While Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino radiates all the sunny musical signposts of her native Los Angeles — specifically, surf guitar riffs and beach-buoyant harmonies — Wax Idols' Oakland transplant Hether Fortune sings, writes and generates a sound that references several decades of dark British alt-rock, albeit with a contemporary DIY spirit. Like other buzzy Bay Area bands, Fortune and her supporting players prove that punk and pop can still come together without going corporate.
eMusic's Barry… more »
One way of describing Wire is to say that they've effectively been three different bands with (mostly) the same lineup: the blazing art-punk mutants of their 1976-80 incarnation, the monomaniacal electro-brainiacs of their 1985-91 renaissance, and the burly time-warping professors that reconvened in 2000 and are still recording now. Another way is to say that every record they've made has sounded like a hard-won consensus. Singer/guitarist Colin Newman, initially the band's voice of punk rock… more »
When a remarkable band breaks up at its peak, its fans rarely look to the drummer for salvation. Such was the surprise, then, accorded the emergence of this classic post-punk Boston trio in 1985 - the exciting consolation prize to an enlightened few still mourning the sudden, premature demise of Mission of Burma. (Burma, America's louder, heavier answer to Britain's obtuse Wire, were not the victim of the usual creative differences, burnout, road fatigue, instability… more »
