It has now been seven years since Sarah McLachlan last released a full length studio album (the Christmas album, Wintersong, doesn't count – nor do Closer: The Best Of…, Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2, Bloom or any of the four live albums that have come out since 2003, because they were all easy, soft option releases) and, after such a long time, one would think that any release to come along would be one of two things: either...

After nearly 40 years, six Grammy awards, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction and the distinction of having the best-selling album of the century, the Eagles could have easily been just relaxing on some exotic beach since 1979 or so. Instead, the sixty-something Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit, Glen Frey and Joe Walsh are playing three-hour sing-along fests for their adoring fans. With each member demonstrating that there’s no lack of vocal power, smooth musicianship or enthusiasm, it...

I know I'm supposed to be an impartial news writer, but how do you stay calm when the news is this good? Just announced, one of the greatest cult bands ever, The Vaselines, has returned. That's right, Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee have reconciled any animosity they may have been harboring and reunited. Not only that, they've returned with their first new album in twenty years, Sex With An X!  The album – which will find Kelly and KcKee joined...

Long-time-running Metal band Armored Saint played a one-off show at the House Of Blues in Hollywood late last month and proved that, although they may all be a little older, they still know how to deliver the goods. Armed with a set list that was as heavy on the classics as it was with songs from their new release, La Raza ,  the mighty Saint was just as energetic as the last time I saw them, almost 25 years...

It's been twelve years since the release of Massive Attack's iconic album, the dark and sometimes sinister layers of Mezzanine. And, while we’re counting years, it’s been seven years since the 2003 breakup of the core duo of Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall. With the 2010 release of their much-anticipated fifth studio album Heligoland, it was clear that their two-night stop at The Warfield in San Francisco should not be missed.  Setting the tone for the...

Oh, you lucky little parasites, So last time I saw you, I walked up with a great big bag o' SWAG for you to raid to make a soundtrack for your summer right? Wow – did I ever just the gun on 'at. See, I didn't even think about the fact that this is summertime – and you know what that means? That means the damned dam burst wide open and everybody with a pulse in the music business rushes...

Remember about sixteen years ago when 'punk rock' was punk rock, 'hardcore' was simply hardcore and the thousand-and-one hybrids or minor alterations made to those sounds had yet to germinate into autonomous sub-genres? It's not easy to recall anymore – everything from pop-mosh to emo to screamo to post-industrial hard-mosh-pop-core (somebody has to be qualifying their music that way) and “power slop, but with an edge” and dozens more obscure the basics – but Off With Their Heads and their...

I know what you're thinking. You're looking at this band's name and wondering to yourself, “Really? Heartsounds? Bad name – is Epitaph still trying to tow some sort of emo line? And that blue-and-green color scheme on the album's cover makes it look like a rejected image from Polar Bear Club's last album and EP! That is so last year!” Cold or not, that's a reasonable assessment of the surface of Until We Surrender. Heartsounds is a lousy name and...

If there is anything that could be taken as a given in this life, it is that there are no givens in this life. As smoothly as something might be running or as set as a course might be, the wise man knows that there is always the possibility of events suddenly turning south toward disaster. Such was the case on January 6, 2009 when, out of the clear blue, Ron Asheton was discovered dead in his home of a...

Anyone with a snse of history knows that the Sixties were a tumultuous time in American history. With the war going on in Vietnam and shady dealings taking place in every corridor of the White House, the world suddenly didn't feel like such a safe place anymore, and the artistic community caught onto that sense. Bands and musicians began to chronicle their interpretations and feelings on this suddenly unsafe and unjust world they were living in and, because recording techniques...