Is bluegrass influenced music making a comeback? I don’t mean that bullshit that they try to pass off at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. The Yonder Mountain String band plays jam band music, and if that is your thing, fine, just don’t call it bluegrass. However, lately I have heard more bands incorporating old-timey bluegrass into […]
VCR – Power DestinySide One DummyRichmond, Virginia’s VCR comes out of the sophomore locker room with Power Destiny, an intensely quirky rock record made with keyboards in place of guitars – in fact, three of them. With varied influences such as Mozart, Depeche Mode, and original Nintendo music a la Castlevania, and insane live shows […]
LA’s Side One Dummy label has a wonderful habit of putting out very large, very good compilations for not much money at all (they’re responsible for the ever popular Warped collections too) and with Punx Unite (co-released by New Jersey’s Charged Records) they’ve done it again. Thirty-two tracks, from strictly underground punk bands – the […]
Releasing a Spanish-language version of an album already released is a trick usually reserved for Christina Aguilera. In relation to a punk band, it sounds more like a Me First and the Gimme Gimmes trick than a serious album. But when it’s The Casualties, mohawked standard-bearers of the “fuck you” school of punk rock, it’s […]
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.
You must love Flogging Molly. If you don’t know who Flogging Molly is by now, you’re missing out. This band puts on the best live show out there, guaranteed to make you dance, and their songs end up stuck in your head for days. You may already have “To Youth (Sweet Roisin Dubh)” stuck in […]
An acquaintance of mine said recently, “Punk’s not dead, but it’s definitely middle-aged.” Someone forgot to tell The Briggs, though. Brothers Jason and Joey LaRocca and drummer Chris X have turned out an EP of music that hearkens back to the good old days. Produced by Joe Gittelman (of Avoid One Thing and the Mighty […]
I could’ve sworn Piebald was an emo band. Not that that word really means much anymore, but I certainly wasn’t expecting what I got when I put this CD in. “All Ears, All Eyes, All The Time” reminds me oddly of that drama kid–you know what I mean, every high school had one. The guy […]
The current political climate, while it’s certainly not helping any of us make money or sleep at night, is certainly giving political punk bands something to sing about. The mohawked, pierced and studded NYC band The Casualties are no exception, although they seem to be getting more political with age.
Scoops here to rap at ya ‘bout the hot new beats on the music scene. Life’s been tough since I lost my job selling Sno-cones at the Special Olympics. As a matter of fact, Scoops has been banned at all future Special Olympics functions. This is unjust, because if you loose a foot race to […]
