To air is divine: Unleash your inner rock god at the Fifth Annual U.S. Air Guitar Championships. The two-round competition lets you strut your stuff, and the winner will go on to the national finals in New York City, where he’ll have a chance to compete to be the world…
The indie-blues duo Two Gallants showcases complex and original folk ballads. The pair’s lyrics are at once confessional and cheeky (“If liquor’s a lover, you know I’m a whore”) and its songs are gritty, somber and (sometimes) uncomfortably sincere. New fans are often lured into its hypnotic live show by…
Hailing from Missouri but with strong ties to the Lawrence, Kansas, rock scene, Minus Story is highly influenced by Flaming Lips, living in a neo-psychedelic dream world that can be captivating and testing at the same time. My Ion Truss, the quartet’s beautifully erratic new disc, features the band’s unique…
Emo, goth and punk fans who don’t go for dance music may already know the Euro-duo VNV Nation: Multi-instrumentalist Ronan Harris manned the samplers on AFI’s smash LP Decemberunderground, while his thumping remix of “Miss Murder” caused a sensation in underground dance clubs. VNV (short for Victory Not Vengeance) has…
Apparently, breaking up helped Black Rebel Motorcyle Club more than it hurt. After losing drummer Nick Jago, remaining members Peter Hayes and Robert Been took an abrupt, well-received detour into acoustic-based folk on 2005’s Howl, which soon led to Jago’s return. The time apart must have worked some sort of…
Three shows, one week: Morrissey at the Palladium Man, except for the slight paunch, he really hasn’t changed. In fact, the paunch proves it: Morrissey wouldn’t be Morrissey if he were perched atop a Stairmaster. He zips professionally, if also in a somewhat detached manner, through a set of oldies…
It’s Midland, not Midlake: Dallas’ last best hope for a new breakout band is, arguably, Coachella veterans and nouveau hard rockers Fair to Midland, who release their new disc Fables from a Mayfly on June 12. The release party takes place that same night at the Curtain Club. Fables is…
Becky Stark’s last name seems ironically misplaced. The charismatic frontwoman of Los Angeles-based orchestral folk-pop outfit Lavender Diamond is the kind of entity who emanates rainbows whether she’s singing, speaking, dancing or just being. If her aura could be harnessed, it alone could light the Sunset Strip. In a time…
I’ve always thought Sage Francis was overrated, but I really started to dislike him after he spit on a friend of mine at a show in Albuquerque. Seriously—hawked a big one right in his face. Why is it the “conscious” MCs always end up being the biggest jerk-offs? At least…
While it may be true that Thomas Lorello took his Tommie Sunshine moniker from an orange tab of LSD, his lips haven’t parted for even a drop of the devil’s poison in years. But make no mistake, the man who can remix John Acquaviva and Fall Out Boy with equal…
Punk rock got me through high school. Not the quivering-lip brigade currently masquerading as punk under the emo banner, but the real deal: late ’70s British snot like the Pistols and the Clash and the American ’80s hard-core response in the likes of Minor Threat and Black Flag. This was…
For those too young to understand the goal of Ne-Yo’s sophomore album, the head of his label decided to make the point explicit. But when Jay-Z insists that on “Crazy,” Ne-Yo is a “young Michael [Jackson],” it sparks an interesting debate: Not only did no one seize Jacko’s pop throne…
Approaching his 68th birthday, Ian Hunter is still the consummate rock star. With his flowing, blond locks and those ever-present sunglasses, Hunter continues to be relevant nearly four decades since he sang “All the Young Dudes.” On his first studio release in six years, Hunter candidly explores the perils of…
Strength & Loyalty has some rough patches, but it’s also an archetype for what rap needs right now: talented rappers who lost the spotlight, fast rap, rapping about fast rap, giant thumping Swizz Beatz tracks, stupid Swizz Beatz hooks, Akon hooks, a stupid/awesome interpolation of Fleetwood Mac’s “Break the Chain,”…
Sleeved in simplistic candy-pink, Boom Bip’s Sacchrilege EP offers little in the way of easygoing ambient electronica. The California-based producer, born Bryan Hollon, drills straight for the dance floor on Sacchrilege with a smattering of worming synths and disco beats not unlike Skatebård’s, but his tendencies are hardly black and…
With her literal lyrics and minimal musicianship, Julie Doiron has often been considered a musical emperor wearing no clothes, which is odd, considering the endless love for Doiron’s old band Eric’s Trip, a droney folk-rock outfit that was the first of several ballsy Canadian signings for Sub Pop. And even…
With a refreshing slice of indie pop perfection, three of Austin’s sharpest young bands usher in a new wave of summer dormancy. Peel, in particular, has a penchant for turning urban boredom into distortion-driven ditties that always seem two seconds away from completely falling apart but never do. The slanted…
Two Cow Garage For the many folks, including me, who miss Slobberbone, this trio from Ohio could be just the alt-country fix you’ve been aching for. Featuring the tortured yowl of Micah Schabel and the lock-step, hayseed rhythm section of Dustin Harigle and Shane Sweeney, Two Cow Garage creates an…
Pasadena, California’s Ozma has come a long way since 1999’s Songs of Inaudible Trucks and Cars, their debut album released on homemade CD-Rs. Although the power pop quintet still maintains a new wave influence, it is now much less cartoonish. On Pasadena, the group’s latest release, the band no longer…
As the Police reunion tour motorcade slowly makes its way toward North Texas, seemingly lead not by a tour bus but by a giant bulldozer unapologetically scooping up millions of dollars, rock reunions and nostalgia concerts grow as ever more unavoidable precepts of music fandom. Everyone has gone all buck…
“A lot of what is played on country radio today is the same as what we were playing in the early ’70s,” says Rusty Young, singer, guitarist and founding member of Poco, one of the trailblazing groups in the genre of music that is now labeled roots or Americana. “Of…
We’re having a difficult time grasping the concept of a singer-songwriter coffee shop line-up putting up their dukes for the Thin White Duke. Frankly, this whole David Bowie Tribute Show over at Opening Bell Coffee from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. this Thursday gives us the shivers…and we don’t mean…
