Old Time Relijun subscribes to three basic tenets of life: Eat, drink, fuck. Bred in Olympia, Washington, the band carries a sound that is both primal and urgent — as if barnyard animals were rioting through an uppity art college. The three-piece, fronted by the enigmatic vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Arrington…
Jof Owen and Pete Hobbs, two of the Least Likely performers in modern pop, are either completely lacking in cynicism or simply better than the average person at hiding it. Their current full-length, The Best Party Ever, available on the Too Young to Die imprint, begins with a song whose…
Conceived while insanely prolific Warren Defever played guitar for shockabilly outfit Elvis Hitler circa 1989, His Name Is Alive embodies ambitious experimental dream pop infused with acoustic folk, dub-deranged gospel and funkified electro-jazz. “Like dating a star-crossed werewolf behind your parents’ back,” the Livonia, Michigan-based outfit’s website declares — though…
Sugar and spice and indie-pop-star potential, that’s what these little girls are made of — emphasis on girls. Smoosh is a Disney exec’s cha-ching dream of wholesome ‘tween entertainment. Made up of the singly named (how rock star) sisters Asya and Chloe, the duo plays cute keyboard-and-drums pop that rings…
True story: I never used to use profanity. It made me uncomfortable, and every time I tried to utter “shitassdickface,” it just came out an awkward mess of syllables that weighed the same on the grace scale as June Cleaver dropping a “fo’ shizzle.” But like a straight-edge kid selling…
London’s Eddie Halliwell is one of house music’s fastest rising stars. Even though he’s only been spinning a relatively short period of time, Halliwell’s technical ability has enabled him to carve out a unique place for himself among the U.K.’s elite. He first started deejaying at the age of fifteen;…
Kick out the jams, motherfucker. But stay away from cliches, and do it somewhere other than downtown — somewhere like Swimclub 32 (3628 West 32nd Avenue), which recently added live music provided by both DJs and bands Mondays through Thursdays and Saturdays. (Fridays are reserved for the owners’ own twelve-inch…
Jared Leto has been fasting for four days. Except for water, fresh lemon and cayenne pepper, he expects to eat nothing anytime soon. This isn’t one of those trendy Los Angeles diets, though. The actor, who has appeared in such films as Requiem for a Dream and Fight Club, is…
After a somewhat unremarkable debut EP, produced by Spoon’s Britt Daniels, the five men of Austin’s I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness returned to the clubs and basements that spawned them, searching for their secret selves. Along the way, they stumbled upon longtime Ministry collaborator and fan of all…
Why the hell did ’70s superstar Todd Rundgren agree to lead a faux reunion of the Cars dubbed the New Cars? According to him, even some of his most fervent followers have been asking similar questions — although he admits, “I haven’t actually indulged myself in reviewing all of the…
Take a mental Polaroid of Murder by Death; what will you see? Pretty-boy metal-heads with black-painted fingernails? Starving rockers with welts under their eyes? You just may be surprised by what develops: namely, three guys in button-up shirts and a girl armed with a cello. The Bloomington, Indiana, quartet composes…
When a reviewer cites a band’s “maturity,” it frequently means the group has exchanged spontaneity and freshness for calculation and predictability. That’s certainly the case with the Peppers, whose latest has generated raves from easily pleased scribes even though it’s basically two discs’ worth of been-there-done-that-better-in-the-past. Stadium features loads o’…
Considering that it’s been fifteen years since his last record of consequence, Paul Simon is certainly due for a comeback. With Brian Eno on the knobs and the world at war — the inspiration for Simon’s most acute writing — the venerable songwriter seems poised to offer this generation’s “Sounds…
If you thought that the Stills were initially lumped into the same scene as Interpol and the Walkmen because of timing rather than musical similarities, the quintet cements that notion on Without Feathers. More Radiohead than Rapture, Feathers finds the Montreal band more interested in creating expansive soundscapes than in…
They say rock is dead — but so is Tupac, and that hasn’t stopped him from continuing to chart on Billboard. On occasion, yes, rock’s inappropriate cousin shows up and pisses all over the genre (let’s call him Scott Stapp). But face it: Every family has a douchebag. Cut the…
On 5 Sparrows for 2 Cents — their second album and debut for the newly relaunched Rawkus Records imprint — the Procussions have pretty much moved on from their golden age of hip-hop sound. This time out, Stro’s production is much more progressive, rhythmic and melodic, though the influence of…
Last month in this space, Zachary “Status” Young was lauded for the inventive production heard on his new CD, Things to Do in Denver When You’re Def…The same compliment is applicable to Thru My Eyez, which Status produced and helped mix. But equal praise should be offered to Azma Holiday,…
Anathallo, Floating World (Nettwerk). Floating World, the latest by Michigan septet Anathallo, may be the rarest of all musical rarities — a truly unique album. Steeped in disenchanted Japanese fables, World inhabits the seemingly non-existent soundscape between worldbeat, chamber pop and choral rock. The result is orchestrated musical mayhem that…
It’s been seven years since Ice Cube released a solo album and even longer since he’s been on tour by himself. But with his Westside Connection lying in the hip-hop graveyard, his hunger to get back on the mike was fueled, and Cube took off an entire year from Hollywood…
Summer’s upon us, finals are over, school is out. It’s bike weather and bare ankles as far as the eye can see. Swim trunks and park picnics, making trouble like teenagers in haste — it all makes for a motion-picture soundtrack, and Fifth Hour Hero is the feel-good hit of…
Charlie Musselwhite’s rural innocence and Anglo complexion made him an anomaly when he left Memphis at eighteen to educate himself at the foot of Chicago blues legends Junior Wells, James Cotton, Big Walter “Shakey” Horton and Little Walter. But within four years, the harp-blowing prodigy had not only befriended and…
Few of the original punk-rockers remain as cantankerous and contrary as they were during their initial infamy. But Mark E. Smith, who’s been wailing for the Fall since the group’s birth in 1977-era Manchester, England, isn’t about to go soft. Take Fall Heads Roll, issued by Narnack Records last October…
