The William Blakes have a gift for titles. There’s their brilliant moniker: a tip of the hat to the absolutely mental writer, painter and occasional prophet. Now they’ve gone and named their album after the iconic Flaming Lips frontman, even going so far as to put him on the cover. How meta. The video for [...]
Ever wonder what will happen during the last five minutes of late-night TV talk shows? Here are tonight’s notable performers: The Late Show With David Letterman (CBS): Weezer Rerun from October 29. Letterman hosts Weezer as the band promotes new LP Raditude, which features a guest appearance by Lil Wayne and notable co-writers Tyson Ritter (All-American [...]
In light of his overwhelming back catalog of songs that can stop people dead in their tracks, Ray Davies must be considered in the same breath as Lennon/McCartney, Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend and Jagger/Richards as the preeminent songwriters of the ’60s rock revolution. Davies refused to Americanize his sound like all the rest, [...]
How are Eels all the way on album number eight, the wonderfully titled End Times (Vagrant)? Given the constantly shifting lineup, uncertain commercial success and dark albums like Electro Shock Blues, this band of misfits—led by Mark Oliver Everett (a.k.a. E)—was never destined for success. But with songs as good as “Little Bird,” issued in [...]
In light of his overwhelming back catalog of songs that can stop people dead in their tracks, Ray Davies must be considered in the same breath as Lennon/McCartney, Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend and Jagger/Richards as the preeminent songwriters of the ’60s rock revolution. Davies refused to Americanize his sound like all the rest, [...]
We’ve been fans of New Jersey’s finest since even before their first album came out back in 1994, so let’s just say we’re used to sitting around waiting for them to take their sweet-ass time putting out new music. (Three albums in more than 14 years makes the Wrens about as prolific as Boston, which is kind of [...]
Thanks to Devendra Banhart for guest editing our website over the past two weeks. Be sure to check out his major-label debut, What Will We Be. This week, Devendra picked 60 videos he loved. Now it’s our turn, though we’re far less prolific. Here’s a live clip of “Chinese Children,” one of our favorite songs [...]
With the release of major-label debut What Will We Be (Warner Bros.), Devendra Banhart proves once again he has the potential to be one of his generation’s major players. His voice, with its careening vibrato and fuse-blowing intensity, sounds something like Marc Bolan’s, but his repertoire may be more all over the map than anyone [...]
French bossa nova cover group Nouvelle Vague (now that’s how you start a sentence) is back with 3, out now on Peacefrog Records. Now that it’s made it to the big leagues—with Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore, Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch and the Specials’ Terry Hall contributing to 3—you might expect Nouvelle Vague to [...]
Drop Dead Rock, featuring ’80s icons Debbie Harry and Adam Ant, is finally being re-released on DVD (on MVD Visual). The 1995 film, a satire on the state of the music industry in the mid-’90s, will be released on December 8 … Speaking of classic reissues, the Vinyl 180 label will be re-releasing vinyl editions [...]
