For being one of my favorite bands, I really don't post deftones stuff that much. Part of the reason is that they don't release new material that often, and the other part sadly is that bassist Chi Cheng has been in a coma for about a year now after being in a bad car accident. Apparently he is out of serious condition though and has been able to walk around, but that is not confirmed. After releasing several amazing nu-metal albums in the '90s and 2000's (and facing a near break-up in 2005), the deftones veered towards a [...]
My very good friend Randy Fuller has a really cool blog that is not about rock and roll. It's about wine, but he wrote an excellent piece recently on rock and roll wines. Actually, it's about good wine in bottles with rock and roll labels - Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon is there, so are the Rolling Stones, and even a Woodstock poster bottle. As I said, very cool, and you can read it here . I've known Randy for many years now, we went [...]
Back in 1997 Anthony Lovett and Matt Maranian wrote and published what eventually became my favorite Los Angeles guidebook. That book's name was (and is) LA Bizarro . A few years ago on this website I talked to Matt about the original book's undertaking ( fun interview with Matt here ). Since that time the two authors have now revised, updated and significantly expanded that original tome, and their collective output was published by Chronicle Books just this fall. In the 2009 updated edition of LA Bizarro (available at the time of this [...]
A Classic Education A Classic Education are a six-piece band from Bologna, Italy whose epic melodramas seem to attracting much attention. They played Indietracks in 2008 and are frequent visitors to London and further afield. Following a trip to CMJ in New York in October, they're back in the UK this month: they play at the Lexington on 26 November and the Buffalo Bar the following night. They have released two records: an [...]
By Carrie Brownstein And it's naptime. ( courtesy of The Patton Veterinary Hospital ) It's hard to believe that we've reached the end. For the past two weeks, all of us -- the NPR Music Team, a handful of outside contributors and myself -- have explored the last 10 years in music. Did we cover [...]
Artist: Aerosmith Album: Toys in the Attic Release Date: April 8, 1975 I've been looking for a way into the ongoing mess that has been Aerosmith these past few weeks, and everything I've read and heard about it has held this album up on a pedestal, so here we are. My generation has a bit of a tainted view of Aerosmith. The biggest things they've done in the two decades I've been alive are the commerical juggernaut of Get A Grip and [...]
Oprah Winfrey announced on today's show that 2011 will be the last year of the Oprah Winfrey Show. It will be the 25th year of the show, but Oprah has other endeavors on her mind like a new talk show on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. I also assume that " O Magazine" will continue to produce more issues of Oprah on the cover. It is a shock that she's somewhat retiring, but the talk show host is worth over $2 billion. I think she'll be fine and ratings have slipped seven percent from [...]
New York thrashers Castrofate have issued the following recording update: "Hey everyone, just an update on what's going on, we'll be in Florida tomorrow working with James Murphy in pre-production for the new album. The focus right now is doing this record which is pretty much costing everything the band has right now, so we've had to put off pl... Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com
By Jace Clayton, a.k.a. DJ /rupture Jace Clayton, a.k.a. DJ /rupture ( Stefano Giovaninni ) A new mix album of mine was released this week. I'm told it is in stores, Google reveals sites in Romania and the Netherlands who've pirated it already, and you can purchase it online, legally, in a variety of digital formats. [...]
Dancing in a Minefield - Plushgun There's a grand tradition of sleek electro-pop with a slightly overwrought sense of the emotional that was re-popularized by The Postal Service in the early part of the decade, but really has its roots back in the 80s. Plushgun is yet another fine entry into that tradition. When everything works on their debut Pins and Panzers , you get delightful, airy, energetic pop hooks and a sense of good feeling about the world at large. By far the best example is the [...]
Friday! Quick-hit thoughts of the week! QUICK-HIT THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK! 1. Whatever Brains - Gross Urge (mp3) ( buy ) BAM! Whatever Brains ( myspace ) is a Raleigh, North Carolina band called WHATEVER BRAINS. That automatically qualifies them to be AWESOME, but this song - along with a lot of the rest of their Trim-Jeans and/or Gross Urge Plus Ten CD-R - qualifies them to be DOUBLE AWESOME. I'm more comfortable thinking of them as traditional lo-fi punk than as [...]
