At what point does a phenomenon cease being an annual 'big show' and start being regarded as a cultural staple? Granted, there is no shortage of rock n' roll festivals on the North American summer calendar but, since it launched fifteen years ago, the Vans Warped Tour has seen similar traveling music festivals come and go, trends explode and fade and tastes change as frequently as the number of brews in Molson's brew master book, but has never faltered and...
Regina Spektor’s latest release is undoubtedly a testament to her limitless creativity. Her fifth full-length studio album to date, Far is an absolute thrilling 13-track voyage through the inexhaustible psyche of one of the most imaginative and versatile songstresses of our time. Warbling vocals and a stylistic signature all her own, the quirky qualities of phonetic track titles, unorthodox pronunciations and pleasantly unusual content provide fodder for success to repeat the reception of her chart-topping 2006 release, Begin to Hope....
At some point in life – whether it's intentional or not – everyone begins to subscribe to British utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill's Greatest Happiness Principle. While it is true that some people find joy in the rigmarole of trivial concerns, eventually the thrill of perpetually fighting an uphill battle fades. When that happens, the pursuit of happiness – or rather, finding the simplest, easiest way to get pleasure out of any endeavor – becomes the paramount concern. No undertaking...
Side projects are strange creatures. When you really think about it, most people pick up instruments and form bands in the first place because they have something they want to say – some sort of personal thing that they want to get out of themselves and maybe convey to others – and sometimes they're lucky enough to turn a living at it but, often when they get to that point, they suddenly feel confined again. Whether it's because they don't...
Before Steven Spielberg’s life became consumed with oversized battle bots and nuking fridges, he was part of a modest little enterprise known as Indiana Jones. There was without fail in every film a shot of a map with a little red line scraping across the surface, showing our hero’s progress across the globe. Enter Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground, who are playing their own version of globetrotting. Their latest album, aptly titled Studio Album, is all over the musical...
I like bands who experiment, expand, who are always trying something new. My favorite artists—David Bowie, Talking Heads, King Crimson, the Beatles, the Who—did this; every album presented something new, took a step in a new direction. At the opposite extreme, take the Rolling Stones: they continued to innovate until sometime in the mid-70s, when they started repeating themselves, which is when I lost interest. One the other hand, sometimes a band gets in a groove—establishes a sound and does...
Maybe I'm just simple, but it never occurred to me that Franz Ferdinand might have even one reggae-infused bone in its bandmembers' collective body. No really—did anyone know? The band has always (at least in my mind) been perceived as a slightly new wave-ish Top 40 rock outfit but, in listening to Blood:, a dub rendering of the songs on the band's smash hit Tonight: (released earlier this year), a series of new possibilities present themselves. In retrospect, were those...
San Diego's The Black Heart Procession will be releasing their new album, Six, on Oct. 6th. Their first new work since 2006's The Spell, Six returns to the naming conventions of their first three albums, but is BHP's premier effort on Temporary Residence, LTD. To stoke the fires of longing the band is making "Rats" available for download right now, and released the tracklist as well: The Black Heart Procession – Six – 10/6/09 01. When You Finish Me02. Wasteland03....
Anyone that has been following Alexisonfire over the last seven years knew it was time for the band to make some changes. The band's self-titled debut and Watch Out! established the band as the kings of Canadian screamo – there's no arguing or debating that fact – and the band both enjoyed and flourished in that acceptance. When Crisis came along in 2006, the album found Alexisonfire at the absolute pinnacle of its powers as the songs added up to...
Andrew Bird is preparing to hit the road next week, serenading Conan O'Brien and the TV viewing public on July 7th before embarking on a summer tour that will see him supporting the likes of such indie rock stalwarts as Death Cab for Cutie and The Decemberists, as well as headlining stops with Ra Ra Riot and Heartless Bastards rounding out the bill. (editor's note: Both Ra Ra Riot and Heartless Bastards are fucking fantastic, and definitely sweeten the pot...