By Nate Dorr
As part of the new crop of savvy Brooklyners engaged in finding spaces for their favorite bands to fill with exciting noises, this week saw the third show from Strength in Numbers. Kicked off just a month ago by the efforts of one Karen Soskin (already a familiar face at …
Words by Jeremy Krinsley
Photos by Alex Nathanson
For those who have read the recently released Sonic Youth biography Goodbye 20th Century, (or perhaps Psychic Confusion, which, if Amazon is to believed, is less likely), then you might feel a little bit more unhealthy in the breadth of your knowledge about everyone’s favorite “uncompromising” rock band. For one, it made …
Alex Nathanson documents a night of the many strands of punk at Europa: savage, gypsy, folk, klezmer, Ohioan, just don’t call it pop. Or maybe do call it pop. It was one of State Lottery’s first gigs, while Defiance, Ohio and Guignol had met up for a few previous nights while Defiance traveled on a substantial tour, both with enough …
By Nate Dorr
Best Friends Forever, it turns out, are basically just too animated to be captured in still photography. They’re just not made for the format: too energetic, too exhilarating for the static image. The results aren’t just uninspiring compared to their actual presence on stage, but seem actively incorrect, each moment meaningless and unfamiliar once out of …
|
 |
|
|
Thu Sep 4, 2008
As much Sun Ra as dirty KMD samples circa Black Bastards filtered through some evil IDM tinkerers like Venetian Snares, $.99 Dreams use dank 90s beats as a tableau for nasty baritone sax solos and xylophone hooks. They also named a song after a loony bin in the county in New York that’s home to …
Thu Sep 4, 2008
Sometimes you send a band a few Myspace messages and they decide not to answer them. This is because they are very cool, or they don’t use Myspace as much as you do. Mutators are a sweaty band from Vancouver. While a comparison to Yeah Yeah Yeahs has already been made, that screaming female-fronted queen …
Wed Sep 3, 2008
Who knew New Jersey had such a variety of aquatic life just miles off its grimy shores.
Episode V:
“If you told me that I could have anyone in the world as my guests on a fishing boat, Gibby Haynes would be at the top of my list. I happened to be going fishing the day after the Butthole …
Wed Sep 3, 2008
Starting with the premise of some sort of John Hughes soundtrack of a high school romantic comedy, Temple Vibe tracks are what would happen if those sacharrine smooth beginnings took a dirty shot of some bedroom scruff. While these are cubby-sized bedroom recordings, drummer Dan assures me that Seattle’s Temple Vibe is “working hard right now …
Tue Sep 2, 2008
M.O.P. and Slug on the same album? I’m not crying! You’re crying!
Looking at Jake One’s production credentials warms a hip hop head’s heart. He’s had a hand in records with Turf Talk, Freeway, I Self Devine, De La Soul and X Clan. How he does it is yet to be determined, but …
Tue Sep 2, 2008
Recent signer to Partisan Records, Deer Tick will get its brilliant debut War Elephant reissued on November 25.
Deer Tick is the one man folk band creation of John McCauley, who wrote an album beyond his years at the tender age of 20. McCauley is also a cousin to Matthew McConaughey, which probably comes in …
Fri Aug 29, 2008
If drinking $1.50 PBR until you are uncomfortable to the fastest and loudest soundtrack that a $55 festival admission can buy sounds like a good time (that’s like a macchiato in Euros), you’ll be as excited as I am to learn that dates and lineups have been announced for Gainesville, Florida’s The Fest …
Fri Aug 29, 2008
Chicago ensemble Anathallo finally finds a home in art-pop label Anticon
Floating World was one of those albums that’s pretty easy to explain — a bunch of midwesterners (seven, on average) playing what are essentially adapted Japanese folk tales, throwing in quotes from Eichmann, the Psalms and long sequences in Japanese. What’s harder to do is to …
|
|
|
|
Derek Evers liked Mr. Ben Weasel so much, he published a second article featuring the remainder of the interview we featured last week, back in 2002. Read on!
This is the second part of my interview with Ben Foster, aka Ben Weasel. Much like his career, the first half of the interview revolved around business and his involvement …
|
|
|
