After the first round of Rolling Rock’s Battle of the Bands, the trouble was clear: This month-long competition for $1,000 (finals are June 24) was over, because the best bands had already competed. Who would have guessed? High-quality radio rock at the Hard Rock Cafe? What’s more, not just one…

Slipknot’s latest opens with “Prelude 3.0,” whose dark melody and lulling vocals are almost enough to transform the masked hoodlums into an MTV powerhouse. This charade is quickly killed by an ultra-thrash song, though, and Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses) continues in inconsistent fashion by offering up something for everybody…

Most articles about Jay Farrar lead with his history as an alt-country legend. Considering how sleepy his solo work has sounded since leaving Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, though, the only remnants of his whiskey-fueled Americana are those press references. Until now, anyway, thanks to…Canyon? Yes, this out-of-nowhere alt-country five-piece…

!!! (pronounced chk chk chk) opens their latest album, Louden Up Now, with a disco drumbeat, warbly guitars, cowbell and a bass line robbed from “The Humpty Dance.” It’s enough to offend anybody tired of the recent funk-rock revival led by Liars and The Rapture, but luckily, the goofy intro…

When the Legendary Shack*Shakers took the stage at 2003’s South by Southwest, I stood in the front row wondering why everybody had just taken a giant step back. Ten seconds into the set, I figured it out: These guys are some sadistic sonsabitches. Lead singer “Colonel” J.D. Wilkes squawked and…

Every copy of Let’s Get to Second should come in a Land O’ Lakes box; Chomsky’s national debut practically drips with butter. Vocal doubling reaches levels that would make Elliott Smith roll in his grave, and the beefy mix sometimes drowns out lead guitar and synthesizer parts. Those changes may…

In the two decades since Mission of Burma dismantled, its members have risen to the rank of indie-rock legends. Fans who discovered their manic, unique destruction of rock precedents a few years too late got a second chance when the lineup reunited for concerts in 2002, and after 22 years…

Not enough people love Pleasant Grove. On its albums, PG sounds like a band with a huge cult following: the kind with crazed Internet discussions, endless bootleg trading rings and packed club concerts. The Dallas band combines the thickly brewed melodies of Whiskeytown, the tempered melancholy of Morphine and even…

Patty Griffin hasn’t wasted her second chance in the record industry. After a four-year drought caused by label woes, the Austin songwriter has since banged out two albums and a live disc in two years, and she has abandoned her attempts at Alanis-rock that weighed down her old work. Not…

It was one of those years. Three beloved major-label acts dominating nearly every major category, with little but their hometown in common. One a sweet, unassuming Christian family making music beyond their years. One a crew of aging but still-scorching rockers giddily throwing up the devil horns. One a chorus…

“Float On,” the latest single by Modest Mouse, is so exciting that it could be the indie-rock answer to OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” Catchy, playful guitar lines lift cheery lyrics into this danceable contender for song of the year, complete with the happiest shout-along to ever grace a Modest Mouse song…

Sarah Harmer’s 2000 release, You Were Here, was the stuff of which VH1 dreams are made, but dreams never really came true on the charts. Perhaps that’s why she has followed the diverse, catchy and inventive nature of her last album with All of Our Names, an album not befitting…

Tunde Adebimpe’s voice wavered in and out when we spoke last week, but cellular phones weren’t entirely to blame. The lead singer for Brooklyn’s TV on the Radio took our phone interview to-go, so between questions about the band’s debut album, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, I had to compete…

If the Walkmen’s Everyone Who Used To Like Me Is Gone sounded so pretty when it debuted in 2002, then how did it wind up sounding sluggish only two years later? It’s because this year’s Bows & Arrows makes their debut seem like nap time in comparison. The sophomore disc…

For every album that refines pop songwriting, there’s another that sets it on fire. Or in analogy form, Pet Sounds is to My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless as Revolver is to Kraftwerk’s Autobahn. The former are championed for their universal appeal, but die-hard fans love the latter because they are the…

Man, Valentine’s Day is some up-chucking, hee-hawing, pony-loving horseshit. Couples stress out over inevitably underwhelming dates, sad souls are doomed to a night of tear-ridden masturbation and even happy folks end up disappointed by crappier V-Days in their future. The pink decorations are sickening, too. Why does anybody bother? Because…

This CD review probably shouldn’t be anywhere near a newspaper’s music section. If that sounds less than ideal, then you’re not the listener Fantomas anticipated, as their latest effort, Delerium Cordia, is so odd that it’s bound to piss off even the most open-minded listeners. Of course, anybody who buys…

If this were a perfect world, VH1’s Behind the Music series would cover worthwhile bands all the time. Since VH1 doesn’t cater to my tastes, however, I have to seek out books for underground music stories. I don’t get the lulling voiceover commentary or video footage of concerts while learning…

On Wednesday night, the smart drunks come out. And for good reason: Bars have perks during the week, including cheaper drinks, easier parking and less annoying crowds. There isn’t much music during the hump, however, and the few musicians who do land weeknight gigs are often open-mike lackeys or, um,…

“Speedtrucker, motherfucker!” shouted the crowd normally foreign to Club Clearview. These men and women were armed not with facial piercings but with bottles of Lone Star, and they donned not Urban Outfitters threads but Justin boots and cowboy hats. Still, the only surprise bigger than the good ol’ country crowd…