Bands should really resist giving themselves acronyms (B.I.T.E.) that lend themselves so easily to snarky reviews. It’s so hard for critics to resist using that acronym to ream the band out with if they’re even the slightest bit bad.
I’m always amazed by human endurance. In the world we as Americans live in, where everything is at our fingertips and the news is sanitized so it won’t ruin our Hungry Man TV dinner, there are those like Raman Kia (aka Buddahead)who grew up not with Saturday morning cartoons, but in Iran with revolutionary guards […]
In the unwritten gospel according to John Q. Music Critic, certain phrases are right out. To utter them in the context of a CD review will often result in immediate implosion or banishment to some far-reaching, backwoods red state. These phrases include “totally bitchin’”, “hella cool”, “loud drums, heavy guitar” and “it’s not as punk […]
Les Pillitteri’s press release compares him to Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Tom Waits. He reminds me more of Bon Jovi or Bryan Adams. This local Colorado singer-songwriter has performed at Herman’s Hideaway, among other venues. His five-song demo CD opens with a Bon Jovi-esque rock number, “Cowboy Buddhist,” with the Zen-repetitive chorus “What should […]
The same night that I interviewed Jesika von Rabbit from Gram Rabbit about the cosmic forces of the universe and the desert’s spirit, I caught a commercial about a tribute to Gram Rabbit’s namesake and semi-spiritual forefather, Gram Parsons. This is just more evidence of the cosmic forces working in favor of this Joshua Tree, […]
A Very Long Engagement (2004, Jean-Pierre Jeunet) So many movies this year have ripped my heart out and then put it back together again in new and creative ways, that to say that this is the third-best movie in that vein this year doesn’t do it justice. A Very Long Engagement is a beautifully heartwrenching […]
What self-respecting, hipster indie kid wouldn’t love the latest iteration in the Sounds Eclectic series? Packed with a bevy of mostly live, in-studio cuts from a variety of acts like The Polyphonic Spree, The Flaming Lips, Radiohead and Interpol, Sounds Eclectic 3 carries on the tradition of compiling the favorite performances on KCRW’s “Morning Becomes […]
In comparison to its debut full-length Same Chords, Same Songs, Same Six Strings, Stereotyperider’s sophomore LP takes the best of the past and goes above and beyond, thanks in part to stronger production and the introduction of a few creative elements. Few bands of Stereotyperider’s ilk would dare introduce a moog into the mix, but […]
