I've never been much of a car person. Granted, after 20 years in Southern California I've made my peace with them. I've learned to drive the freeways with ease. I've even been known to express something like affection for my beat-to-shit 1990 Honda Civic (bought brand new; 238,000 miles, thanks for asking). But for the first first 30 years of my life I was firmly anti-car. They were evil—polluting, dangerous, unnecessary. I didn't get my driver's license until I was...
It’s always a weird phenomenon when the band you show up for is the opener and not the headliner—like going to a fabulous restaurant and ordering appetizers, then scoffing at the main course. But all bands—even the more obscure opening ones—have their fans, right? That being said, I’m a huge fan of Hot Hot Heat and was excited to see their name on the marquee, even if it was in roughly 10-point font under Editors. I first saw HHH nearly...
Trend after trend emerges in the music scene, and we chase after them until the next new thing comes around. Sometimes these trends explode into defining eras, but even those shrink back to make way for what comes next. It seems that in all this chasing we can forget about where the music starts: when a jilted man picks up a guitar and sings about the wiley bitch who left him. The singer/songwriter is the one genre that never goes...
When I walked into Slim's on Friday evening, it would have been far too easy to become jaded. The average age of the crowd had to be no more than 18, and looking around it felt more like I was in Hot Topic at some mall in Middle America, rather than a Rockabilly show. I guess that surprised me because at the last Rockabilly show I checked out the average age was probably 20 years older, not to mention the...
NOTE: FOR THOSE OF YOU LOOKING FOR INFO ON CAT POWER'S "SPACE ODDITY" COVER, CLICK HERE. So I heard that that Mark Ronson guy met that Radiohead guy once out on the London-town with some other guys. Story goes, Mark Ronson introduces himself and the Radiohead guy spits—after some memory-jogging head-scratching, “Oh ya, you’re that guy who made our song into a dance song.” Ouch. That’s got to hurt. Covers wouldn’t bother me so much if most of them...
I got to see Beach House open for Ariel Pink in the summer of 2006. Victoria Legrand's glassy stare and Alex Scally's literal shoe-gazing made for a dreamy performance of lo-fi somnolence. Looking back, I realize the duo's mental presence has always been true to their sound and moniker: somewhere between surf and fog, the music languishes in the barely-brushed ethereal, beautifully dreaming out soundscapes like the one that hung in the mirrored roil of the Echo. Certainly this anesthetized...
For the past 8 or so years, the rumors or Portishead putting another album out were as hard to believe as the right-on-cue phony Coachella lineup fliers that circulates a week or so before the real one. But, after a show and a few hints FROM their site saying that they’re in the studio, we actually started to believe the viability. So unless I got an early April Fool’s Day email today, Portishead announce the release of Third, their hugely...
The unclassifiable sound of Beach House (lo-fi dream opera?), is being captured on video directed by Baltimore underground film legend Skizz Cyzyk. The first single, "You Came To Me," from their soon-to-be-released second album is now joined with a full-length music video. The video evokes dark imagery and works carefully to accompany the band's intense yet somewhat enlightening sound. Now an integral part of the Baltimore music scene, Beach House formed in 2005 and have quickly gained national recognition for...
Picking up where 2006’s The Warning left off, Hot Chip’s latest, Made in the Dark, finds the U.K. electro-rockers as danceable as ever. Kicking off their third LP with “Out at the Pictures,” an upbeat guitar-heavy jive, Hot Chip gives us something that feels new, yet fits perfectly in sync with their repertoire. That feel remains true throughout the album where sonic experimentation and witty lyrics co-exist inside soft ballads and (what will become) dance club favorites. Made in the...
It's about time. We've all been waiting to actually get some hard-earned money into the pockets of the guys in Radiohead after that pay whatever you want plan for In Rainbows. And now we can because they confirmed a few live dates in North America, and I'm sure that ticket money will hopefully get their rent paid. The tour includes the West Coast now that the summer dates have finally been announced. So all of us need to get together...