If you like punk, and you live in L.A., Headline Records is the place to go to. When I have friends from out of town, I make a point to drive down to Melrose. Jean-Luc has seen the scene grow from an international standpoint. And if you have a chance, listen to him talk. Like with Curtis from TAANG, when I'm in Headline, I'm just a student in this punk game. 1. When did you start Headline Records, and what gave you the idea [...]
Billy Jam says: New Jersey explorer, writer, photographer, filmmaker, welder, artist, skateboarder, avid Passaic River canoe traveler, graffiti lover, urban anthropologist, prankster, high school dropout, WFMU listener, Weird NJ contributor, and as he calls himself "run of the mill trespasser" are all titles befitting Wheeler Antabanez who will be a guest on WFMU today (Nov 20th 3-6pm) on Put The Needle On The Record when he will talk about his passion - New Jersey, especially the rundown abandoned funky parts - and take phone calls from listeners on exploring the abandoned buildings of [...]
Friday Five : \ˈfrī-(ˌ)dā,-dē ˈfīv\ : On the sixth day of every week I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn't. Sometimes we have guest, but most of the time it's just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The Five : Foo [...]
Story by Adam Daniels Photography by Dorothy Hong "Do you need a drink?"
"Yes, I need four double whiskeys and four PBRs." It was Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's record release show at Williamsburg's Union Pool, and while he was among a roomful of friends, he was not at ease. Robinson's former fiancé obliged the request, assuming it was on behalf of the entire band. This was not the case. Robinson wasn't a household name in indie rock at the time. But he had a lot of the pieces in place [...]
Having my blog has introduced me to tons of bands. Sometimes if I am lucky enough, I have been able to become friends with members of bands. It is like a dream come true to chat it out with real artists!! One band that I have stayed in close contact with is Local Natives . I have been addicted to their beautiful tunes every since I received my first email about them. It's all history since then! I couldn't just be there friend though; it was time to do some professional blogging! Matt Frazier, the drummer of [...]
Beck - "Harry Partch" ; The history of the musical feud dates back centuries probably, but in the last few decades it has really been the bearer of some terrific music at the hands of the hated on. This week Beck responded to all this Matt Friedberger (of The Fiery Furnaces) vs. Radiohead vs. Himself controversy with a song dedicated to late composer Harry Partch. Now that's not the same Harry Patch that Radiohead dedicated a song to. This little tune featuring snippets from Fiery Furnaces' songs and Partch's own composition structure really takes Friedberger to town. To [...]
I'm almost afraid to publish this, since I know I'll get all kinds of grief about it. Before you comment on what a dope I am for omitting Graduation/Fishscale/Speakerbo xxx/etc., please read the title of this post again. Only independent releases were considered. But this did include street albums and mixtapes. Another point: I debated whether to segregate out rap records, and decided to do so only because I haven't seen too many bloggers writing decade-rap lists, so I thought this might help fill a void. Okay, now you can tell me how little [...]
Jasmine Solano - "Coco Puff" Jasmine Solano - "That's Not It" "..Punanny, Electric" that is, NYC party promoting connoisseur, poly-rhythmic femcee, phenomenal, crazy dope DJ, producer of illyness - Jasmine Solano. Her resume makes you want to sign up for the next Boston marathon, if only to not feel like the fckin slacker you can be. *** AS: Of these few characters, which do you feel best represent an intelligent, fly, no nonsense, fun loving, down-ass, lady; Cat Woman, Olive Oyl, Wonder Woman, Storm or Betty Boop? Why? [...]
The summer of 2003 was a hot one in eastern Washington, and my concrete bunker of an apartment contained the heat like no other. Granted, the above image wasn't shot by yours truly until 2004, but it sure seemed hot enough to ignite even the least combustible of items. I wrapped up my undergraduate that December, which was cold as Antarctica, and upon that milestone I moved to Seattle. It was a good year for the Northwest; many of my favorite albums came from Seattle labels like Sub Pop and Barsuk. As for the list, I've [...]
Vampire Weekend - Cousins
Bobby B's Top 50 Albums Of The Decade (#25-21)
Tila Tequila NSFW UStream Freak Out (Video)
HOT CHIP TAKE another crack at IT and I’m IN
