Posts by Lee Ackerley

After a six year hiatus, L.A. noise rockers HEALTH are back in top form with their latest full-length release, Dark Magic (ALBUM REVIEW). Subscribing to a unique sound that lacks any analogous comparison, HEALTH continue to further their genre-bending experimentation in their latest release. Known for their trenchant yet electrifying performances, HEALTH has been blazing a trail through America on […]

The incense was lit. Classical music and Nordic metal flowed out from the PA’s into the ears of the horde that had gathered at the Mohawk on Saturday night. Like an ancient clan gathering before battle, the black-clad cretins of heavy metal were angsty and restless for their music show. Swedish death metal showmen Tribulation […]

Photo via Instagram user @alikwong Tragedy was ripe in the minds of those gathered at the Mohawk. Paris was under attack and the epicenter of the carnage had been focused around a rock concert. Yet here they were; punks, goths, hipsters, scenesters, and the undefined had gathered in solidarity to shirk the fear-mongering hate intended […]

[rating=3.00] Alan Palomo, the man behind Neon Indian, struck chillwave gold with his first two albums, Psychic Chasms and Era Extrana.  Unfortunately, these classics are now juxtaposed to the erratic, disjointed sounds and cochlear trauma exacted by his latest release, Vega Intl. Night School. Neon Indian fans are in for a shock when they plow […]

[rating=7.00] The world of music is a rapidly evolving, mercurial cluster of confusion that can see new artists and genres of music come and then die just as quickly. In this typhoon of variables and insecurity sits a formidable Detroit rock band that has long defied the volatility of the industry to consistently please their […]

The line snaked around the block and spilled onto Red River St., crossing the entrance of a music club that, just last week, was called the Red Eyed Fly, but now touts tan equally arbitrary nomenclature as The Sidewinder. This was a classic Black Lips move. As a band that has been around since 2003 […]

Photo via WAVVES Twitter These past five years have been fruitful for punk rock fans who appreciate a lo-fi garage and surf sound. Groups like King Tuff, The Orwells, FIDLAR, and a wave of others have found large audiences eager to get rowdy and dance to their millenial interpretation of punk. Two bands that have […]

[rating=8.00] It’s been a half-decade of contemplation and anticipation for HEALTH fans. After 2010’s Disco 2, and hearing virtually nothing (except a 2013 Max Payne video game soundtrack), I wondered whether these L.A.-based experimental noise rockers would soon be filed in the ‘Where Are They Now?’  file. With HEALTH’s creativity and innate non-conformity, it is […]

Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and the inevitable legions of other airbrushed manufactured pop stars continually pump the music industry full of sanitized hot air that leaves a rift between the listener’s reality and their superficial image. The only veritable counterbalance to these unattainable expectations and departure from reality comes in the unabashed and unapologetic music […]