The thought and popular image of those artists lucky enough to get to make music for a living is often greatly romanticized by those outside of the business. On the outside looking in, fans envision professional musicians as often leading a life of leisure as they're given time and space to cultivate their muse and so have the ability to work at their own rate with little concern for what might happen in the interim between recording sessions. With that...
Who says that, after a career spent mining the sadder end of the emotional spectrum and winning healthy amounts of praise for it, changing creative streams is a bad idea? Sure, such moves might mean alienating that meticulously cultivated fan base, but Morrissey has made it plain since his first appearance in 1984 that anything he attaches his name to is going to be his show and he'll throw every ounce of his weight around however he chooses. That heady...
The further that one gets from home, the more attractive a return must look. With Danger Mouse's help, Akron's Black Keys extended the scope of and possibilities for their incendiary alt-blues on 2008's Attach & Release to well beyond the points that anyone imagined possible but, by the same token, it must have presented a remarkable hurdle to overcome; for a two-piece outfit to make (and then attempt to reproduce live) such sprawling sounds is a tough act to follow,...
Sometimes, even when a moment or event seems predestined to pass, it's still surprising because it plays out exactly as expected and without a single thing out of place. Two Tongues' self-titled debut is the epitome of that kind of moment; after first convening in 2006 to cover Bob Dylan's “The Man In Me” for the Paupers, Peasants, Princes & Kings tribute compilation, Max Bemis, Coby Linder (both of emotionally articulate gurus Say Anything) and Chris Conley (from Saves The...
I thoroughly enjoy life a little bit more when bands like this come with full-on albums. You know when a small, very new and up and coming band pack a huge punch with their debut album you’ve got a good thing to have an ear-affair with. Sure, your true love may be someone named Andre or Mr. Dyke, but Thunderheist, composed of Isis and Grahm Zilla is that three-way you always wanted to cheat on your number one with. Their...
After suffering through six so-called "metal" bands during the previous 28 hours, I needed a dose of real metal more than the junkies across the street from my house need their methadone. Fortunately Meshuggah hit Slims' stage at precisely 10:26PM tonight, and proceeded to give me a fix of some of the most brutal metal I have witnessed in quite some time, and aside from "Holy Fucking Shit"………. I was left speechless. With the duel eight string guitar assault of...
Some people are born with musical talent that is nurtured over time into something like brilliance. Others spend a lifetime working hard at achieving a level of ability that allows them to perform music outside of school amphitheaters and bowling alleys. Then there are those who are seemingly touched by the glowing finger of god and given some sort of miraculous gift that doesn't seem to make a lick of sense in the grand scheme of things. Such is the...
In spite of the volumes of publicity paperwork in circulation earnestly stating the contrary, it would be difficult to say that there are many professional musicians who are actually working hard. The business has become an attractive life of leisure as established acts take longer to produce new work in the name of waiting for just the right inspiration to strike — just look at Ian Thornley or Guns N' Roses (who recently released new albums after a five and...
After so much evidence to the contrary, it would be difficult to say that there are many musicians working at a professional level who are really working hard. The business has become an attractive life of leisure to many working in it as they take progressively longer to produce new work (both Thornley and Guns N' Roses, for example, finally put out new albums in the last calendar year, marking a five and ten-year lapse respectively between releases) in the...
Portland's pop-rock-trio The Thermals announced a release date for their upcoming album on Kill Rock Stars, Now We Can See. Look for it to hit shelves on April 7, 2009. As an act of goodwill for their fans, they released the title track, "Now We Can See," as a free download. Pretty cool of them if you ask me. The band hopped on a new label after a few albums with Sub Pop and they seems to be pretty stoked...