Speedealer has endured its share of hassles, legal and otherwise. First was the cease and desist order, then, the bankruptcy. And tonight, lead singer and guitarist Jeff Hirshberg is trying to shake some unpleasant bug he awoke with this morning, plus the cell phone keeps cutting out. But the band…
It sure sounds like a good band on paper: A slightly obsessive-compulsive songwriter named Billy with a shaved head and lots of famous musician pals. A singer (also bald) from a dark, foreboding, prog-metal band with a huge underground following that hasn’t released a record in four years. A guitarist…
When Prize Money releases its new CD, All Eyes On the Prize, on September 19, it will mark a new beginning for both the band and one of the labels helping to release the disc, etherStream. Prize Money is essentially a retooled and recharged version of Slowpoke, back in business…
The cynic won’t care, the skeptic won’t understand, and the true believer will be overwhelmed: Nearly 30 years to the day of Jimi Hendrix’s death, here come 56 more unreleased-unavailable-unattainable tracks from a man more prolific in death than in life. Three studio albums before his death, 300 or so…
The thing I like about the Dave Matthews Band is the same thing I like about Phish and Korn and Aimee Mann and Fugazi: the grass roots, baby. These are guys that have built their fame from the ground, strategically and tirelessly touring for years, low on cash but high…
In the modern world, most reasonable people tend to choose lifestyles and opinions based in temperance–you know, tolerance, equality, and all that. You do, however, have your exceptions: For instance, the religious fanatics like the Branch Davidians, who exiled themselves from society and holed up in their compound near Waco…
Re-emerging after a seven-year hiatus, Sutherland, England’s Leatherface, has taken a less political stance on Horsebox; the fist-pumping personal protests match the whiskey-and-gravel vocals of lead singer Frankie Stubbs with the emotional muscle of his often poetic musings. Like the best oi! bands of old and unlike what usually passes…
After a decade knocking around in relative anonymity with the indie in-crowd, Stephin Merritt lately has joined the ranks of pop music’s Who’s Who. The superlatives garnered by his band the Magnetic Fields’ one-of-a-kind, three-CD musical revue, 69 Love Songs, have turned him into something of an alterna-celebrity. For his…
FastballI suspect that the first time Fastball assembled itself in one of its three members’ garages, the sparks flew. It’s a cinch to see the guys knocking back a couple of cold ones toward the end of a particularly stifling Austin scorcher while the Replacements and Elvis Costello and Big…
The least surprising thing about Curt Kirkwood’s new venture is that it’s based in Austin. There’s more to it than the fact that his new bandmates were based here. And it’s not, as drummer and new bandmate Shandon Sahm, quips, “because Texas has barbecues and death penalties.” Phoenix was no…
Tom Paxton doesn’t like to look back too long, for fear of turning to dust that disappears with the slightest gust of hot air. It is OK to glance backwards every so often, he says, but do not stare. Still, for an hour in late August, Paxton is only too…
God only knows what anyone loafing around Arlington, Virginia-based Inner Ear Studios thought upon hearing playbacks of Jets to Brazil’s just-released second album, Four Cornered Night. Recording home to bands such as Fugazi, Bluetip, the defunct Jawbox (whose former frontman, J. Robbins, has produced both Jets to Brazil discs), and…
Har Mar SuperstarHar Mar Superstar(Kill Rock Stars)Sean Na NaDance Until Your Baby Is A Man(Troubleman Unlimited)Never let it be said that St. Paul, Minnesota, ain’t got no soul. If there’s any doubt as to whether the R&B underground is thriving in the northern climes, the brothers Tillman have stepped up…
Lucy Pearl How long before Lucy Pearl’s self-titled debut reminds you its members–Raphael Saadiq, Dawn Robinson, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad–made their names with other bands, specifically and respectively, Tony Toni Toné, En Vogue, and A Tribe Called Quest? Oh, about two seconds. As his guitar noodles along “Lucy Pearl’s Way,”…
Weezer The point of previews like this, if there is one, is to give readers a chance to become listeners, maybe convince someone to go to a show they hadn’t considered, or warn them away from one, perhaps. That’s what they tell me, anyway: I always thought they were for…
After countless bass players, a few guitar players, a handful of name changes, more tattoos than most cell blocks, and at least a couple of years teetering on the brink, Darlington is no more. Stevey Stress (also known as Steve Visneau) and Brigitte Darlington (no telling what he’ll also be…
LaikaGood Looking Blues(Too Pure)Laika is the black-clad goth girl you sat next to in high school geometry. She scribbles poetry on the soles of her concert-worn combat boots. Black nail polish is never absent from her unkempt, nibbled nails. She wears a nose ring on the weekends. She’s slightly pretentious,…
In three weeks, the Black Heart Procession finishes the solo leg of their U.S. tour and hooks up with Man or Astro-Man? for a series of dates in the Northwest and along the East Coast. Man or Astro-Man?, as you might be aware, plays manic, intergalactic surf music, Dick Dale-on-crank…
The scene outside the Spotlight Lounge in Baden (just outside of St. Louis) was insane, nearly riotous. Inside, a couple thousand people were crammed together, waiting for the music to start. Outside, two lines held another thousand or so people. But the staff wasn’t letting anyone else in. In the…
It’s mid-morning and guitarist Charlie Hunter sounds surprised as he picks up the phone and cuts off his answering machine, which beat him to the punch. “I didn’t even hear the phone ring; I’m going to have to fire my phone,” Hunter says with a laugh, speaking from his apartment…
Watcha Tour In its second season, Watcha Tour comes back to remind us that Ricky Martin is not the sole face of Latin music, nor are Los Tigres Del Norte or Tierra. (Do people actually think Mexican kids listen to these guys?) While one concert tour can do only so…
From the musicians that brought you Weener (two of them, at least) comes Bluh, a band dedicated to the music of Blur. Well, that’s what we think it’s called, anyway; it was late, we’d bellied up to the bar a few too many times, and we have ears worse than…
