Ratatat is one of those groups you won’t ever fully appreciate until you experience them at noise deafening levels. Their sound has so much going on with it that listening to one of their albums at a comfortable volume is a little like having protected sex with a pregnant hooker. It’s less risky, but not as fun—a fact I’ve yet to ingrain in my own mind, even after the release of their third studio album (not including their two remix...

I arrived at the Fillmore Monday night to see Omaha’s The Faint along with what appeared to be a hairstylist convention for the hip and tragically ironic. This is my first time seeing the band but I’ve been a fan of their lo-fi electro-angular guitar sound for some time and was excited to check them out. The first band to hit the stage was Shy Child from New York. The vocalist, Pete Cafarella plays the keytar, which is complemented by...

It’s difficult to believe it when you say – in print or out loud – that a band who first found fame in the grunge era is still going strong. The mainstays that no one thought were going anywhere have long since gone the way of the dodo; Nirvana flamed out early and yielded the wildly successful, Dave Grohl–fronted Foo Fighters as well as bassist Krist Novaselic‘s efforts in a couple of different groups (Stinky Puffs, Sweet 75, Eyes Adrift...

It has been contended and upheld by the band since they first appeared in 2000 that Broken Social Scene, as a group, is less a single artistic unit and more of a revolving-door artistic collective. In spite of those admissions, fans were confused when a BSS album centring out Kevin Drew appeared late last year and concerned that the band’s members might be going their separate ways. That wasn’t the case then and isn’t the case now either though. Both...

Because the release of their punk rock cabaret live DVD got them exposed to new audiences unfamiliar with the idea that Kurt Weill might still have a place in rock n’ roll (the last band to give him his proper due was The Doors when they covered “Alabama Song”), the pressure must have been on Dresden Dolls to get another record out as fast as possible in order to capitalize on the interest. So appears No, Virginia… – an album...

That the Dresden Dolls make incredible and interesting records that imply a remarkably cinematic experience can’t be disputed but, given that the sound is produced by just two players, the most realistic question is how said material translates live and what sort of show it makes. All questions are answered, however, at the Roadhouse in London as The Dresden Dolls bring the punk cabaret (as opposed to The Rolling Stones’ Rock N’ Roll Circus) to the stage and illustrate just...

In spite of the fact that Juliana Hatfield has broken through to rock stardom several times over—had wildly successful tours behind celebrated albums, videos played in regular rotation on every available music television network and been offered a multitude of other accolades—it’s a safe assumption that there are still people reading this review and wondering, “Juliana who?” It’s lamentable, but it’d be hard to say that Hatfield has gotten a fair shake; she helped make the best Lemonheads record that...

Ever wonder what it’d sound like if Canadian critical darling Neko Case spontaneously decided to make a rock n’ roll record? It’ll probably never happen (well, not outside of The New Pornographers), but happily we have the closest possible approximation in Girl In A Coma. On their debut album, Both Before I’m Gone, sisters Nina and Phanie Diaz, along with bassist Jenn Alva, take the tremolo rich vocals of Case and British mope king Morrissey (the band name is also...

Okay, from the moment that Steve E. Nix and The Briefs sleazed their way out of Seattle, the band caused a lot of confusion in listeners accustomed to grungy things coming out of the Pacific Northwest. The Briefs were, after all, a tight, dayglo, 80s-fashioned punk band; they didn’t really fit in with their surroundings at all. With that band currently on hiatus, Nix has resurfaced with the nearly identical-sounding Cute Lepers – a band that isn’t quite so in...

As far as summer tours go, it seems like the consistent theme has been plain and simple: ROCK. Whether it’s the metal tour like the Rockstar Mayhem fest or the punk infused Warped Tour, it’s a fact that when it’s hot out, it’s time to listen to some loud music. And as Ground Control’s staff photographer Tracy Nunnery proved with his photos, this night was no exception. For the last 30 years, Scorpions have been blowing eardrums and influencing thousands...