Let me start by stating that upon first listening to this album a memory was triggered. Maybe it was just the name of the song “The Alchemist” that reminded me of the song, “The Necromancer” by Van Der Graaf Generator. Other reviewers of this album have been strict about denoting the roots of Witchcraft's sound as coming from forefathers Pentagram and Black Sabbath, but I would like to suggest that there is an earlier influence evidenced in the sounds and...
It's safe to say that the Black Lips have garnered their fair share of buzz over the last few months. Honestly, I'm slightly sick of hearing about them. But that won't stop us from satisfying the needs of Black Lips fans by clueing them in: The Black Lips are going on tour. No one can deny the power and debauchery of a live set from these boys, so look for allegations of donkey-rape or whatever weird shit they plan on...
You've got to hand it to KCRW for finding the right combination of artists to put on a sonically diverse show. Tuesday night's line up of Cass McCombs and Jose Gonzalez at the Henry Fonda Theatre was no exception. While most of the audience was there to witness the hauntingly beautiful voice of Jose Gonzalez, Cass McCombs should not be dismissed as just an opener. His recently released album, Dropping the Writ, shows an interestingly schizophrenic approach to the singer/songwriter...
The writing on a t-shirt that a kid in line for this night’s show was wearing said it all: "Exhume the wretched body from its timeless slumber." The death-roars that singers of metalcore and death metal bands use is the voice needed to awaken the dead. Tonight I was going to witness a perturbed spectacle, an obvious oxymoron of musical and spiritual intrigue—a Christian death metal band (hardcore genre-ists, please forgive me if you feel I am generalizing the use...
“Is ok?” These were the first words from Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, who was clad in draping body wrap, a deep blue turban and the unlikely addition of a single cutaway Martin acoustic guitar. At this point the show had barely begun and the band had only completed two numbers with a stripped down accompaniment of an acoustic guitar, a muted electric rhythm guitar and a choked hand drum. Fans of Tinariwen’s recordings, a thirty-something crowd who filed in late to...
While I have to admit that my heterosexual crush on Damon Albarn failed to reach frightening proportions until I first heard The Good, The Bad and The Queen, I’ve always been a huge fan of his work with Blur and Gorillaz. His Britpop days with the former cemented him as a star in Europe; yet, it wasn’t until his work with latter (the animated band named after a couple of monkeys) that he garnered the widespread attention of Americans. Naturally,...
Check out a photo series from the performance at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco from November 17. More on Johnette Napolitano here: www.johnettenapolitano.com More on David J here: www.davidjonline.com More on The Minor Canon here: www.myspace.com/theminorcanon...
New York City's own Interpol will release Interpol Live, the band's first-ever official live recordings, today, exclusively through thinkindie.com. Thinkindie.com services independent music retailers with exclusive and rare items that are not available via major chain and big-box stores. The six-song Interpol Live EP features two tracks from the band's gold-certified 2002 debut Turn On the Bright Lights ("Obstacle 1," and "Stella Was a Diver And She Was Always Down") and four tracks from Interpol's current...
It has almost become de rigeur for Trent Reznor to release the content from his newest album of the moment to a bunch of DJs and producers, letting them have their way with it and then putting out the results—he's been doing it since Downward Spiral. There's no doubt that the results have been mixed too (Fixed was remarkably weak while Further Down the Spiral wasn't too bad, the Every Day is Exactly the Same EP was boring and so...
Apparently Ryan Adams & The Cardinals can’t get enough of the road and will be continuing their recent string of some of the best-reviewed performances of their career on a west coast tour this winter. These dates will start in mid-January and last through the end of the month. The west coast tour extends what has already been an immensely productive year for Ryan Adams & the Cardinals. In addition to their unanimously acclaimed new album Easy Tiger, the band...