It's been sixteen years since Cracker's sophomore album, Kerosene Hat, and its hit single, “Low,” catapulted the band to rock superstardom for an exceedingly long blink of an eye. If ever a tune came along at precisely the right time, it was “Low” – with weepy, tone deaf and whiny vocals and a noir country guitar arsenal at its disposal, “Low” fit very neatly in between the monster hits of Weezer, Danzig, Lenny Kravitz and Nirvana on the play lists...

Ever taken a dare, and then regretted it? Not just taken one, but fully set yourself up for it? Challenged the world, and then had it slap you back as hard as it could? That's kind of how I feel here. "Oh yeah!" I said, "I can review anything. Give me your most challenging, weird, obscure music, and I'll make sense of it!" And I ended up with Sun Ra and Arnold Dreyblatt. Sun Ra at least seemed like a...

Arts & Crafts' Los Campesinos!–fresh off a five-month stint touring North and South America as well as recording their next album–have announced even more summer tour dates, along with the departure of one of their own. Wrapping up three years with the band, Aleks Campesinos is returning to school (where the band formed) to finish her education. According to the band's blog, this has been the plan all along, and the departure is both on good terms and unsurprising–they've known...

The Arctic Monkeys have announced the follow-up to 2007's Favourite Worst Nightmare, the as-yet-untitled (although cleverly titled on Wikipedia as Arctic Monkeys 2009 Album) third album for the British foursome. Produced by Josh Homme in the Mojave Desert and James Ford (no, not that James Ford…he's still in 1977) in Brooklyn, the album–which hits streets Tuesday, August 25th–consists of the following ten tracks: 1. My Propeller2. Crying Lightning3. Dangerous Animals4. Secret Door5. Potion Approaching6. Fire And The...

When it comes right down to it, no matter how many minor twists and turns might manifest along the average band's career path, the beginning, middle and end of every musical group's career follows a very similar, linear progression. In the earliest stages, the band in question will work to find their voice and hopefully establish both a fan base and a name for itself. If said band is really lucky, the record-buying public will pick up on them straight...

Iggy Pop is one of my favorite artists, but he's been in a rut recently. With the exception of the spoken word album Avenue A, every album he has released since the early 90's has been a variation of the same hard guitar rock. Reuniting with his Stooges buddies did up the energy level of both his albums and, especially, his live performances, but only solidified the rock quotient. Even Iggy seemed to be tiring to doing the same old...

There's no disputing that Neil Young is an excellent songwriter (when he wants to be), but that doesn't mean every microtone in his songbook has been created equal – in fact, on an album-by-album basis, the singer has gone through cycles of good and bad. In his 40-some-year career, Young seems to have followed a similar arc at every turn: he has released documents of jaw-dropping craft and insight and that strength has endured for a few successive releases before...

There are a dozen perfectly plausible reasons why Marilyn Manson's stature in both pop music and pop culture has depreciated so dramatically over the last decade or so. It could be that, after the classic line-up of the band imploded (shortly after Holy Wood in 2000), the pieces just weren't aligning properly and singer Brian Warner floundered because he was left all too much to his own devices. It could be that, after George W. Bush took office, Manson's audience...

Over the last few years, both musicians and the publicity companies with which they work have gone to great lengths to recast the popular image of the average rock star. The portrait of a musician as a decadent, aloof and untouchable aesthete has definitely fallen out of fashion as a series of working class heroes (scan Tim Armstrong of Rancid, James Jackson Toth of Wooden Wand, Sam Beam of Iron & Wine or Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem for samples)...

There seemed to be several different motivations fueling the show on Friday night at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA. At times, it felt like a bona-fide, big-talent rock show and yet my fear was that the tour was simply conceived so that the creative moniker “NIN|JA” could be pressed into use. For Street Sweeper Social Club, thankfully abbreviated to “SSSC” emblazoned on their matching black and red jackets, the day was about a new band of veterans proving themselves...