster is awe-inspiring to say the least; in addition to wisely distributing its' own records (and doing...

What is it about the dark horse that makes people actively watch a race and quietly hope it wins? People can deny that they do it all they want, or lie and say they saw it coming all along, but maybe it's just symptomatic of the human condition to pray that the underdog will have his day because, somehow, it might mean that the guy clinging for dear life to the bottom wrung of every ladder can power out, climb...

Mexican architect Luis Barragán was once quoted as saying, “I think that the ideal space must contain elements of magic, serenity, sorcery and mystery.” It's an understandable assertion to make; a structure is just that without those things but, with them, it has a story and can mean something to people. For that reason, were he alive today, it's a good bet that Barragán would want to try and inhabit The Acorn's new album, No Ghost. According to the liner...

As anyone that suffers from chronic nightmares can tell youthere reaches a point in every dream sequence when the dreamer knows events are about to turn into something very dark, disturbing or ugly. That's when the nightmare starts. On Becoming a Jackal – Villagers' new album for Domino – that moment is where the album starts; as “I Saw The Dead” eases the record open with vibrant swirls of strings and keys and an acoustic guitar, an otherworldly sense of...

There are moments when one has to wonder what the mitigating factor might have been that prompted a band to spontaneously re-think its' sound from the ground up, and listening to Born Ruffians' sophomore effort, Say It, is one of them. When the band released Red Yellow & Blue in 2008, Born Ruffians had already established itself as a mildly synthetic and playful little band, complete with a tendency to get a little sophomoric for fun through a couple of...

After an almost two year absence from American soil, the mighty Iron Maiden have returned with a vengeance. The band has just launched The Final Frontier World Tour, and will be playing twenty-two dates in select cities across the US and Canada before heading over to Europe for a handful of festival shows. As if that wasn't enough, Iron Maiden will also be releasing The Final Frontier, their first studio album in almost four years, on August 17th, 2010. To...

There's no arguing that there is an artistry in making records, but few bands realize all of the artistic possibilities that putting together and releasing an album affords. There are some conventions that many bands don't think to challenge – like how to design an album cover, for example. For many artists, an album cover is easy – take a picture, pick a typeface, slap the band's name in said typeface on said photo. Presto! Instant album cover. Not every...

In some ways, it's almost unbelievable that Oasis' core line-up was only together for fifteen years. The band's stack of headlines and tabloid press is literally leagues deep; the tempestuous relationship that siblings Liam and Noel Gallagher have run through has always seemed to have had a camera lens in front of it. It's been a pretty incredible ride – from Liam sitting in the balcony heckling his brother through an MTV Unplugged performance in 1996 to the final fight...