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...
I was on the hunt for a great video to review and ran into Robyn’s “Cobrastyle.” I love this cover from the Teddybears. The original and this cover are on two different playing fields. I noticed there was a full production music video and I was like, “OMG! Awesome, let’s do this.” So I watched it twice. In the first few seconds she’s spitting out blue stuff, and I honestly thought, “Wait I’ve seen this before.” Then I recalled an...
San Francisco’s Orchid is fucking great! Orchid rocks like rock should! You need Orchid! Here’s why: Band members Theo Mindell (vocals), Mark Baker (guitar), Keith Nickel (Bass) and Carter Kennedy (Drums) have incorporated just the right amount of quality influences and sounds to create something familiar yet brilliantly unique. Think a riding-to-a-séance-in-your-orange-GTO-coolness-circa 1972. Black Sabbath and Boris with a little bit of ‘70’s fuzz to wrap all of that darkness in. Get the...
After catching a somewhat condensed set by Disturbed at last year's Rockstar Mayhem Festival, I realized a few things about the band. First of all, they are all incredibly talented musicians and about as tight a band you will ever see live. On top of that, singer Dave Dramian is not only one of the most charismatic frontmen around, but he can also work a crowd like few others can. So after realizing all this I told myself that the...
Given that Blackie And The Rodeo Kings’ core lineup has been stable since the band’s formation and those core members have enjoyed lengthy, celebrated solo careers, the fact that there are still a few people out there reading this note and wondering to themselves, “Who Is this band and how is it that they’ve earned the release of a greatest hits compilation?” is just plain frustrating. You, the reader, owe it to yourself to know what you’ve missed though (trust...