Ten years ago the Flaming Lips were experiencing some interesting times, from a hit-and-run car crash, their drummer’s amputation due to a spider bite, and a bout of sore tongue that gave Wayne Coyne a speech impediment akin to the Seinfeld episode where Kramer is thought to be “mentally challenged” because of big shoes and […]
Right off the bat, Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers, is a sweet album title. It is very darkly picturesque and reminds me of the Cure’s Bloodflowers, from whom Irving have derived some inspiration. The San Francisco five-piece entered the music scene in 2002 with their debut album, Good Morning Beautiful. The interesting […]
You’ve heard Tom Holkenborg’s music, you just don’t know it. Or maybe you do. Holkenberg has gone from industrial rock in Nerve in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, to the moniker Junkie XL, hanging in Hollywood and scoring for films (Team America…fuck ya!), video games (Destroy All Humans…a bird flu video game already?), and […]
I cannot stop listening to this album! From the CD player in my car to my home to my hotel room here as I sit on vacation, it goes with me wherever I go. I listen to it incessantly and am already planning to see the boys as soon as they come through town.
It’s just rock. Straight up ass-kicking rock done the way it should be: their way. Borrowing on a quote from Frank Sinatra—the king of “My Way”—for the title of their newest release, Riverboat Gamblers do just that. It’s one part pop, one part punk, one part snotty, and one part southern… And the sum of […]
Imagine yourself enclosed in a space of hovering marijuana smoke with a fully packed bong in hand and sounds of sludgy, doom metal filling the space between your ears. The swelling and spinning of your head and brain overcome you while your neck bangs downward and back up in a repetitive motion. Unable to stop […]
Positron! Records “mission statement” proclaims they release “eclectic music by eccentric artists.” A statement of such magnitude generates a cautious approach. Just what is eclectic anyway? Eclectic artists’ off the top of my head quickly, I’d say: the Orb, Boards of Canada, Amon Tobin, Shpongle, and for good measure throw on some Aphex Twin, Kraftwerk […]
A few weeks back on a Friday night, the beer was pouring out of the bottle and onto the chest of lead singer Ben Tegel of The Vacation, as he bent backwards on the stage of The Knitting Factory in Los Angeles. The girls were screaming and sharing their cold, hop flavored beverage with the […]
ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (Terry Zwigoff) “Most artists become artists because they have no other way to attract a mate.” Huh? This reoccurring theme in Terry Zwigoff’s (Ghost World, Bad Santa) new film Art School Confidential seems slightly out of grasp. In this adaptation of Daniel Clowes’ short comic story Jerome Platz (Max Minghella) takes off […]
