First things first; just by looking at a picture of Mastodon front-man Brent Hinds, you may not want to stare too hard as his gnarly look, he may jump out of the picture and strangle you to death. But upon listening to his band’s fourth full length effort Crack The Skye, you kind of go the way of Master of Puppets- this shit is heavy by its got melody and texture.
Whether or not it gives you pause to consider why so many of this young band's songs contain recurring references to death (“St Stephen's End”), guns (“Hey Hey Revolver”) and alcohol (the two aforementioned), the fact of the matter is the quintet–even without brother Simone who's on a temporary leave from touring -perform in such a disarming fashion, Felice Brothers can charm you wholly and completely into their world.
There’s a moment in the song “Ashes of American Flags” where Jeff Tweedy sings, “All my lies are always wishes/ I know I would die if I could come back new.” And “come back new” is exactly what Wilco has done the last few years. After many line-up changes, there is finally a sense of comfortable continuity within the band, and on their new concert DVD, which is also titled Ashes of American Flags, they’ve never sounded better as a unit.
When a band sells out their esteemed hometown club, in this case, First Avenue in Minneapolis, it’s a sign that proclaims –“yeah, we made it.” Such is the theme of the Hold Steady DVD/CD combo – A Positive Rage – where the crowds get bigger and the band is running fast on momentum.
Tickets for Dumpstaphunk's March 27th show at the Highline Ballroom read "Post Allman Brothers Show,” but there were precious few Peachheads present for one A.M. start time or beyond. Not that it mattered because anyone entering the venue would've had the same reaction: an irresistible physical response to the overpowering rhythms exploding from the stage.
In the midst of a tour supporting two new Merge albums – 2008’s Conor Oberst and Outer South, due May5th – Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band had a couple albums worth of material to rock out to on this April evening. Sporting a big flat brimmed black sombrero that he got on the road a couple days earlier, Oberst looked all the part of his
An all-star band the likes of which accompanied Will Bernard March 26th doesn't always work in the studio or on the stage. But the extended performance in the Highline Ballroom gave further credence to the chemistry of the diverse foursome
Over the last few months George McConnell has been going back to the glory days of rock and roll releasing “Virtual 45’s” complete with B-Side’s. Come to think of it, that is pretty close to the glory days of today an I-tunes, but either which way McConnell decided to combine all his individual tunes into this full length titled, appropriately enough, Singles Only
If The Knife were described as the sounds of thunder and lightning, then Karin Dreijer Andersson must be the commanding eclipse that carries Olof Dreijer’s flashes of electricity. While The Knife are on hiatus, sister Karin Dreijer Andersson has focused on the slower, darker side of the duo’s distinct sound to release a self-titled album under the name Fever Ray.
Hmmm, the cello, it’s such an under-rated instrument in rock circles these days. But for Other Lives, a quaint quintet from Stillwater, OK, the cello's sorrowful sound makes the band “complete.”
