There’s so much wrong with pop-soul slicksters Maroon 5’s Songs About Jane–which, after an inconspicuous release in June 2002, has been picking up steam recently among fans of John Mayer and Michelle Branch, both of whom have soundbitten the L.A. band–that it actually ends up kind of right. For starters,…

Even those sweater-wearing, ballad-loving, lower-lip-quivering pretty boys in Travis know it to be true: “All I want to do is rock,” front man Fran Healy sang in an early single that didn’t really. Yet on new albums by hairy American Andrew W.K. and hairy Brits the Darkness–confirmed rockers with sweat…

Say what you will about the ephemerality of costumes or stage names or the combination of a bald head and a really pointy goatee, but nothing illustrates the snooze potential of stoner rock (or stoner metal or psych rock or drug rock or heavy metal or desert rock) like a…

If I could get a look at the pages of Kind of Like Spitting dude Ben Barnett’s diary–the ones not detailed in his songs, I mean–I wouldn’t be surprised to find a handful of schemes to take down Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst: Though Oberst, in all fairness, has been making…

Nice as it is, there’s something a bit underwhelming about Baby I’m Bored, former Lemonhead Evan Dando’s long-awaited return to record-making (from wherever he was). Its lazily strummed folk-pop tunes–written and recorded with a diverse cast of indie types including Calexico, Consonant guitarist Chris Brokaw, Jon Brion, Spacehog singer Royston…

How good was Dwight Yoakam in Hollywood Homicide as rap mogul Isaiah Washington’s creepy bad-cop henchman? Yeah, you’re right, not that good. Half-convincing glower aside, Population: Me, the part-time actor/full-time honky-tonker’s latest, is another entry in one of the most consistent bodies of work in modern country music. I’d tell…

Canada’s been getting loads of attention this year from stateside indie-rockers jazzed over ornate ensemble productions from “gay church folk music” practitioners the Hidden Cameras and extravagantly spaced-out guitar-popsters Broken Social Scene. Here’s two more acts worth your overvalued American dollar: Winnipeg’s Weakerthans and Toronto’s Constantines, passionate rock believers possessed…

As with pierced-and-inked TRL darlings Good Charlotte, it’s tempting to call out way-hyped L.A. sleaze-rockers the Bronx on their dubious fealty to hard-boiled punk ideals: On their Web site (thebronxxx.com, naturally), they declare that “these days rock is dead” and that “emo dudes are carrying purses” (which, to be fair,…

Here’s a neat triple bill for pop lovers not put off by Hollywood shine and record-biz hype as long as it accompanies some genuinely enjoyable tunes. Hollywood-based headliners Rooney kick off their self-titled debut (on Geffen because singer-guitarist Robert Carmine’s brother is Phantom Planet drummer/Rushmore star Jason Schwartzman, whose mom…

The recent economic downturn’s been good to no one; musically speaking, it’s been a particularly rude awakening for dozens of sound-alike indie bands spoiled by the booming late 1990s, when any dot-commer with a Pavement collection could start up a label and issue records by his friends’ crappy bands (or…

Earlier this issue I called Live’s painfully solemn Birds of Pray a sad failure for music-lovers on the search for Serious Rock Music With Heavy Things to Say About Life. Those disappointed listeners should look to Arkansas nü-metallers Evanescence–they’re lapsed Christians who curse a lot and dig Ben Affleck! Actually,…

Earlier this year I called the Foo Fighters’ One by One a lonely triumph for music-lovers who’d all but given up on Serious Rock Music With Heavy Things to Say About Life. I asserted that Dave Grohl’s sense of humor (and his ability to write a satisfyingly chunky melody) was…

Squeaky-clean Los Angeles pop-punkers Eve 6 have managed a few blasts of radio-ready teen angst made palatable by expensive guitar crunch, snappy choruses and front man Max Collins’ practiced bellow; debut single “Inside Out” still sounds pretty good on mix CDs, and 2000’s “Here’s to the Night” could pass for…

Is “screamo” actually happening? The New York Times, NME and Brittany, a “high school student” on Amazon.com, think so: They’re calling new bands like the Used, Glassjaw and Thursday–all of whom would have been called “emo” (or not called at all) just two short summers ago–part of a new movement…

Not that you should listen to me, but feel free to skip the opening set by Mudvayne. The pride of Peoria, Illinois, the band pretends to be aliens, which is always promising, but they don’t bother to make anything new out of heavy metal’s constituent parts; last year’s The End…

Now that emo has proven itself capable of selling more records than can fit into the back of a van, major labels are stumbling over one another to sign up as many young acts as they can, gambling that a small but loyal audience in New Brunswick or Santa Cruz…

Earnest yet slightly lecherous singer-songwriter John Mayer too freshman-friendly for you? Wary of getting caught in a rabid-fan trap at the Smirnoff that you can’t back out of ’cause they love him too much, baby? Check out New Yorker Chris Lee, at Dan’s Silverleaf in Denton on Saturday night, instead:…

With the Warped Tour sadly come and gone for another year and Dashboard Confessional’s next trip to town still a couple of months away, what’s a misunderstood emo-rocker to do for support this week? Easy: Head to the Ridglea Theater on Friday night for a four-band lineup that should soothe…

The problem the reformed Jane’s Addiction faces on Strays, the L.A. band’s first new studio album since 1990’s Ritual de lo Habitual, is one they predicted years ago: Nothing about it is shocking. In the band’s first conquest, rock was theirs for the taking, “alternative” an idea they helped invent…

After a long couple of months’ worth of freedom fries, freedom toast and supremely disappointing freedom kissing, we quarrelsome Americans finally get an overdue helping of genuine, uncut Frenchitude, in the form of a visit by Paris-based sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart, the presumably peace-loving ladies of Les Nubians and…

Against all odds, the Warped Tour isn’t the only chance you’ve got this week to catch overheated punk-inflected pop bands (or pop-inflected punk bands) sweating it out onstage for a few dollars and the opportunity to bleed American for 45 minutes or so. Brand New and Moneen hit The Door…

A double shot of creepy-ass California indie eccentricity awaits the bravely patient. Up first, fêted singer-songwriter Devendra Banhart, a scruffily handsome 22-year-old San Francisco Academy of Art dropout whose debut album, Oh Me Oh My…The Way the Day Goes By the Sun Is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Lovesongs of the…