The kick about underground and independent filmmaking has always been the complete freedom of it. Working only with one's own money in hand means that creative freedom is absolute and that, in turn, means filmmakers are able to go as far out as their imagination and bankrolls will allow. The rigid Hollywood archetypes of structure, storytelling and shot direction can all fly out the window at the director's whim in an independent movie and the possible results of that freedom...

As a lead-off discussion about Brendan Troller's documentary, I Need That Record!, a bit of conjecture is required – it only to balance or temper the opinions expressed in the film. Ten years into  the new millennium, and there's no arguing that record stores of every stripe – both the indies and the chain conglomerate stores – are beginning to feel the pinch of annually depleting record sales. Simply said, records do not seem to be selling so well anymore...

The Hold Steady were once voted onto a list of the Top 10 Most Underrated Bands Of All Time by a high-end music magazine that shall remain unnamed. Can you believe that? No, Tom Waits and The Replacements – criminally underrated artists – also made that list, so be certain is wasn’t compiled by philistines by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, when I consider the Hold Steady, and my enjoyment of them, that’s exactly what I think of myself...

For those that have heard it, making a claim that Sonic Youth's Silver Session for Jason Knuth EP is a 'classic' anything will sound bizarre at best and totally asinine at worst. Really, it's barely an album in the conventional sense of the term and, in truth, the band will admit that it was made for all the wrong reasons; Silver Session for Jason Knuth exists as an act of vengeance. As Thurston Moore wrote in the liner notes that...

Alright lemme ask ya somethin', What know-nothin', no-account, talkin'-outta-his-ass goof decided that the number thirteen was unlucky? Seriously – what's unlucky about it? I've never had any trouble with thirteen, as far as I'm concerned, it's just the number between twelve and fourteen. I've never really been the superstitious type though; not that I go out of my way to break mirrors or nothin', but I don't worry about steppin' on the cracks in the sidewalk down on Avenue B...

Hitting the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time in just over two years, the legendary Iron Maiden brought their Final Frontier World Tour to the Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord, and proceeded to put on what was without a doubt one of the best shows I have ever witnessed from the band, and, considering that I've seen them live about a dozen times over the years – dating back to The Number Of The Beast Tour – that...

As any fan of the band can tell you, Attack In Black can be a complicated group to watch live because, as great a fan as an attendee may be, it's entirely possible for them to play an entire set without anyone knowing a single song. That isn't to say that nothing the band plays is a hit though, only that the songs at the show are totally unrecognizable as the songs in the live set. Sounds complicated doesn't it?...

Records: The Cure’s Pornography (1982) on black, The Mountain Goats’ Satanic Messiah double seven-inch (2008) on black, and AFI’s Decemberunderground seven-inch box set (2006) on clear. Place of Purchase: Pornography was snatched up at Siren Records. Satanic Messiah was a tour-only, self-released record that I picked up when I saw the band play with Kaki King on “The Last Happy Night of Your Life” tour. Decemberunderground was a Hot Topic exclusive. Quality: With 13 full-lengths and counting, I can never...

As hectic as any music festival itinerary can be, there is an unspoken rule among those who go that some spectacles are simply not to be missed. Skipping a show that promises to be a historic event is simply not done because doing so could be compared with an act of poor form not unlike kicking a puppy. Things like that happen, but disparaging inferences are immediately made in that moment about the character of the aggressor because (s)he will...

At this point, doesn't every fan of any given punk band get a little chill when they hear that said band picked up acoustic guitars for a set one night? Ten years ago, it might have been a thrilling change, but now punk 'going acoustic' just seems to mean that whichever band has done it had to fill time while they came up with some new ideas for a proper release. Some naysayers could easily make such a claim of...