MUSIC PREVIEWS

Music Stories Danava Tuesday Oct. 11Out from under the weight of hipster ennui emerges a band of young glammy gods.[GLAM-prog] Danava vocalist-guitarist Dusty Sparkles, made up with crimson streaks around his eyes- ...   More

 

Wednesday, October 5, 2005 Dave Clifford

Of Course

It's a dance party in Kevin Barnes' head, and everyone's invited.

Music Stories Kevin Barnes is, in a word, idiosyncratic.From the origins of the name for his home-recording one-man band Of Montreal to the Willy Wonka-esque sugar-tweaked puerile pop he writes, performs and record ...   More

 

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 Dave Clifford

Black Mountain vs. the Blanket of Humility

Vancouver, B.C., group unabashedly flays the corpse of rock in the face of scores of offended indie rockers.

Music Stories "The whole indie-rock world is oppressed by this obligatory blanket of humility and fake integrity," laments Black Mountain bassist Matt Camirand. "Bands are afraid to cut loose and wear their influen ...   More

 

Wednesday, April 20, 2005 Dave Clifford

Rocked in Translation

Japanese retro-punks Guitar Wolf want to teach you a few things about etiquette.

Music Stories Guitar Wolf is a cliché.And that's exactly what makes the Tokyo garage-punk trio great: Guitar Wolf takes all of the discarded picture sleeves, pin-ups, safety pins and postures of rock-'n'-rol ...   More

 

Wednesday, March 9, 2005 Dave Clifford

Morose-mantics

This Valentine's Day, the Rose City has enough thorns for everyone.

Music Stories Who says romance is dead?Certainly none of the dark, romantic, neo-goth artists playing this year's special Valentine's Day show at Berbati's Pan would consider amour deceased—though they might be inc ...   More

 

Wednesday, February 9, 2005 Dave Clifford

Sneaky Success

The French Kicks win the trial of the century.

Music Stories The French Kicks did something remarkable last year, although few people were aware of it. "We call it the slow climb to zero," laughs vocalist-drummer Nick Stumpf.He's joking about his band's gradual ...   More

 

Wednesday, January 19, 2005 Dave Clifford

Nirvana

Box set hoards grunge gods' diamonds in the rough, reveals what all that fighting was about.

Album Reviews Nirvana's impact on pop culture was intense and confounding. To this day, those involved still sift through the material remains of the sardonic, sad and incontrovertibly talented songwriter Kurt Coba ...   More

 

Wednesday, December 1, 2004 Dave Clifford

LIFE IS LIFE

Wearing their politics on their sleeves, the members of Laibach enter America to show us all what fascism looks like.

Music Stories "We are fascists as much as Hitler was a painter," declared Laibach, collectively, in an interview with the German magazine Die Zeit.Nonetheless, it's easy to mistake the monolithic industrial-dance g ...   More

 

Wednesday, November 17, 2004 Dave Clifford

The Gun Club

Faceless hero of the L.A. punk scene, Jeffrey Lee Pierce's dark blues-punk sees the light with these excellent reissues.

Album Reviews Miami Death PartyThe Las Vegas Story(Sympathy for the Record Industry)True musical pioneers are essentially faceless. Granted, a rare few individuals attain "icon" status, but in the lore of American ...   More

 

Wednesday, November 17, 2004 Dave Clifford

Sonic LSD

Japanese hippie cults! Drug-addled acid rock! Bad vibes and bum trips! Acid Mothers Temple turns on, rocks out.

Music Stories In 1997, Acid Mothers Temple entered the world with The Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.--an album filled with trippy, noisy and droning flashbacks to '60s dropout culture run ramp ...   More

 

Wednesday, June 2, 2004 Dave Clifford