The explosion of Nirvana onto the pop music scene had a profound impact on the values inherent to the genre and the effects of that success are still being felt over a decade later. Prior to the emergence of grunge and Nirvana's ascension to the top of the proverbial heap, a band's signing with a major label was cause for celebration; it was a sign that the band was doing well enough that a larger business body wanted to endorse...

It would be difficult to argue that the single most overused metaphor in rock n' roll over the last fifty years hasn't been the one which contends that “love is a drug.” There aren't many bands that haven't dabbled with the idea to varying degrees and with varying degrees of success, but it has become so common now that it's almost a soft option; as is the case with the concepts of both love and drugs, anyone can do it...

At a certain point, history begins to be the defining characteristic for a record label. Think about it – if the label in question has a track record of focusing on a particular sort of band or music and it has even been revered for some of the artists and releases on its roster or catalogue, eventually a sort of brand loyalty will begin to manifest; a thought process skin to, “If you like this particular sounds and/or ethic, this...

'Lullabies for Bloodshot Eyes' – what a surprisingly somber title for a record by Séan McCann. McCann, of course, first made his name singing and performing high-energy Maritime Canadian, English, Irish and French folk standards with Great Big Sea and, while that band would occasionally trip and fall into the odd introspective number, none have ever been so far down as the name of this album implies. The implication of such a title is that the party is long since...

It's unlikely to come as any surprise now, but there was a period about seven years ago when music fans – pretty much all of them – were watching orchestral pop and Elephant 6-associated band Beulah very, very closely. Riding a tide of critical adulation, the band had become something of a staple on many annual top ten lists, commercial appeal never really materialized which began to take its toll on morale in the band. It started to show too;...

"Review albums long enough, and eventually you start to get a feel for what the music's like just by looking at the album art,” a former music journalist once told me. “It reaches the point where you've got an idea of what you're in for before you hear a single note.” For what it's worth, I've never been able to pull that trick off – not with any amount of regularity anyway. In fact, some of the greatest professional mistakes...

No matter how young or old you are – whether you're an unrepentant idealist or a dyed in the wool cynic – a good, sweet song about love or the possibilities and excitement of it will warm your heart and bring a smile to your face. The hope of love is the great unifier that captures everyone's imagination and when it appears in song and is done well, there's a chance it'll live forever. In listening to Slow Club's debut...

The excitement is building in Sunderland, UK. For the first time in five years, record store shelves will feature a new album from Sunderland-bred punk monsters Leatherface but that's only part of the excitement though. Certainly the excitement is building everywhere for the album, but the reason it's building specifically in the band's hometown is because this new release, called The Stormy Petrel, also marks the maiden release of material from Big Ugly Fish – the band's own record label,...

Eleven years ago, even some of the more devout fans in his base had written Carlos Santana off. When the guitarist performed at the twenty-fifth anniversary of Woodstock in 1994, his presence was totally overshadowed by the excitement surrounding the more modern acts on the roster that year and it had been seventeen years since Santana had released a gold record. While the guitarist could very likely have continued with a moderately successful world music career, the possibility of having...

It's incredible how little it can take to augment the dominating impression that a musician leaves, there are instances wherein all that need be changed is the venue or arena in which the sound is captured. Take the work of singer Jay Malinowski for example; with Bedouin Soundclash, Malinowski has found fanfare producing densely arranged pop that crosses roots reggae with just the thinnest hair of punk. There has always been some heart in it, but it's still got the...