Anyone that has become familiar with Sloan since they first appeared seventeen years ago can tell you that they are a rare sort of band. When the Peppermint EP and the following full-length Smeared erupted in 1992, they revived the precedent previously upheld by such classic rock bands as The Beatles, Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones that a band needn’t have only one chosen face or voice; while groups like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden had Kurt Cobain, Eddie...

If one were to chart the trajectory of AC/DC’s career path to date, it would suddenly become noticeable that it flows together about like a gear-head’s Cinderella story. Beginning in Australia, the brothers Young, along with Phil Rudd on drums and Mark Evans on bass turned over the ignition and immediately got the engine firing on all cylinders (High Voltage, T.N.T.) before dropping into gear and cruising to the line (the North American release of High Voltage was actually a...

The terms “classic” and “timeless,” as defined by Webster’s dictionary, are “A creation of the highest excellence” and “unaffected by time” respectively and, particularly in the context of pop music in general and the work of Jimi Hendrix in specific, get thrown around an awful lot. Because of that fact, both terms have been devalued (because they’re so over used – not necessarily because they’re used in the case of Hendrix’ catalog) so much that their meaning should...

By the time Mountain Goats front man John Darnielle put pen to paper and inked a deal with indie-rock institution 4AD in 2002, the band had already made a significant impression on the underground. Formed in 1991, Mountain Goats (though the only consistent member in all that time has been Darnielle) had already released no less than thirteen full-length albums since 1995 (numbers vary, of course, because of the vortex around which the indie-verse revolves; eventually records fade into obscurity...

By the time Mountain Goats front man John Darnielle put pen to paper and inked a deal with indie-rock institution 4AD in 2002, the band had already made a significant impression on the underground. Formed in 1991, Mountain Goats (though the only consistent member in all that time has been Darnielle) had already released no less than thirteen full-length albums since 1995 (numbers vary, of course, because of the vortex around which the indie-verse revolves; eventually records fade into obscurity...

The sad truth about friendship is that it is one of the most often-abused endeavors in human nature. Even sadder still, most folks only discover what a true friend is in the face of hardship—so goes the old saying that “A friend is somebody that helps you move, a good friend is someone that helps you move a body.” Does this mean that not every friend in your cell phone’s Top Five is of the fair-weather variety? Maybe, maybe not—but...

It’d be tough to contend that Bob Dylan’s fans, much like the singer himself, aren't a strange breed of beast. Once bitten by the bug, people become devout fans for life and that appreciation causes them to do strange things and make bizarre claims. In the late Seventies, for example, fans got confused when the singer spontaneously decided to convert to Christianity and release a couple of staunch and devout albums. By the mid-Eighties, Dylan was making it even harder...

A preamble: Since owner Hilly Kristal’s passing and the closure of his bar, CBGB, it seemed almost guaranteed that eventually someone would release some of the soundboard recordings from the venue; both the man and the business were too loved and considered too important to let fade into oblivion. That would be the romantic hope anyway. Happily, MVD has accepted the challenge and, even happier still, the quality is better than anyone could reasonably have expected to come from CeeBee’s...

Whether it’s intentional or not, some bands can’t seem to help but have a polarizing effect on all listeners with whom their music comes into contact. Whether it’s the combination of sounds that the group chooses to intermingle, the way they put those sounds together or even just the voices and effects used to administer the group’s ideas, listeners are instantly either turned on or put off of a band within seconds of sampling an album. There is no halfway...

Electronic beatmaker Diego Chavez presents his first LP under the Aether moniker on local Texas-based Exponential and is set to release his debut, Artifacts, out 11/25. Chavez, a graphic designer and music producer based out of San Antonio, TX, also records under the monikers Otic Angst and A.M. Architect in addition to producing tracks for the conscious based hip-hop group Lotus Tribe and rock band The Panic Division. And the fact that I just saw Lykke Li three days ago,...