Author Archive
Q&A
Singer-songwriter Tift Merritt make quite a debut ten years when she issued Bramble Rose, an album that drew comparisons to Lucinda Williams and Iris Dement. Merritt, who originally set out to write fiction, is a consummate lyr...
Flicks
A documentary about all the great albums (Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors, Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Damn the Torpedoes, Nirvana’s Nevermind) recorded at Sound City studios just outside of Los An...
Q&A
Founded in 1973, Kronos Quartet has been dubbed the most famous new music ensemble in the world and amassed hundreds of works. It’s crossed over into the pop and rock worlds, too, playing music from avant garde singer Laurie An...
Q&A
On Love Sign, Philadelphia indie rockers Free Energy so shamelessly draw from ’70s classic rock that frontman Paul Sprangers admits a track like “Time Rolls On” sounds like it could have been something in his father’s record co...
Q&A
After taking a break from the road in 2010, singer-guitarist Kelly Richey regrouped and put together a new band. She debuts that new lineup in January. After a short tour in early January, Richey will spend most of February in ...
Q&A
Singer Midge Ure is best known as the baritone frontman of ‘80s synth rockers Ultravox, the British synth-pop band that had stateside success with hits such as “Dear God” and “If I Was.” Ultravox has just issued a new album and...
Q&A
On her most recent album, Castor, the Twin, singer and rapper Dessa revisited songs from her back catalogue and put a chamber pop spin on them, adding strings and things to the mix. Dessa, who is part of the Minneapolis-based h...
Flicks
When Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released in 1974, it was banned. Now, some 40 years later, it’s the saga that simply won’t die. Texas Chainsaw 3-D, the new film by director John Luessenhop, picks up where the ori...
CLE
Since forming during an impromptu jam, This Moment in Black History has evolved into one of Cleveland, Ohio’s most durable post-punk bands. Its newest album, Higher Deffer, features plenty of noisy tunes. But it also gets into ...
Art
Over the years, plenty of writers have tried to document the punk rock scene in print. David Markey and Jordan Schwartz’s WE GOT POWER: Hardcore Punk Scenes From 1980s Southern California is one of the best books on the subjec...