Sometimes, people in bands really love another band. And – holy accidental plagiarism! – they just end up sounding EXACTLY like that other band they love. For Acceptance, it’s Jimmy Eat World.
Acceptance – Phantoms
Black Cougar Shock Unit – Hello Black Cougar Shock Unit
You have to wonder about the legalities of putting an angry depiction of Hello Kitty on the cover of your CD and calling it Hello Black Cougar Shock Unit. And you have to wonder about the legalities of putting four other slightly altered Sanrio characters on the back of your CD too (Chococat’s pissed, Badtz […]
Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
Bloc Party has been the “it” band in the UK for a number of months now, and rightly so. BBC radio did their version of a documentary on the origin of British Rock, and from their informal poll of people on the street and objectives from industry pundits, most of what their country had to […]
The Charming Snakes – Ammunition
Drum machines are over-rated. They’ve pretty much taken the place of the Moog as the electronic instrument of choice for rockers, only it’s being used too much and in far too many bands. Unfortunately, sometimes that’s all a band can do. Drummers are notoriously flaky, and are not a dime a dozen like guitar players. […]
The Dan Band – The Dan Band Live!
MTV, to a certain extent, has helped further define the line between an artist and an entertainer. Some acts have the ability to play both roles, but more often than not they’re either one or the other. Which brings us to The Dan Band.
Die Warzau – Convenience
The whole genre of industrial music has been an enigma to me for some time. Years ago I would have called myself a big industrial head, never to the point of wearing black 24/7, but it just held elements that were not present in other forms of music: a carnal level of sexiness tied up […]
The Dissociatives – The Dissociatives
Daniel Johns of Silverchair has a new band, so to speak. He has paired up with Paul Mac, who is known as one of the fathers of Australian electronic music. At least that is what I’m told; I am not familiar with the specifics of Australian electronic music. The two men met when Mac remixed […]
Drayton Michaels – Low Stress In The Deep End
Where does elevator music come from? Are there musicians that sit in a studio and write the songs that gets played in the Safeway at 3 in the morning so you don’t feel like the only shopper in the store? If this is in fact a genre, it should be called “elevator,” and Drayton Michaels […]
Mr. Anonymous – Mr. Anonymous
Mr. Anonymous is name bequeathed upon The Samples’ Jeep MacNichol’s latest solo effort. To understand the magnitude of this project, one must take into account the story behind its production. Tracked over a 10-week period that included three separate trips to Kingston, Jamaica, MacNichol team up with a number of reggae and dancehall heroes to […]
Supersystem – Giving All of Us a Reason to Smile…Always
Pete Cafarella – keyboards, vocalsJosh Blair – drumsRafael Cohen – vocals, guitarsJustin Moyer “Destroyer” – bass, vocals It was a dark and rainy night. Okay, I lie. It was a bright but cloudy day in Austin at SXSW. It had been pouring and people were scrambling from one club to another to catch this band […]