It's been thirty-one years since the band broke into the mainstream and thirty four years since Debbie Harry walked out of Max's Kansas City  and onto the stage at CBGBs and in that time enough static mythology and reductive history has been written that what Blondie did right so long ago to secure an enduring place in pop has been well and truly obscured. The band has weathered every pop music trend to come along since their foundation from rap/hip...

It's been a pretty incredible year for Patrick Watson. Just eight months ago, the singer exploded onto the international radar with the beautifully abstract and orchestral Wooden Arms and when it hit, the rollercoaster ride started. Kudos flew fast and furiously, cash award prize nominations have been made (Canada's Polaris Prize – had he won, it would have been the second time since 2006), his name has been dropped by anyone with even a passing association and the level of...

It was apparent to anyone listening that, as they balanced some stock smart-assed songs with some more singer/songwriter-ly and personal fare on Coaster, a change was in the air for NoFX. No longer content to just play court jesters in the punk arena, “Fat” Mike Burkett, Eric Melvin, El Jefe and Erik Sandin were making a vested effort to grow up in songs like “My Orphan Year” and “I AM An Alcoholic.” They didn't go all the way or totally...

Does anyone else see the hilarity in the idea of first-wave punk bands reforming and performing greatest hits sets? On one hand, yes, it's a testament to the longevity of the music and proof positive that, as much as youth culture may have changed in the last thirty-five years, themes of discontent, ennui and frustration at a world that seems to keep many people that are different on the outside looking in (usually because of social or economic standing) still...

It sounds silly to say it but, when Between The Buried And Me released their covers album, The Anatomy Of, three years ago, it had a profound effect on the band and its sound. While BTBAM had always boasted a certain noticeable dosage of prog in their metal, The Anatomy Of inadvertently betrayed a love of pop (in a metal context of course, best exemplified by the covers of Smashing Pumpkins, Motley Crue and Queen) that had gone here-to-fore unseen...

As any former addict can tell you, the twelve steps of any drug or alcohol rehab program are only the gateway to recovery; the real treatment starts when one learns to move forward productively and not be perpetually compelled to look back and see how they're doing. Eventually, the hope is that the patient will be able to start over, wise enough not to repeat past mistakes and educated enough to not have to make sure they're on the straight...

As any band that has ever played before a crowd of people can admit, there are few moments more disconcerting than that one when, at the end of what everyone in the band considered a particularly incendiary performance, the players look out at the assembled mass and are struck by… nothing. Sure – there might be some noises of appreciation radiating from the crowd, but every member of the audience is standing stalk still and simply gazing at the performers....

Whether intentional or not, some bands are simply blessed with the ability to alter a listener's consciousness and bodily rhythms so that, upon hearing them, a walk becomes a swagger and posture will be caused to straighten proudly. The swing of a guitar, the crunch of a bass or a well-placed beat are all things that could be the catalyst that instigates this metamorphosis or it could be the snarl of the man on the mic that does it but,...

At a certain point in temporal continuity, some theorists maintain that it's entirely possible for the lines between different, autonomous entities to dissolve at a certain distance. In the case of hip hop, for example, it has been surmised that, because the genre has been functioning for over a quarter century and has grown so much in that time, it's feasible that some fans have been exposed exclusively to it; they were born on hip hop, raised on it and,...

When that video press release hit the web in 2008, it felt like a holiday and a celebration all rolled into one. Tom Waits was hitting the road for his first full-length theater tour in years and, right away, the devotees, parking lot sages, those that hoped and those that had waited for so long were twitching n fits of ecstasy. Tom Waits on tour – not some faraway one-off show! Tickets for the entire tour were gone as quickly...