The last time a band switched gears so drastically—potentially missing out on super-stardom—was The Mars Volta when they ditched At the Drive-in. They trusted their guts and felt like they were going in the wrong direction creatively—they needed something more. Gosling have a similar story, except each member of the old band stayed around for the new one, all the while retaining the endless creativity and musicianship that can only materialize from years and years of playing together. The result...

Malibu’s Simon Dawes spend the entirety of “Salute the Institution” name-checking rock heroes who came before— heroes like Lennon, Bowie and Jimmy Page. All the while, they’re throwing tounge-in-cheek jabs at an industry that increasingly abandons creativity and instead encourages artists to ape their forbearers in both style and sonics, because “it’s how you get paid.” The rest of their debut full length Carnivore contains scattered nods to the standard influences, but the judicious use of...

Editors have enjoyed a rather swift rise to the top as far as British bands in the U.S. go. Nearly half a year after playing cozy L.A. venue Spaceland, the band sells out Hollywood’s Avalon theatre that boasts a near 1,500 capacity. Back home in the U.K., the band’s ascent has been far more rapid. From modest shows to headlining festivals and a Mercury Prize nomination, Editors were anointed U.K.’s next big thing in a year that also saw that...

ARTIST: Sounds of the Underground Tour 2006 VENUE: Gibson Amphitheater, Los Angeles, CA DATE: 10-28-06 REVIEW BY: Mark Ziemke Grassroots sensibilities, camaraderie and devotion are just a few of the characteristics that describe the Sounds of the Underground Tour that took place this summer in North America. Host to a very unlikely collection of bands such as As I Lay Dying, Trivium, Cannibal Corpse and The Black Dahlia Murder, this tour was zig-zagging the nation, going head to head with...

In 2005, prior to being sucked into the same online buzz machine that launched a thousand Arctic Monkeys, Voxtrot was just another idiosyncratic indie pop band amid a sea of such bands in Austin, Texas. Today, they’ve established a dedicated cult following thanks as much to their literate, Anglo-informed brand of music—somewhere between the melodrama of The Smiths and Belle & Sebastian’s faux-orchestral grandeur—as untold kilobytes of ecstatic essays linked feverishly across the blogosphere. Led by Ramesh...

Perhaps someone forgot to tell members of the National that they don’t always have to try so hard. That, like a string on a guitar, any performance will eventually snap after being wound tighter and tighter. But maybe the band is used to the snap after years of touring, because they seem to do it once every other song or so. The trying so hard is second nature now. And it’s only getting better, proved by the evening’s show with...

One of the most compelling reasons to nominate Oasis for anything is that they might start some kind of witty-barbed brawl with a competitor. At last year’s Q Magazine awards Liam Gallagher called Chris Martin a “plant pot” and invited him to “have a pop” after the Coldplay frontman thanked Oasis for being such a huge influence on Coldplay’s music. This year, both Oasis and U2 are up for the “Best Act in the World Today” award (gotta love that...

SET FOR AN OCTOBER 17, 2006 RELEASE DATE Lollapalooza, North American and European Tour Dates Announced LOS ANGELES, CA – (June 28, 2006) — JEREMY ENIGK, the enigmatic singer and songwriter for emo-core pioneers Sunny Day Real Estate and The Fire Theft, has completed “World Waits,” his eagerly-awaited second solo album. Enigk, whose solo debut, “Return of the Frog Queen” was released in 1996, will issue “World Waits” October 17 on his own label, Lewis Hollow Records, which will be...

KILLS THE CHARTS WORLDWIDE! Metal legends IRON MAIDEN’S new album A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH has not only been released to enormous critical acclaim across the globe but has also resulted in some of their highest chart placing ever. In addition to their Number One chart debut on the Billboard Pan-European Chart the album has now debuted at no 9 on the Billboard USA Chart on their US label Sanctuary Records and at No.2 in Canada. This is the...

Do you believe in heaven above?...