Finding Guernsey on a map can be mere guesswork, but some 75 miles off the coast of Great Britain in the English Channel, one finds the tiny island that is Britain’s last existing fiefdom. Although things might be changing for the little kingdom in Parliament, Guernsey’s pastoral setting of green hills and steep cliffs is conveniently nestled away from England’s urbanity, its provincial attire made complete in legal guidelines. It is country without being backward, rural without being dogmatic. The...

The second installment of Lunarcast features Big Business, perhaps the busiest and most productive rock band around. Bassist/singer Jared Warren and arguably one the best drummers alive, Coady Willis, not only thrive as a two-piece, cultivating a style of heavy music with touches of metal, punk and prog, but also make up a portion of The Melvins’ rhythm section. In true Big Business fashion, they held a free pre-record release show at All-Star Lanes in Eagle Rock, CA, to celebrate...

Let’s just start this straight off. The Arcade Fire’s latest, Neon Bible, isn’t as good as Funeral. Tear-jerking crescendos are much fewer and farther between. The hair on the back of your neck won’t get quite as much of a workout. But consider what they are up against—a debut album as critically and commercially adored as Funeral—and realize that’s a pretty tough hand to beat. So past achievements aside, how does Neon Bible stack up against its musical peers, both...

I have spent the past year in every record shop I could find up the coast of California looking for albums by the Mexican alternative rock band, Zoé. The song "Deja Te Conecto" was burned on a mix CD for me a few ago, and has been on repeat in my car ever since. Zoé still hasn't gained mass popularity in the United States but that's about to change as the group just embarked on their first official U.S. tour...

Whether or not the title of The Ponys’ new record, Turn the Lights Out, has anything to do with Interpol’s famed 2002 release Turn on the Bright Lights (or whether it’s remotely related to the fact that the Chicago foursome just got signed to Matador, making them post-punk cousins and label buddies alike) is of minute importance when it comes down to musical comparisons. It may be one of those funny things that happen sometimes, and it might put me...

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club will headline a spring tour that will start with support from The Fratellis in San Diego on May 6th and have them touring through June. The tour will fall on the wings of the release of their fourth album, Baby 81, out May 1st on RCA Records. With their 2005 critically acclaimed album, Howl, BRMC proved their stalwart musicianship with their own brand of stripped down Americana and are now deftly transitioning back towards the color-saturated...

ARTIST: The Decemberists – DATE: 03-07-07 REVIEW BY: Clara Druzgalski ALBUM: The Decemberists: A Practical Handbook (DVD) LABEL: Kill Rock Stars   The Decemberists are headed up. They recently signed to Capitol Records for their fourth studio album The Crane Wife, have been touring to promote it with sold out shows, and have somehow managed to get their name on the Coachella poster printed larger than Sonic Youth’s. I have no idea how that happened, but it just goes...

The Decemberists are headed up. They recently signed to Capitol Records for their fourth studio album The Crane Wife, have been touring to promote it with sold out shows, and have somehow managed to get their name on the Coachella poster printed larger than Sonic Youth's. I have no idea how that happened, but it just goes to show that their fan base, once a small following comprised of Merlot-drinking intellectuals and indie kids in tight jeans, is expanding beyond...

Undoubtedly, one of last year’s best albums was Midlake’s The Trials of Van Occupanther. Actually, inarguably is probably a better word than undoubtedly, because while non-listeners may doubt its brilliance, they can’t argue after hearing “Roscoe” or “Young Bride” All this is to preface the fact that a nearly two hour drive to...

This is the first finger-to-buzz-modulated-button that Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin from Air have raised in three years—and it doesn't even buzz. In their latest effort, Air take a classical bend to their breathy electronic soars: the prominent presence of a piano in nearly every song exerts its wooden sound and classical weight, pushing the delicate wisps of the electronic arrangements to the back of the stage. To be sure, Air's sonic spaces were never cluttered to begin with, and...