"People still assume I'm a saxophonist firmly footed in the free-jazz world, and that I suddenly tried to do 'the rock thing' with these records," says Colin Stetson, after being asked about the heavier side of his New History Warfare series. "What [critics] don't realize is we're often cranking bands like Liturgy in the back of the bus on Bon Iver tours, or bonding over how we used to listen to [Iron] Maiden when we… more »
Many rock reunions have an air of inevitability about them and Iggy Pop's reactivation of his legendary late-'60s band The Stooges in 2003 was no different. When, after six years of high-energy, extreme-volume touring, their guitarist Ron Asheton passed away unexpectedly in 2009, many justifiably thought, that was that. Iggy's subsequent decision to reconvene the band's second line-up — and coax legendary guitarist James Williamson out of retirement — was less expected. While the original combo… more »
The Flaming Lips have never shied away from life's unavoidable existential dramas — Death, Love, Depression, The Afterlife (or lack thereof). But The Lips have never made "depressing" music: Steven Drozd, the band's multi-instrumentalist and chief sonic architect, has a flair for melodic, rainbow-hued arrangements, and Wayne Coyne, their outsized frontman, plays the role of psychedelic jester, particularly on stage, where he crowd-surfs on inflatable bubbles, pours fake blood on his face, and preaches his… more »
Bumping the idea of “retro” away from the over-mined ’60s and ’70s, London duo J. Willgoose Esq and Wrigglesworth, the quaintly named men behind Public Service Broadcasting, explore the time frame between the Blitz and the Coronation, evoking a world of ration books, camp coffee and black market silk stockings. Their make-do-and-mend approach to music comes from their victorious digging through the archives, salvaging scraps of public information films, news reel and propaganda and pairing them with some thoroughly modern music. There’s no smirking kitsch, here, however: These songs are… more »
Considering all the factors working against !!! over the past 15 years — major lineup changes, members who live on opposite coasts, the questionable expiration date of “dance punk” — you’d think they’d be a part-time prospect by now. But no, here they are, delivering a filler-free album that feels like a carefully-curated DJ set, including the disco inferno diatribes of “Get That Rhythm Right,” the convulsive funk of “Station (Meet Me At the)” and the locked grooves of “Fine Fine Fine,” which washes its chest-caving drum circle down with… more »
Doom metal is a cathartic outlet for depression and loneliness and, yeah, it sounds pretty great under the influence of recreational pharmaceuticals, since the rhythms are generally slow and repetitive enough to separate the individual instruments and sink into the full, echoing effect of their sound. Howl’s 2010 full-length debut Full of Hell was an angry stoner’s paradise, a feast of trudging riffs, plodding beats, serpentine guitars and tumbling drums that appealed equally to fans of Black Sabbath and Mastodon.
Who knows if frontman Vincent Hausman stopped smoking weed or… more »
Avant-garde saxophonist Colin Stetson’s credits as a collaborator include a slew of indie friends — Arcade Fire, Feist, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and TV on the Radio among them — but he’s most formidable and impressive on his own, with just a metal horn and a pair of heaving lungs to help push air through its twisty, peculiar channels. Stetson’s expansive style finds fine form in “Hunted,” an unusual instrumental track that matches ghostly, wordless cries to a sax treatise in which Stetson taps on keys percussively while blowing out… more »
Calling all poseurs, dilettantes and part-time punks: Check your head and check your cred at the door. From Buzzcocks to Iceage, from dream-pop to chillwave, Gimme Indie Rock gives you the sickest vibes out of the scene that can't stand to be pigeonholed. Whether Dum Dum Girls or the Strange Boys, the Field Mice or Killer Mike, James Blake or PJ Harvey, you'll hear them all here — where it's totally OK to hang the… more »
