Not many foreign rap artists find their way to American ears–and even fewer hang around for a decade. But against all odds, Japan’s DJ Krush is closing in on the 10-year mark with his seventh proper album, Shinsou: The Message at the Depth. Krush’s 1994 long-player, Strictly Turntablized, helped put…
Rock has a historically low tolerance for comedy. Sure, the Chili Peppers used to run around with socks on their cocks, but once they started selling records the music took on a more serious tone; “Party on Your Pussy” wouldn’t exactly fit on Californication, ’cause music ain’t supposed to be…
Chan Marshall, known to the rock-and-roll world as Cat Power, is a painfully shy woman with a lot to say. You Are Free, her new album and first since 2001’s bleak The Covers Record, is the least self-assured-sounding self-assured record in ages. “Don’t be in love with the autograph/Just be…
More SXSW overflow, this time from young people convinced that guitars can do more right now than remind old people of their Mitch Ryder records. Like remind them of their Joy Division ones instead! The three Los Angelenos in Moving Units, at Trees on Friday, do more than that, actually:…
Dallas benefits annually from a surfeit of bands hitting town before or after their appearances at Austin’s South by Southwest music-biz bacchanal. On Saturday night, unfortunately, you’ll have to choose between two busy bills happening simultaneously. Head to Gypsy Tea Room if you’re partial to down-and-dirty neo-garage noise: New Zealand’s…
Idol Records, Erv Karwelis’ local CD-releasing concern, commemorates 10 years in the CD-releasing business this year. The actual date? Not sure, and we didn’t bother asking anyone. (Because that’s how we do things; we’re loose cannons, and one of these days, the chief will have our badge.) March 11 is…
It happens exactly three minutes into “Ay Distress,” the first song on No Silver/No Gold, the Baptist Generals’ first album for Sub Pop Records. Singer-songwriter Chris Flemmons wails into the silent night, going out on a high note of sorts: “Cover up the light,” he cries. “You can dream it…
When Zack de la Rocha left Rage Against the Machine in a well-publicized bout of musical and personal differences in October 2000, his bandmates Tom Morello, Brad Wilk and Tim Commerford didn’t waste any time recruiting former Soundgarden belter Chris Cornell and forming the outfit they’ve unfortunately named Audioslave. They…
If you don’t get it the first time, say it again. Calexico. Still not there? Calexico. Have a friend say it out loud for you, a syllable at a time (that’s what it took for me). Calexico. Get it? One part California, one part Mexico: Calexico! Joey Burns leans back…
Only seen the Roots once, and, frankly, they bored me: too much jam, not enough bread, especially considering their reputation as the saviors of live hip-hop. (Then again, the show was at a House of Blues, where drinks cost more than a house, and they played for what must have…
Don’t bother asking Lisa Kekaula and Bob Vennum about the “return of rock and roll” currently being celebrated by the mainstream music press. The married co-founders of the Riverside, California-based Bellrays–who have been blasting away a soulful blend of rock and roll since 1991–will simply inform you that you’re quite…
Nothing to do Wednesday night? Patient enough for a post-punk marathon that’ll likely stretch into early Thursday? Then eat dinner early and head to Trees for a five-band bill with more to offer than most. California’s the Jealous Sound kicks things off, touring in advance of a new album it…
Too old and jaded for the Sunny Day Real Estate reunion Wednesday night at Trees? Don’t fret: The Scene Creamers, the latest band from elaborately attired D.C. agitators Ian Svenonius and Michelle Mae, will be at Rubber Gloves on Friday night, holding it down for indie rockers who prefer clever…
A few months ago, we started hearing rumors. As we do. Happens all the time and, usually, nothing much comes of it. At least not the version of the story that comes across our desk: By the time we hear something, it’s gone through at least three or four people,…
It’s not easy being young and black, even if you happen to be rich and famous. Sometimes, it’s even worse if you’re rich and famous. Because that’s when people notice you. People who want you to be something you’re not. People who think you’re something you’re not. People like, say,…
I grew up in West, Texas, a small Czech town about an hour south of Dallas. Five miles up Interstate 35 is Abbott, an even smaller Czech town where Willie Nelson was born and raised. Barely enough people lived there to qualify for a ZIP code. When I was old…
Amid the current bombardment of young pop-star wannabes–I mean artists–there’s finally one who is everything they aren’t: real and really good. Enter Ben Kweller, a barely legal singer-songwriter-piano player-guitarist-whatever else it takes to put something a little different out there. While most prepubescent boys were spending their days using video…
Former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr’s first solo album opens with the droning, midtempo psychedelia of “Last Ride,” and the album doesn’t stray far from this vein–pleasant, electronic-tinged classic rock, unsurprising and delivered with dexterity. The gratifying shock is Marr’s voice, which is workmanlike in the best possible sense, alternately streetwise…
Looking for crisp, tuneful pop-punk action that doubles as a statement of your support for the ol’ stars and bars? Look no further than the self-titled major-label debut by the All-American Rejects, a band of Oklahoma-based music nerds with heads full of alt-rock guitar fuzz, second-string Weezer choruses and enough…
He’s still groovin’ along (Back Out Here Again and the in-concert EP Live at the Longhorn Ballroom, both just self-released on Proud, which says it all), and even though The Legendary Bobby P.’s new blues don’t snooze, since the Soul 73 jock’s still ratcheted up to 11 on a scale…
The Notwist underwent an abrupt stylistic shift sometime in the mid-’90s, somewhere in Germany; their abrasive punk songs suddenly became a more pacified, drum-machined something else. We’re in a whole new decade now and it’s still hard to describe. But any way you cut it, Neon Golden abounds with blip-intensive…
“All journalists and critics are ants at the picnic,” Henry Rollins declares from the offices of his vanity publishing company, 2.13.61, in Los Angeles. “I’m not curious to see what you write about me. Not curious about any review about anything I do. I don’t care. And I defy you…
