Features
Best Of Around Hear
Each January, we dedicate “Around Hear” to those low-profile local artists who are our favorites from the passing year — the results of our staff and freelancers combing clubs and stacks of CDs for more than the booze and adulation we normally receive. This is by no means an attempt to make a definitive guide […]
Cover Story: Depeche Mode
Sick Sense Of Humor Gargantuan techno/goth trio Depeche Mode has just released its 11th studio set, Playing The Angel on Sire/Reprise, possibly its darkest work since the mid-’80s masterpieces Black Celebration and Music For The Masses. And apparently, the album instantly reunited the group’s spooky faithful following — it debuted at number one in 10 […]
Dylan At The Movies
Behind The Bob Dylan Documentary It had all the elements of Bob Dylan’s 115th dream: Hollywood A, B, and C-list stars (from Leonardo DiCaprio to Bob Sagett) mingling over free popcorn and Diet Pepsi with rock ‘n’ roll’s most enigmatic superstars (Tom Waits, Roger Waters, Elvis Costello). Off in various corners of the theater lobby, […]
The Band Revisited
And The Band Played On Usually artists are long dead and have gone onto some mythological hierarchy in music history before they get the sort of acclaim (and downright adulation) that The Band has continuously received throughout its long and dramatic career. Emerging in 1958 from the dingy R&B and rock clubs of Canada as […]
Isaac Hayes
Soul On Fire Saying it gave him the chance to increase his visibility from “six to 96,” Isaac Hayes doesn’t at all shy away from his reincarnation as the libidinous Chef, on the animated series “South Park.” At the same time, it’s slightly discomforting someone so integral to the evolution of pop music, specifically R&B, […]
Hawthorne Heights
Victory Is Ours When Hawthorne Heights drummer Eron Bucciarelli admits touring is starting to take its toll on him, you can’t help but sympathize. After all, since his band released its Victory Records debut, The Silence In Black And White, in June 2004, free time has been scarce. That year the band had about four […]
Super Furry Animals
SpongeBob-A-Lu-Bop It seems unthinkable in 2005, but by the time Pink Floyd released Dark Side Of The Moon, the disc that made them international superstars and rock legends, the band had eight albums to their credit and a career that had already spanned nine years. Although theirs is a singular tale, in the late ’60s […]
Broken Social Scene
Superconected Given all the means through which one can communicate these days — land lines, cell phones, faxes, email — you’d think reaching one another would be a simple task. Not so it seems, as the actual act of connecting is quickly becoming an elusive art. For Broken Social Scene, a collective comprising some 17 […]
Calexico Vs. Iron & Wine
The Quiet Men Calexico have worked with nearly everyone. While four albums in eight years displays a modest pace, the way principal players Joey Burns and John Convertino hog space in liner notes at your local Sam Goody is borderline embarrassing. For a time it seemed they would keep to their own circle of friends […]
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