A full year after their Oklahoma hometown show, the Flaming Lips are finally releasing their first ever live DVD, U.F.O.’s at the Zoo: The Legendary Concert in Oklahoma City.  This is big news.  For those of you who have never had the euphoric pleasure of seeing this band play, it is by far the most phenomenal show you will ever witness.  I’m talking ever single theatric you could possibly think of…and all that coupled with the band’s incredible sonic ability…it...

The term “thinking man’s rock”—or some variation of it—has been thrown around a lot in the press over the last few decades in reference to a host of different musicians to the point that the term has now either become a sales tool or lost its meaning altogether. At different points in their careers, groups and artists as far-flung as The Deftones, Bruce Cockburn, System of a Down, Husker Du, Richard Hell, Captain Beefheart, Bob Dylan and (of course) Thinking...

Beck is back at it.  On Tuesday 8/21 he will release a self-produced new track called "Timebomb", which for one week will be available only at iTunes. The following week the track will be available at all other digital music retail. "Timebomb" is the first new music from Beck since The Information, which was released in October 2006. The lyric of "Timebomb" echoes some of the dark themes from that album but is packaged in digital gris gris thunder as...

Sea Wolf's forthcoming debut full-length, Leaves in the River, due Sept. 25 on Dangerbird Records, will be met with a fall tour alongside New York indie stalwarts Nada Surf. Yet anxious fans won't have to wait until then to hear Alex Brown Church's elegiac narratives and intricate orchestral pop. Church and co. have been offering up glimpses into the highly-anticipated record on their recent jaunt alongside Silversun Pickups and are scheduled to appear at a few more high-profile festival performances,...

The tall, gangly, and always amazing, Thurston Moore will be releasing his first solo album in over 12 years.  Trees Outside the Academy, out September 18th via Ecstatic Peace!, finds Thurston breaking from 1995's noise rock escapades on Psychic Hearts with a more acoustic and lyric driven approach.  Recorded by John Agnello at J. Mascis' Bisquiteen Studios, Thurston's vocals, acoustic guitar and bass, are supported by a slew of guests.   Steve Shelley is featured on drums and Samara Lubelski on strings,...

As happens every so often, a band of like-minded musicians come together under the right circumstances (usually under the guide of serendipity), discovers that they happen to share musical tastes and enjoy each other’s company and, in the spirit of all for one and one for all, change their names in a show of solidarity. That scenario produced The Ramones in New York three decades ago and, last year in Cardiff, Wales, so too came together Los Campesinos! “We all...

Hipsters have been creaming over the LCD Soundsystem/Arcade Fire double bill for a while now, so here's a little more news to add fuel to the fire (I swear there was no pun intended there). The two bands will be teaming up to release a split 7" to coincide with their cross-country jaunt. LCD covers Joy Division's "No Love Lost," while Arcade Fire tries their hand at Serge Gainsbourg's "Poupee de Cire." The single will only be available on tour...

Next weekend marks the fourth year of the F**k Yeah! Fest in Los Angeles. Curated by Circle Jerks/Black Flag front man Keith Morris and twenty-two year old founder Sean Carlson, the festival features more than fifty bands spread across five all-ages venues for a mere $13 a day, a buck of which will go to support 826LA and FoLAR (Friends of the Los Angeles River). Adding to the madness will be a batch of comedians including Bob Odenkirk of Mr....

That’s right, Jimmy Eat World is still around, and apparently they are rocking just as hard as ever. They just finished up a rapturously received tour of intimate rooms on which old standards, rarely performed favorites, and a few new songs were aired. These new songs of which I speak were taken from the yet to be released Chase This Light, the band's third full length which will hit the stores on October 16. The new album is the follow...

Someone recently told me I should write memoirs on my experiences in the music industry because they “would sell.” To be honest, I don’t think they would. So that’s why I’m writing them here for free. So what can I promise you? Well, a lot less high rolling antics than Pamela des Barres and Vince Neil and a lot more “and then we hosed down behind the venue because we had to sleep on the van that night” sort of...