Squarepusher (a.k.a. British electronica maverick Tom Jenkinson) led off his last album with “My Red Hot Car,” one of the catchiest and pop-hook-laden dance tunes of 2001. Following that moment of clarity, however, said disc, Go Plastic, dissolved into a synapse-melting pile of 200 mph breakbeats and cut-up noise that,…
Conor Oberst, the man who is Bright Eyes, does not aim small. Speaking about his most recent album, Lifted or The Story is in the Soil Keep Your Ear to the Ground, he touches on what he considers its overarching theme: “It’s sort of about…celebrating music and the love I…
The members of Phantom Planet have problems. It might not sound like it, but they do. Listen: The band’s second album, The Guest, has drawn kudos from critics, garnered national press attention and spawned one legit hit, “California.” Consequently, their label, Epic Records, is 100 percent behind them, as befits…
MC Slug, the voice of Minneapolis underground rap group Atmosphere, is a slippery cipher, a quagmire of contradictions. He says he’s ugly, but he’s got a bigger female following than any rapper this side of Nelly. As co-founder of the Rhyme Sayers collective, he’s committed to the DIY approach–for years…
Sure, Elvis Costello sounds crankier than he has in a while on When I Was Cruel, the fine new album he released in April. And, yeah, it features more of his own guitar playing than guest spots by respected string sections or fancy opera singers. Oh, and Burt Bacharach’s not…
“From my point of view, I was in this band that people considered so important, and people thought it really made a difference, and it touched so many people’s lives and changed the direction of popular culture. Now, that’s not necessarily how I look at it, but a lot of…
Even if it is part of your job description, we wouldn’t recommend going out nine nights in a row, and certainly wouldn’t suggest that liquor and cigarettes be involved for the duration. That said, we recently did just that, and though we sound (and, dear Lord, look) like Bea Arthur…
Tom Petty’s as pissed as a millionaire gets, meaning you’d best take this (ahem) concept album about rock-and-roll corruption with a grain of salt the size of Mike Campbell. What happens when this album, financed by a multinational, gets airplay? Will it be considered victory or surrender, ironic or just…
Remember earnest Pennsylvania Dutch Country rockers Live? Jason Wade does, and he’s built a career around the memory to prove it. On Stanley Climbfall, Wade’s band Lifehouse’s second album, he resurrects the idea, once championed by Live in songs with titles like “The Beauty of Gray,” that muscular alt-rock can…
Dubbed by TV Guide as the “best show you’re not watching,” the WB’s Gilmore Girls is also the best show you’re not listening to, judging by this comp that doubles as a primo mix tape that triples as a rock critic’s makeout collection (I know, gross). In other words, it’s…
Perhaps Tenacious D have done more harm than good. (If you’re not into micro-sized arena rock and “cock push-ups,” you’ve probably already reached this conclusion.) Sure, they’ve revivified the idea of intentional rock comedy at a time when goateed rap-metal front men are holding down the accidental department, and, yes,…
The well-known radio DJ Nic Harcourt’s daily Morning Becomes Eclectic show on Santa Monica, California’s KCRW is a good place to observe the effects of the Internet on popular alternative music. Harcourt gives lots of airtime to the types of bands that thrive on the word of mouth chat rooms…
The last time Wilco played in Dallas, the band was awful. That’s what singer-guitarist Jeff Tweedy is saying on the phone right now, groaning as he’s reminded of the ill-fated gig. He’s at home in Chicago, taking a couple of days off between tour stops, stealing a few moments with…
Funny how it all works out. “I remember when Beyoncé Knowles announced she was going to make a solo record, but Destiny’s Child was still gonna be a band,” Rhett Miller says on the phone from Los Angeles, where he’s lived off and on for the past few years. “I…
Jimi Goodwin didn’t get it, didn’t understand why he had to go to America. And usually, when Goodwin or anyone in his band, Doves, doesn’t get it, there isn’t much to get. Not for them, anyway. Sure, other British groups had done it, tempted fate and attempted to cross the…
The last time Josh Davis had lots of people he didn’t know talking and writing about him, he had just fomented what many of those people had decided would become a fundamental change in the way musicians make records. His debut album as DJ Shadow, 1996’s Endtroducing…, seemed to present…
Summers in Dallas are always hot. But to Todd Lewis, the summer of 2001 was downright hellish. He had unwillingly broken up his band, the Toadies, after a dozen years of lineup woes, record-company stifling and personal difficulties. Bummed out and burned out after a hastily assembled farewell tour, the…
Months before we got a copy of Rhett Miller’s second solo record, we heard from people in the know that it was, well, kinda boring. It’s not. Unless, of course, you’re referring to the album cover, which is like the happier answer to the photo that graces Andrew W.K.’s I…
So, did she jump, or was she pushed? Six years after singing herself “Blue,” the Garland gal goes where everyone’s gone before–Shania, Faith, Britney, Beyoncé, Christina–and returns with head and hands empty; if this doesn’t end her career, it’s only because audiences will buy anything, and Rimes has never been…
The new Apples in Stereo disc–aptly titled Velocity of Sound–is indeed a very fast record, much more dynamic and, believe it or not, loud, much more so than anything they’ve put out thus far. But it’s more than just uniformly high-pitched vocals pitted against roaring backgrounds. Of course, there’s a…
Martin Sexton is rare, not so much for his musicianship, for good musicians are a dime a dozen, but because he’s an old-fashioned performer–selling the audience not only with the music, but the passion and energy behind it. Perhaps it can be attributed to his naturally impetuous and rebellious nature,…
The roster of reckless rock-and-reefer rollers goes back to the days of cheap schwag and crude pipes made outta tinfoil; from Bloodrock to The Godz to Kyuss and Monster Magnet, tank-topped pothead freaks have operated under the radio radar for years. Queens of the Stone Age seem to have picked…
