From all I can tell, Paul Oakenfold just up and decided one day that he wanted to be a DJ, and shortly thereafter, planned to be the most popular DJ in the world. Whether or not he trumps all of the other disc jockeys in existence is up for debate, but with the release of his Greatest Hits and Remixes album this month, he makes a hefty statement regarding the breath of his influence. Although I never thought about it...

Coachella came and went. Some of us missed the unprecedented Jesus and Mary Chain reunion (read: ME), and the buzz has long been gone. And as exciting as a reunion can be, they can come and go like the 200 dollars you may have paid to see it (read: The Police…thanks for not coming back later guys). Thankfully, this is not the case for the brothers Reid & co. who decided to turn the reunion into a full tour, and...

In his sophomore effort at a solo career, Dave Gahan provides yet another hint to why Depeche Mode has become so popular in its nearly three-decade spot within global popular music. Hourglass is a synthetic whirlwind culminating everything from the ethereal voice of Gahan down to the instrumentals, maintaining a clear backing to the sonic palate of yet another 1980s product from across the pond. Throughout the album, you get the same pounding drum beat, keeping metronomic time to nearly...

This is for the...

When I think of Atlanta, I think “Dirty South.” I think of the word “crunk.” I think of a city that has changed the face of hip-hop and R&B for the past two decades. By breeding such legends as Outkast, Lil’ Jon, Ludacris, Usher, Da Brat, Toni Braxton, TLC, T.I. and Goodie Mobb, the A-T-L has become a stalwart in the lexicon of rap music. To describe this city, my man Jermaine Dupri once said, “big beats hit streets, see...

Things looked grim for those who failed to buy tickets in advance to the Fillmore on Friday night, as people endured the cold air of San Francisco in hopes of finding their way into the venue. The Silversun Pickups had come to town and as expected, sold out the historic concert hall. Inside, those who were lucky enough to get in to see their indie/hipster heroes, watched as The Happy Hollows surprised the crowd with deep ability. Next, Midnight Movies...

The Mars Volta's ever-rotating cast of players settled down for long enough this spring to put together a new album which will hit streets in the zero-eight, January 29th to be exact. Produced by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, The Bedlam in Goliath is a concept album based around a story that was attached to a gift that Rodriguez-Lopez got for co-founder Cedric Bixler-Zavala while traveling. Confused? Well, as usual, the tracklist will do nothing to alleviate that: 1. Aberinkula2. Metatron3. Ilyena4. Wax...

The Start Line’s latest release, Direction, is in stores now and has been receiving rave reviews.  Furthermore, the band’s video for the first single “Island” has been added to MTV, and began regular rotation October 22.  But these punk-popeteers aren’t happy enough with all that, and have recently announced that they will be embarking on a rather extensive US tour through the end of 2007.  The band will be playing with a number of bands including, Paramore, Set Your Goals,...

After releasing a couple of fairly well-received solo records, Peter Walker has now assembled a band of likeminded players, called it Eulogies and released a self-titled album that, like it as not, sounds like little more than the third instalment in Walker’s catalogue; there isn’t a whole lot of difference between Eulogies and Landed and Young Gravity, just the name of the project performing the material. That isn’t a bad thing necessarily—as with his first two releases, Eulogies makes the...

See, it's sort of cool to see one of the new bands from the UK shuck the loosey-goosey dynamics that virtually every band since The Happy Mondays have used as a cover for not being being able to play very well and just play short, tight pop songs. The Fratellis’ set from Brixton Academy showcases the band’s ability to do just that and not bother to pat themselves on the back along the way. Over the 17-song set, the band...