Recent Articles
Shinedown CD review
Shinedown Us And Them (Atlantic) Whosever idea it was to begin metal albums with childrens voices doesn’t matter. It’s the copycats who deserve death.
Sevendust CD review
Sevendust Next (WineDark) Next finds Sevendust dealing with the departure of guitarist David Lowering, and standing still.
Ringworm CD review
Ringworm Justice Replaced By Revenge (Victory) Cleveland metal heroes find their favorite early-’90s Slayer and Pantera albums, mash away.
Propagandhi CD review
Propagandhi Potemkin City Limits (Fat Wreck Chords) Sometimes we remember the dumbest shit. Can’t recall the issue, but in the early ’90s, someone wrote to R.I.P. complaining Anthrax weren’t metal, but punk.
The Morning After Girls CD review
The Morning After Girls Prelude: EP’s 1 & 2 (Rainbow Quartz) Nirvana had a dreadful, dreadful effect on music.
I Am Ghost CD review
I Am Ghost We Are Always Searching (Epitaph) Of all the bands missing from the “For Fans Of” sticker on I Am Ghosts’ debut, one sticks out: Queensrÿche.
Living Things CD review
LIVING THINGS Ahead Of The Lions (Jive) Living Things very well may have recorded the best rock album of 2003. But outside of critics who received advances of Black Skies In Broad Daylight or those who may have gotten their hands on the import, few heard the album because the band’s then label, Dreamworks, dissolved, […]
Patti Smith CD review
Patti Smith Horses/Horses (Arista/Columbia/Legacy) “Jesus died for somebody’s sins/but not mine.” They tried to fuck with this seminal release a bit, but those are still the opening lines. Patti Smith was already a minor star when the New York punk bands were starting their revolution, but their macho credo remains hers, nonetheless. Deconstructing Them’s and […]
Let It Shine
What’s a beatnik?” My young friend Emily, a Medill senior, asked me recently. We were discussing Halloween costumes, and I mentioned that back in the late ’50s I loved to dress up as a beatnik on Halloween: tight black clothes, heavy black eyeliner, and long black hair (courtesy of my mother’s long black scarf). Beatniks […]
Hinge Goes West
In 1998 a young Kanye West and the group he was producing/rapping with, The Go Getters, booked time at Hinge Studios and worked with Craig Bauer, the studio’s engineer and owner. Bauer says the sessions were pretty run-of-the-mill — he remembers West and his crew being nice, decent, normal human beings.
Three Sides To Every Story
Getting a handle on any major rock band is at least as easy as herding cats. But that hasn’t stopped the production of books purporting to provide the “real story.” Three recent publications illustrate three very different ways of nabbing their elusive quarry. In Smoke On The Water: The Deep Purple Story (E.C.W.), Dave Thompson […]
Carpetbaggers & Nincompoops
Howard Stern‘s switch to Sirius satellite radio next year will leave his Infinity Broadcasting family of 27 stations high and dry (his last “free” radio show will air here December 16th on WCKG-FM 105.9). In New York and six other markets he’ll be replaced by diminutive former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth. Los Angeles […]
Around Hear
The rapid punk rock of After The Fight‘s debut LP, Basura Solamente, is a punchy, crisp set of 13 songs. “Video Tape Sex” and “Fool Me Twice” are more melodic than other tracks and showcase the band’s high frenzied energy the best. The dual vocals sound strained and out of tune at times, but ATF’s […]
Reggae Love
Americans have always had an odd relationship with reggae. In the ’70s, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Third World, and Jimmy Cliff won some attention but never much radio play, which generally means few album sales. Bob Marley managed to break through with digestible nuggets of rock and soul pushing through a cloud of raw reggae rhythms. […]
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