All Entries in the "Featured" Category
North Coast Music Festival preview!
Between the reoccurring titans (Lollapalooza, Pitchfork) of the multi-day fests and the up-and-comers (Metronome), the scope of live music outdoors this summer was immense. Yet the brand new North Coast Music Festival, headlined by Nas and Damian Marley, is out to prove there’s a void to be filled on this crowded scene.
Cover Story: Kiss
Mt. Rushmore, Disneyland . . . And Kiss?
This is no place for modesty. Kiss drummer Eric Singer describes the band as a piece of Americana, like Universal Studios or Disneyland. “Whether it’s going to Mount Rushmore or Yellowstone Park or the Statue Of Liberty, I say Kiss is one of the Wonders Of The World. [...]
Menomena interview
Three’s Company
Justin Harris would like to take this moment to clarify some things about his band. The shorthand on the new Menomena record, Mines (Barsuk), concerns an outfit on the brink – three men at the end of their respective ropes with each other and the tense batch of songs documenting the turmoil. Harris more or [...]
Goo Goo Dolls interview
Up Off The ‘Mats
For some reason – and he’s not sure why, exactly – John Rzeznik houses every last award he’s won with his barnstorming Buffalo outfit The Goo Goo Dolls in a trophy case located in his kitchen. And after 24 years and nine albums together, the man has assembled quite a collection – [...]
Xavier Rudd & Izintaba interview
And Then There Were Three
Call Australia’s Xavier Rudd the thinking man’s Jeff Spicoli. With a blonde mop of tousled hair he certainly looks the part, but underneath the hippie-dippy prose and a near spiritual devotion to surfing lies a soul attuned to the still waters than run deeply through the Aboriginal culture of his homeland [...]
7th Heaven interview
25 years, 700 songs
Richie Hoffher has sacrificed for his band. “Man, I lived with my parents ’til I was 35.” In between those rare nights sleeping in his own bed, Hoffher, the co-founder/guitarist, reinvested nearly every dollar he earned back into his band, 7th Heaven, playing over 250 gigs a year, sleeping on friends’ floors, [...]
Hello, My Name Is Jeff
Q&A with Jeff Daniels
IE: Your musical ambitions seem pretty friendly and harmless.
Jeff Daniels: I’m not trying to hurt anybody.
First impressions: The new Weezer album
Hurley doesn’t arrive for another couple weeks (Sept. 14th), but Epitaph Records, Weezer’s new indie-label home, gave critics a sneak preview today.
Camu Tao reviewed
Late hip-hop artist Camu Tao had his hand in enough collaborative projects over the years (Nighthawks with Cage, Central Services with El-P, etc.) that most heads never viewed him as a soloist.
Stereo Total preview
It’s either the mark of insanity or artistry that once people get a sense of what you’re about and move on that you keep on going with it anyway.
Tub Ring preview
The Internet invites laziness but also makes life harder for procrasinators. Answers to problems (how to get that funk off the stove top, your dentist’s phone number) are a search engine away. And then there’s music.
Chicago’s Finest Hour preview
High ticket prices raise expectation levels regarding set lengths, not just at the arena level. But nothing really beats the 45-minute set.
Lou Barlow goes back to mom and dad’s
Catastrophe would have struck had J. Mascis not banished Lou Barlow from Dinosaur Jr. Infuriated, Barlow focused his Sentridoh side-gig and began to foment what would become Sebadoh and ostensibly Folk Implosion.
Midweek bliss
Dan Mangan and Ray LaMontagne are here this week, and neither’s particularily ready to let you into his singer/songwritin’ heart.
Katy Perry reviewed!
Katy Perry’s bound to strike it rich with Teenage Dream (Capitol), since she can sell at least one of the tracks to NBC.
