Sometimes a band has to contend with fatigue or sickness or even technical difficulties during a show that might contribute to a particular performance. Of Montreal’s lead singer/guitarist and androgyny aficionado, Kevin Barnes, apologized for a slow start, saying, “I took too much last night and sometimes you have to balance it out,” as well as admitting they were “crowd surfing at a Shiny Toy Guns show at Sundance” the night before. Being the first night of a grueling 49-date...

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club will release their fourth album, Baby 81, on May 1st with 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 wash of guitars that made fans fall for the band in the first place. Baby 81, named after an infant admitted to the hospital in the wake of 2004’s tsunami who was claimed by...

Well, it was family affair night at the Silverlake Lounge when “It” band for 2007, Cold War Kids, teamed up with Matt Death and the New Intellectuals. Not only did the opening band consist of Cold War Kids’ producer and album photographer, Matt Death, but also David Maust, brother of Cold War Kids’ Matt Maust. Had they thrown in some barbecued chicken and a backyard, it would have felt like a down-home family reunion, because it sure as hell sounded...

Rare And Out-Of-Print Recordings Available Via Download Anthology Recordings has announced their first four digital only releases of 2007, which will be available for download on January 17 – Dom’s “Edge Of Time” (Ultimate meditative Psych from Germany circa 1970), Patrick Gleeson’s “Rainbow Delta” (Analog Synth pioneer), Abner Jay (The last great Southern black minstrel show) and Merrell Fankhauser (gently flowing, peaceful folk). All releases can be accessed at www.anthologyrecordings.com and...

(New York, NY) – As good years go, 2006 was a particularly good one for The Decemberists. Their Capitol Records debut, The Crane Wife, arrived to great acclaim, landing on numerous year-end “best of” lists including #1 slots at NPR, Paste and others; a U.S. tour went over like gangbusters from coast-to-coast; and a much-publicized guitar showdown with Stephen Colbert resulted in Dr. Henry Kissinger, Peter Frampton and Elliot Spitzer showing up in more Decemberists Google searches than ever before....

The classic Sebadoh line-up of Lou Barlow, Eric Gaffney and Jason Loewenstein has re-united and will tour the US for the first time in 14 years in the spring of 2007. Sebadoh began in 1987 as the solo project of Dinosaur Jr. bassist Lou Barlow, who quickly teamed up with kindred spirit Eric Gaffney.  Jason Loewenstein joined the band in 1989. The band's line-up changed quite frequently over the years, but the trio of Barlow / Gaffney / Loewenstein was...

Amidst the crumbling strip malls and donut huts of Santa Monica Boulevard, rests the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. With Paramount looming ominously across the street, the manicured lawns and stone mausoleums bask ‘neath sunny southern California skies and, during the summer months, become the setting for one of LA.’s most popular events: movie night at the cemetery! For those living outside of Los Angeles, you probably think this equals a gaggle of Cure-coiffed urchins, huddling next to a grave while watching...

Sexy! Sexy! Sexy! Knees down and rockin’, Peaches blew the top off the house tonight.One thing for certain is that the boys and the girls alike came out to play with Peaches and I think not one of those souls left disappointed.By nights end, I know more than one of the fellas had tossed his shirt to the stage and the dancing never stopped. When Peaches & Herms appeared on the darkly lit stage from behind the draping velvet curtains...

If turning something old into something new is what’s going on in music right now, then Toronto’s k-os is the man. His third record since 2003, and first for new label Virgin, clearly puts him as one of the most creative and talented musicians and producers in the game right now. The first track off 2007’s Atlantis: Hymns for Disco, “Electrik Heat – The Seekwill,” is yet another take on the “Funky Drummer” break, but there’s homage and a fresh...

“The original blueprint was to combine Carl Craig or early Warp records sounds with that of German groups like Kraftwerk and CAN,” explains David Best of UK’s newest innovation, Fujiya & Miyagi, about their 2007 release Transparent Things. “I like the fact that we can incorporate different styles into our music and it hopefully still sounds like us.” From the first note on “Ankle Injuries,” your ears perk up like when you’re driving down the freeway and you hear a...