Rock history is littered with the stories of bands that worked tirelessly to break through only to enjoy diminished returns at best. It is, by all accounts, wildly frustrating; a band can try endlessly to find just the right combination of factors to strike gold, yet consistently come up short each time. Sometimes though, the best results come when a band just lets go and, if ever proof was requisite that some of the best things happen when you're not...

When one reaches the point where it has been forty years after an artist has passed on, it feels awkward to imply that their story is continuing to deepen, but the body of work that Jimi Hendrix left behind is an extraordinary case. Since Hendrix' passing in 1970, volumes of post-humus compilations have been issued that typically reprise his 'guitar god' glory years but, unless outside assistance was added after the fact (as was the case with pastiche offerings like...

Long before "performance art" was even a twinkle in the eyes of James Franco or Joaquin Phoenix, Andrew W. K. was showing up to interviews with blood and vomit on stained t-shirts. Was it all schtick? Did he take the "Party Hard" lyrics seriously? People often joked that W.K. stood for "Who Knows?" 

His first release of party pop anthems was unleashed in 2001, a confusing turn of the century world where rock critics were lauding the indulgent static-filled noise...

I think the first record was an experiment,” contends Woodhands singer Dan Werb. “We were playing in a genre that we were learning about as we went along; playing shows and writing songs and recording them. Through them, we learned what dance music was all about and we took it as far as we could; in terms of the lyrical content, it was a trip for me to try to write about how I was feeling and see if it...

Historically in every musical movement, purists have always shrieked heresy as soon as someone starts tweaking convention. When that thing which bucks tradition starts fucking shit up, it isn't always done with malicious intent; the band (or bands) in question may have the utmost respect for the basic forms they're working with and the shoulders they're standing on, but it still gets people going. That sort of scenario instantly leaps to mind when one thinks about The Jon Spencer Blues...

Since the stream of original bluesmen that flowed out of the Mississippi Delta began drying up years ago, the ranks of remaining players making the music has been infiltrated by a number of well-meaning and earnest impostors who have kept the spirit of the genre going on life support. Sometimes the music can be good but, more often than not, it just honestly feels like a bunch of weak-ass replicas peddling a dog and pony show of “what the blues...

In the last century, the processes of making and capturing music for the purposes sharing the moment with others has been torn apart and rebuilt so often that, were someone from the dawn of record making transported to the present day, they wouldn't even know where to start. Even in the 1950s and '60s, the act of setting up a single microphone and capturing a band literally live off the floor was the norm; it has only been within the...

Ever see or hear a band and know exactly what they're about from the very first time you hear them but remain hypnotized because something about it seems off? It's one of those moments when you know something's not quite the same as everything you've ever heard before, and that's the captivating skew; that little different thing holds you glued to speakers, trying to figure it out. In recent memory, no band better exemplifies that scenario than Balance And Composure;...

If the last few years and the proliferation of solo and side projects that have appeared from major label artists have taught us anything, it's that the practice of a big-time band member striking out from his/her established project and releasing new music can be a dicey proposition. Much of the success or failure of a solo endeavor can be attributed to the personal sensibilities of that individual player; the results can be as strong as Wade MacNeil's Black Lungs,...

It's a rare occurrence that a brand new band appears on the scene and bearing all of the earmarks of direct lineage to the first wave of hardcore bands. Make no mistake, lots of bands try to pantomime the movements of groups like Black Flag, Minor Threat and Descendents, but few if any of them ever really come close to the raw adrenaline those bands were capable of provoking in listeners. 'Few if any' does not mean 'none' though. From...