Email Author Chris Parker

2010 Stories by Chris Parker

• Blonde Redhead change their stripes once again.

  published November 25, 2010

  While some acts emerge full-grown and spend a career exploring variations on a theme, the more intriguing trajectories often belong to those... More >>

• Black Mountain, Black Angels

  published November 18, 2010

  Black Mountain may be hirsute hippies with a groovy melodic touch, but they're not so stoned that they'll pass up an opportunity to... More >>

• Miniature Tigers Goes Big The Second Time Around

  published November 11, 2010

  As the leader of Miniature Tigers, Charlie Brand crafts infectious pop with reckless emotional abandon at its center. Big, generous hooks... More >>

• Magic Kids

  published November 4, 2010

  Magic Kids belong to the legion of young artists sucking inspiration from '60s pop—Phil Spector's horn-and string-laden... More >>

• Suicidal Tendencies, High on Fire, Kylesa

  published November 4, 2010

  Embodying the implicitly dangerous recreation expressed by their name, power trio High on Fire deliver savage chronic metal thunder with... More >>

• Valient Thorr

  published October 21, 2010

  Valient Thorr infused their first four albums with heady rhetoric about work, life and political duplicity, under the cover of balls-out... More >>

• Bone Thugs- N-Harmony

  published October 21, 2010

  Reaching the top isn't nearly as hard as staying there. The Bone Thugs crew can attest to that. The quintet's blend of gangsta... More >>

• Teenage Bottlerocket, Bannter Pilot, Stymie, No Heroes

  published July 22, 2010

  Raise your fist, stomp the accelerator and crank out the hooks. It ain't rocket science, but neither is most heart-pumping... More >>

• Underoath and Between The Buried and Me Keep Pushing Metal's Boundaries.

  published July 22, 2010

  Ruts are normal, and nowhere is this truer than in art, where it's easier to be a follower than a leader. So it is that metal and hardcore,... More >>

• Thrice Returns To The Form It Never Really Left

  published July 8, 2010

  It's been a tough year for Thrice—personally and professionally. The sometimes bristling, sometimes atmospheric post-core California... More >>

• M.D.C., The Restarts, Warcola, Odor, Teenage Kamikaze

  published May 20, 2010

  The accolades went to rivals the Dead Kennedys, but hardcore provocateurs M.D.C. weren't far behind. The band began while singer... More >>

• Frightened Rabbit's Less Scared These Days

  published April 22, 2010

  There's something in life to intimidate every soul—a person, an opportunity, the heart's desire—and perhaps that's part of... More >>

• Vampire Weekend, Abe Vigoda

  published April 8, 2010

  When it burst on the scene two years ago with its self-titled, Afro-centric, indie-pop debut, Vampire Weekend was the subject of such... More >>

• Hockey Scores, Even Without A Hit

  published April 1, 2010

  Write a hit. Major-label execs have mouthed those words so many times, it should just be tattooed on their heads when they get the job.... More >>

• Ted Leo Turns His Frown Upside Down

  published March 25, 2010

  Idealism doesn't age as well as cynicism. Perhaps that's why punk's earnest socio-politic evolved into the ironic distance of indie... More >>

• Manchester Orchestra Wants It All

  published March 4, 2010

  Andy Hull's driven. The Manchester Orchestra frontman isn't satisfied just having a musical career—he wants greatness. Not the... More >>

• Akron/Family Gets Wild and Free

  published February 25, 2010

  Last time I saw Akron/Family multi-instrumentalist Dana Janssen, he was coursing across a homemade Slip 'N Slide made from a large piece of... More >>

• RJD2 Looks To His Own Past For Inspiration

  published February 11, 2010

  In a certain way, RJD2's latest, The Colossus, is the album the artist has been building toward over his entire career. On it, like on a... More >>

• Flogging Molly, Frank Turner, The Architects

  published February 4, 2010

  While The Pogues may have minted the style, no one has done as much to popularize Celtic-punk as Flogging Molly—and the... More >>

• Bowerbirds Fly Higher With Their Latest

  published February 4, 2010

  Bowerbirds emerged in 2006 as a back-to-basics act in more than one way: The band's debut LP, Hymns for a Dark Horse, surveyed a stark... More >>

• Yo La Tengo,Times New Viking

  published January 28, 2010

  Like a healthy tan or acting natural, Ohio trio Times New Viking is an oxymoron. The group is abrasive yet warm, chaotic but crisp,... More >>

• Girls' Pop Music Goals Are Hardly Modest

  published January 28, 2010

  One of the wonders of modern music is how there are always emerging new artists capable of using the familiar building blocks of chords,... More >>