Perhaps because they’d heard somewhere that The Butthole Surfers were once called subversive because they’d signed to a major label twelve years ago and had since signed on to another smaller label that still had major-sized distribution (Surfdog and Universal respectively), in the last five years Ween has hopped between three of the big four record companies. Now allied with Universal, Ween’s newest offering is only really a walnut color; fans will notice that tracks including “Friends,” “Learnin’ To...

Adult Swim, the late-night sister network of Cartoon Network which showcases animation and live action for adults, announced a 12-stop college tour beginning October 29 with two of the country's top rock acts, And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead… and Dethklok.  All shows will be free for students and ticket information can be obtained at adultswimpresents.com. And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead.. is currently comprised of three core members: Conrad Keely, Jason...

In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera explains the daunting feeling of vertigo. He describes it as the bending of two extremes, paradoxes merging together and evoking the sense of collapse in a world of seemingly stable constructions. Of course in the realm of indie rock, the sensation of vertigo—and its consequences—aren't so drastic. What does it mean when the esteemed quartet, Sonic Youth, does an in-store performance at the Urban Outfitters on the notorious (-ly commercial) stretch of...

For some musicians, like C’mon co-founder Ian Blurton, the bloom never comes off the rose—particularly where playing in front of a live crowd is concerned. Blurton is the portrait of a Canadian rock lifer. Beginning in 1982 with Change Of Heart and then with Blurtonia, the singer/guitarist has played on virtually every stage in Canada—at least twice. But now, with C’mon, Blurton has rediscovered the joy that brought him to the stage in the first place: a band of friends...

Let’s take a minute to discuss Sweden—a musical muse of a country with a population roughly a quarter that of California and where the largest national export is sexy rock ‘n’ roll bands in tight skinny jeans. (I made that last part up. According to Wikipedia, the largest national export is tall, beautiful blondes and Muppet chefs. Ha! I kid… it’s actually something like timber and chemicals and hydropower, which are, obviously, much less interesting.) Take, for example, the Scandinavian...

Let’s take a minute to discuss Sweden—a musical muse of a country with a population roughly a quarter that of California and where the largest national export is sexy rock ‘n’ roll bands in tight skinny jeans. (I made that last part up. According to Wikipedia, the largest national export is tall, beautiful blondes and Muppet chefs. Ha! I kid… it’s actually something like timber and chemicals and hydropower, which are, obviously, much less interesting.) Take, for example, the Scandinavian...

What has gotten into Frank Black? In fact, where is Frank Black? What sort of event occurred in this man’s life to cause him to revert to the Black Francis moniker of bygone days, put down his Fender Telecaster and dramatically pace back and forth across the stage, shouting into the mic during his most recent performances, like a man possessed by a spirit of fire? Could it be the ghost and essence of Herman Brood? I don’t know, but...

Those of you that have an ear for the grandiose might just be delighted to hear that Commodore Jason Spaceman, helmsman of the good ship Spiritualized, has set course for American shores. In the U.S. for the first time in four years, the band will be coming off a string of European dates as part of the Acoustic Mainline Tour, which includes the music of both Spiritualized and Spaceman 3. Perhaps show-goers will catch audio glimpses of Spiritualized's recently recorded,...

My co-workers and I were discussing the Avril Lavigne/Rubinoos controversy (in case you live in a cave, Lavigne's last hit "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" quite obviously steals its chorus, hook, and title from the Rubinoos' "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend"). One of them argued that, plagiarism or not, Avril's song was much better. Now, I have no desire to get into a debate about which cheesy pop song is a better cheesy pop song, but it did get me...

When the folks over at K7! Records decided to let two non-DJs take a crack at putting out a DJ-Kicks, there might not be two people better suited for this task. Self-admitted, Berlin’s Booka Shade (Arno Kammermeier and Walter Merziger) are not DJs. They are, however, producers, musicians, remixers and label owners (Get Physical). But still, that doesn’t make them DJs, does it? Apparently, by the magic of osmosis, Booka Shade can, in fact, DJ with the best of them....