I have a method for reviewing albums. Start with some really strong coffee, boot up iTunes, and type haphazardly. And generally, as I listen through, I hunt for gems. The songs that really pop from the rest of the album, either because of their sound, rhythm, construction, lyrics, or really badass solos. And these become signposts for the album—they sort of lead you through your listen, encouraging markers that keep you from feeling like the band leading this little caravan...
I have a method for reviewing albums. Start with some really strong coffee, boot up iTunes, and type haphazardly. And generally, as I listen through, I hunt for gems. The songs that really pop from the rest of the album, either because of their sound, rhythm, construction, lyrics, or really badass solos. And these become signposts for the album—they sort of lead you through your listen, encouraging markers that keep you from feeling like the band leading this little caravan...
Modest Mouse is one of those bands that capture the randomness of life while pulling out the ridiculousness and sometimes beautiful coincidences that really don’t make sense. Then they put it all together in high doses of imagery, confusion and cartoon-like song titles. Add crazy but sometimes calming vocals to it from Isaac Brock, and it seems like there is a hidden message from this band’s music. I still can’t figure out why their albums are so addicting. So after...
Modest Mouse is one of those bands that capture the randomness of life while pulling out the ridiculousness and sometimes beautiful coincidences that really don’t make sense. Then they put it all together in high doses of imagery, confusion and cartoon-like song titles. Add crazy but sometimes calming vocals to it from Isaac Brock, and it seems like there is a hidden message from this band’s music. I still can’t figure out why their albums are so addicting. So after...
Every member of every musical group in creation – if they've been around long enough – has intimated that their band is a family, but what happens if you extend the metaphor? If indeed a band is a family, it stands to reason that the songs they produce are that family's holdings; the baubles they produce and collect over time to build the household that is as much a part of the family's identity and outward reflection as the individuals...
At this stage of the game, the group of people under the age of eighteen making music professionally (it gets called 'kid rock,' 'underage rock' and a variety of other such titles that all seem passively condescending) has been polarized into two clearly delineated groups: there are the ones – like Tiny Masters Of Today and Please Quiet Ourselves – with more underground credibility (read: they do not regularly appear on TV) and those – like The Jonas Brothers and...
It's a safe assumption that, if you came of age in the Nineties, you're well aware of who Jason Mewes is. As the loud, foul-mouthed, 'hetero life-mate' to Silent Bob in Kevin Smith's New Jersey series of movies that included Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Clerks II, Mewes' character Jay has long since been established as an unlikely hero, moral barometer and holder of herbal refreshments in pop culture. The directory of slogans that the character has given viewers...
Heaven and Hell are on tour to support their new release, The Devil You Know, and to be able to see this band at The Warfield in San Francisco was exciting in itself because it may be the only time I (or anyone) will ever see them in a non-arena setting. (The show was moved from the San Jose State Event Center.) After a short intermission and stage change to what appeared to be the gates of hell (stone work...
I must say that I really like it when a band tours in support of one of their classic albums. And since I was only 12 years old when Judas Priest released their classic British Steel album way back in 1980, and was still a couple of years away from my first big arena rock show, this was the perfect chance to finally hear some of these classic songs live. And the fact that whole thing went down at The...
Sometimes events finally get around to unfolding as they should rather than only manifesting as a fairly decent, palatable-in-passing facsimile of what people hoped would come about. For The Artist Life, that time is now; after three and a half years of label frustrations and personnel problems of a degree and severity that would leave most bands wondering if their future had any security at all, events are finally starting to align in The Artist Life's favor. It may not...