i was one of the lucky 50,000 or so who got to see nirvana's second performance at the reading festival in 1992. it was my first visit, just for the day, and i'll never forget bouncing up and down with everyone else to "in bloom" trying to save my reading fest poster from getting crushed while clutching a plastic bag containing this great indie compilation cd. put together by melody maker, it's a pretty good survey of the early 90s indie scene with a good smattering of bands demonstrating the scene's inherent quirkiness. so i'm glad it didn't [...]
The Courier Journal profiled uber-engineer, critic, musician, analog-man-in-a-digital-world Steve Albini in today's paper. Albini was the guy behind the equipment on seminal albums like the Pixies Surfer Rosa and Nirvana's In Utero . Albini has been one of the most outspoken critics of how music is run these days: That way of doing things is dead and gone, and they haven't adapted even in the slightest. The big record labels are doomed, and the mainstream music industry is collapsing. I actually find it quite gratifying to see that this is a [...]
Filed under: News , New Music , Exclusive Any album with a title that openly mocks President Obama needs a cover that's equally subversive, and Jello Biafra 's artwork for 'The Audacity of Hype' certainly delivers. The former Dead Kennedys frontman opted for a version of Shepard Fairey's famous "HOPE" picture and replace Obama's image with a demonic version of himself, fangs and horns included . Rather than just get an artist to spoof the picture like so many others have done, Biafra went to [...]
Today (Nov. 20) appears to be the day when bands prematurely discuss a forthcoming album. The Arctic Monkeys are already discussing their fourth record, and now Them Crooked Vultures, whose debut is not even a month old, have been talking about their second release. "I felt we've only just started to pick up steam. Why would we want to stop now?" said Josh Homme in an interview with British tabloid the Sun. Bass player John Paul Jones agrees with the Queens of the Stone Age singer. "We all know we have so [...]
it's hard to call Them Crooked Vultures anything other than a supergroup (the line-up features ex- Nirvana and Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl , Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones , and Josh Homme of Q ueens of the Stone Age ). to be honest, we must say that the trio gel in a way most supergroups don't, it all crunches vigorously along, and the kind of irredeemable character who talks approvingly about a guitarist's "licks" will love it. it's more that it's superfluous: it doesn't make you long [...]
Through the technological wonder and infinite time-sink that is Facebook, I've had the fun of reconnecting with gobs of old friends from college, high school, heck, even grade school; and part of that fun is seeing how many of my friends still maintain their youthful passion for music, no matter what kind. Jeff is off and running to see King Khan in the City, Diana is posting early morning videos of Alan Parsons, Dave has a Kiwi-American hybrid playlist. It's all good. More recently, I'd learned that an old middle-school friend and I developed into musical soul [...]
I dunno, what do you think? Is it tacky for Sub Pop owner Bruce Pavitt to have his wife selling the test pressing for the new Nirvana Bleach reissue on Ebay? Before it's even come out? Seems like if you were the label owner, you could make say 100 test pressings and make a lot of money selling them... hmmm. Regardless, Jyoti Pavitt is doing just that right now on Ebay . Closing in 20 minutes and already past a grand... for new vinyl that we don't yet know is very rare. Update: It actually [...]
Déjà, quand on recherche "Girls" sur Internet, c'est pas gagné. Mais pour compliquer encore plus les choses, ils se sont dit qu'ils allaient appeler l'album " Album ". Ils ont certainement pris conseil sur Women qui avaient appelé leur album... "Women" l'an dernier. Quand bien même, cela ne les a pas empêché de se faire connaître, de faire partie de la "hype" et d'être aujourd'hui l'une des sensations de l'année. Aux commandes de ce groupe : un gars bizarre avec des cheveux longs, qui porte des t-shirts de Nirvana et Suede, ancien membre d'une secte à [...]
To celebrate its seventh birthday, Paper Bag Records has combined two of our favorite things in music: covers and free stuff. The Seven Year Itch, as Stereogum reports, is a new compilation of cover songs performed by twelve of label's artists, and can be obtained right this very second for free. Just click here . Launched in 2002, Paper Bag Records has emerged as one of he premier indie labels, and for good reason. In its first year, the label released the critically acclaimed You Forgot It In People [...]
