Archive: 2014

As the title suggests, this week’s ‘Community’ is revisiting the world of Dungeons & Dragons. The gang last played it in episode 2.14 when they saved Neil from wanting to kill himself. Now, they’re using the confines of that magical world to unite a feuding father and son.

This cinematic abortion stars ’90s rap face-palmer Vanilla Ice in the role of douchebag-on-motorcycle. It’s 50% ‘Footloose,’ 50% ‘The Wild One,’ and 100% everything we regret from the ’90s.

As of this week, twenty-eight years have passed since the very first South By Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference took place in Austin, Texas. A lot has changed since then; massive growth, corporate influence and marketing dollars, and the evolution of the festival from a fairly underground industry event to a vital influencer of mainstream culture. […]

“I’m a little bit shell-shocked today,” guitarist Andy Summers said with a laugh a few weeks ago when I called him for an afternoon interview. “We’ve been making this insane video till after midnight last night where we were throwing paint all over each other. That was intense. And we did that time and time […]

It’s a safe bet no sounds so dirty as the unholy blues of The North Mississippi Allstars had ever echoed around the antiseptic expanse of the Foeger Ballroom before Thursday March 6th. And even if not all those sounds were unholy–Luther Dickinson led the group toward transcendence at a couple moments during their near three […]

Mirah had a “practice tour” with a softly- lit red velvet curtained backdrop at the The Western,, an ideal setting to debut new material from her upcoming album Changing Light as well as re-imagining her back catalog.  Mirah and her newest entourage: Alex Guy (violin/viola/keys/vocals), Dan Fabricant (bass/guitar) and Andrew Maguire (drums/ vibraphone) opened the set […]

The music inside The Wiltern Theatre was most certainly that of Umphrey’s McGee (UM), but the stage at times resembled a Tom Jones’ show, thanks to the bevvy of bras tossed on stage. “Thank you ladies for the bras,” said lead singer/guitarist Brendan Bayliss after laying a white, lacy over-shoulder, bolder-holder on the guitar stand […]

The oldest sibling of The Wood Brothers, Oliver, was in an unusually voluble mood throughout the band’s appearance at Higher Ground March 1, 2014, but toward the home stretch of their single set, he mentioned the Woods’ eight or nine year history coming to Higher Ground, he was indirectly referring to the fact they had […]

These two innovative guitar legends only joined forces for one live tour. Their appearance at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in 1973 no doubt met and exceeded the enormous expectations.

In this week’s in”stall”ment, a character from the show’s sidelines takes center stage as the series continues to build anticipation for the biggest TV wedding event ever (yes, even bigger than the Royal Wedding — or the Red Wedding).

tUnE-yArDs have revealed new song ‘Water Fountain’, the first song from new album ‘Nikki Nack.’ Scroll down to hear the song now. Merrill Garbus’ musical project will release ‘Nikki Nack’, on May 5. It is the follow-up to 2011’s ‘w h o k i l l’.   tUnE-yArDs has also announced a full U.S. slate of […]

Umphrey’s McGee have officially announced that they will release their eighth studio album, Similar Skin, on June 10. The band revealed the news via the launch of SimilarSkin.com. Similar Skin contains songs already played live along with compositions never yet played live. Tracklisting The Linear Cut The Cable Hourglass No Diablo Similar Skin (Never Played Live) […]

[rating=6.00] More than once on his third album with the War on Drugs, Adam Granduciel sings about traveling in reverse and reckoning with the past. Both mirror his road-worn journey behind the making of Lost in the Dream; the group’s frontman visited six studios to experiment and produce this record after spending two years touring […]

[rating=7.00] The music on Luther’ Dickinson’s Rock and Roll Blues is every bit as earthy and organic as its cover art would suggest- a guitar planted in an expanse of verdant countryside. Teeming with the spontaneity of the moment, the album is a series of pithy vignettes extracted from every phase of this not-so-young man’s […]

“He seemed a little young for this to happen but you don’t get to pick your time,” Stooges guitar player James Williamson said somberly during an interview with Glide Monday, two days following the death of his bandmate, Scott Asheton. An original member of the now iconic punk band, Asheton and his bass playing brother Ron, […]

After some rather tame episodes (at least in comparison), ‘The Walking Dead’ provided some surprises and shocks this week as we caught up with Carol and company.

This frustrating episode brings each main character “back home,” so to speak — with each enjoying a damaging dabble in their greatest flaws, flaws a large portion of this season of ‘Girls’ seemed to lack.

If you only know Bernie Worrell funking it up with Parliament-Funkadelic, then his new solo CD will certainly surprise you. Titled Elevation, it is a beautiful, zen-like journey via the keys of a baby grand piano. The conception of producer Bill Laswell, together they created an illuminating body of music featuring redefinitions of Coltrane’s “Alabama,” […]

Boston-based reggae rockers Spiritual Rez released their latest album Apocalypse Whenever on February 15, and as is their custom, immediately set out on tour. For the last month they’ve been traversing the East Coast in a long white van filled with eight people – seven musicians plus Doug the Merch Guy – hauling a trailer […]

Two of the most influential bands of the 90s will soon hit the road together. Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails announced a co-headlining tour of North America for this summer. The tour will begin on July 19 in Las Vegas. They will play 23 dates across the continent — there is one show booked for […]