I first saw Haley Bonar opening for Andrew Bird at the High Noon Saloon in 2006 . I was hooked and have since lost count of how many times I've played her fabulous album, Lure the Fox . Since then, Madison has been fortunate to have Haley return on many occasions, most recently behind her equally great album, Big Star . Haley Bonar returns to the High Noon Saloon for a $10 show on Friday, November 20th . [...]
Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone. Not every secret is bad though, because sometimes they're more welcome surprises than hurtful disappointments. So when word of a supergroup called Them Crooked Vultures emerged this fall, I approached the situation with every bit of wariness you might expect. That being I heard they were playing their first ever secret show in Chicago immediately after Lollapalooza, and I scrambled to purchase tickets. The trio of Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters/Nirvana) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) was a rock and roll grouping seemingly made [...]
Bleach turns 20, we feel old.
Ben Walpole wishes he were British, fronting Pulp in 1995. Patrick Helmes wishes he were playing lead for Megadeth in 1988. But cruel fate has instead placed them both in the Minor Leagues , playing insidiously catchy indiepop for most of the last decade from their Cincinnati, Ohio homebase. It's truly amazing how much the members contrast but at the same time how much they work together to create absolutely fabulous pop music. These guys are so hyper active and perky that their songs are by far more cheery then either of their [...]
Nirvana co-founder and bassist Krist Novoselic had some nice things to say about his former band mate Dave Grohl yesterday in his column on Seattle Weekly 's website. After reading a profile on Grohl in Sunday's New York Times , Novoselic came to the following conclusion: Dave Grohl is the greatest rock musician in the world today. Don't believe me? The man is dominating November music releases. Here we go: Nirvana 's Reading DVD, Foo Fighters ' Greatest Hits , and new [...]
Since breaking onto the scene in 2000, The Starting Line has relentlessly touted and toured their infectious brand of pop punk around North America, until the announcement of their hiatus, slash, break-up, slash, need to spend some time apart, in 2008. As either a going away present to a very loyal fan base, or a hint that this is one of those, not permanent type break ups, TSL has offered up Sombody's Gonna Miss Us, a live concert CD/DVD recorded at their very "last" show at the 2008 Bamboozle Fest. Live albums can be hit [...]
By Michaelangelo Matos Indie isn't a genre any more than alternative was, but it denotes something important about the music in its tent -- where it came from, where it might go. ( iStockPhoto ) In a sense, the word "indie" crept up on the '00s. It didn't stage a hostile takeover on American rock fans [...]
I'm gearing up to see Devo on Friday and have been revisiting the classic era of synth-punk, a genre the band had very much to do with pioneering during their earlier years. The genre combines the intense, guitar-driven fury of punk rock with often sloppy and simplistic synth mashing. Though the instrumentation may be the same, synth-punk has little in common with new wave, the fluffier, more pop-driven counterpart. Synth-punk was often gritty, poorly recorded, nasty, and powerful as sin. With that in mind, let's touch upon a few genre classics, both new and old. [...]
by BBG On Sunday at Le Poisson Rouge, Shrinebuilder played an overwhelming show -- almost meditatively focused, one whose afterimage is likely to stay with those who saw it. It's a band of willful musicians in their 40s from around the country who have given their adult lives to slow-and-heavy music: Scott Kelly of Neurosis, Scott Weinrich of the Obsessed and Saint Vitus, Al Cisneros of Om and Dale Crover of the Melvins. Shrinebuilder is as loosely based in doom-metal as Krallice is in black-metal: it [...]
Unlike the book signing I went to a few weeks back with Iggy Pop , Grunge was an era that looking back totally changed my life. I am sure I am not alone. The entire movement itself made me aware that other music was out there that the main stream media wasn't telling me about. It made me dig deeper then what MTV and my alternative radio station were playing. The beauty of it is that it was still a time when MTV was playing videos, and Clear Channel didn't own the air waves. Now, I was young [...]
Filed under: Exclusive , New Music , Canada They may have been born and raised on Canada's East Coast, but the Trews may not have found their maritime pop-rock sound if they hadn't spent two years living in the Caribbean. Colin and John-Angus MacDonald, the band's singer and lead guitarist, spent the majority of their formative years in the tiny town of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, about 200 kilometres outside of Halifax. But when their father moved their family to the Caribbean -- settling in Jamaica and [...]
new music from vampire weekend – cousins + music video
Friday Five: Surf Songs
No Curve Allowed (Grading This Week's New Tracks)
HOT CHIP TAKE another crack at IT and I’m IN
