Getting Serious With Jared Leto
I asked Jared Leto’s serious brain some questions for Metromix about online crowdsourcing, 30 Seconds to Mars’ new American tour, playing John Lennon’s assassin Mark David Chapman on film, Kanye […]
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Absolutely Essential 90s Band Reunions
From the Cocteau Twins to Bowery Electric to the late, great Gravediggaz, we could really use some bands that were either born or broken in the 90s.
Hail the Coolest Two-Person Bands On Earth
Evidently, sometimes it does take two to make things go right, as the song and its famous simulations once said. There aren’t too many memorable two-person bands in musical history, […]
Best Concert Films Ever? Screen These Legends
On Apr. 30, Phish 3D hit theaters in a limited engagement, taking concert films into the multiple dimensions of the post-Avatar era. But Phish’s 2D predecessors still have a serious […]
Meet the New Soul Stirrers!
What’s the difference between nu-soul and old soul? Terminology of course! Sharon Jones, at right, is proof of that thesis: She’s been around for awhile. It’s just us that have […]
Invasion of the Cover Bands!
The Flaming Lips’ cover version of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, out on vinyl in April and disc in May, and the band is even performing it in […]
Lesson Up! Black History Month Revealed
African-Americans have contributed so much to popular music, it’s no wonder that many of them have never really received their proper due. February is Black History Month, so here’s a […]
Nouvelle Vague Stay Smooth
Led by Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux, French collective Nouvelle Vague have weirdly reiterated pop and rock classics through genre filters, hot chanteuses and all-star cameos. On their latest effort, […]
Metromixed! Built to Spill, Rakim, Dinosaur Jr., Gift of Gab, The Bravery
I finally wrangled some more of my musical content from 2009. Here are four of my Metromix reviews involving the smoothest rappers alive, a guitar army, and a dark dance-pop […]
The Black Keys’ Drummer Creates Band Called Drummer With Drummer Pals
One of the most fun interviews I’ve conducted recently was with a hung-over Patrick Carney, drummer for The Black Keys and architect of the new band called …Drummer!
Q-Tip Resurrects Kamaal the Abstract
A Tribe Called Quest architect Q-Tip created a hypnotic solo album that stretched hip-hop’s envelope years ago. So why did it just drop today? File this one under “Lessons the […]
These United States Rock The Folk Out
If you’re using the United States in your band name, you better have reach. Good thing Jesse Elliott and his merry crew of 21st-century folk rockers have plenty. In the […]
Kim Deal Embraces The Breeders’ Fate
I caught up with the Deals to talk about Bob Marley, Jessica Simpson, the digital-analog divide, and the end of the music industry as we know it.
Mew Makes Music For Mindfuckers
Sometimes you hit the home run, and sometimes you don’t. Denmark’s Mew hit it out of the park on its last album, a concept head-trip called And the Glass Handed […]
Metric’s Emily Haines Ponders Earth’s Erotic Apocalypse
One of my favorite bands in the world is Canada’s Metric, which is led by the irrepressible Emily Haines. She’s smart and sexy with a gift for poetry and philosophy. […]
Girl In A Coma: It’s Serious
Man, I’ve got many interviews in the bag that I’ve yet to float on Morphizm. This was a cool one, with a Texas trio of growing power, who happen to […]
Love and Rockets Get Love and Rock
Love and Rockets are one of the underrated bands of the ’80s and ’90s, often overshadowed, unfairly or not, by their gothic forebears Bauhaus. But the space-rocking trio still had […]
Metromixed! Portugal The Man, Modest Mouse, The Dandy Warhols
Dude, I’m writing so much that my eyes are falling out. Well, my ears too, considering how much I’ve been writing about music lately. In fact, I’ve reviewed several releases […]
Dinosaur Jr. Rules the Rock Farm
Dinosaur Jr. plugged the ’80s back into distortion and riffage, and changed music for better in the process. Then, it fell apart. But now, it’s back together again, and the […]
Hip-Hop’s Good, Great and Not Great
Mos Def’s hyper-aware culture raps keep it smart the whole way.
Jack White: Rock’s Great Multitasker
I put together a retrospective of The White Stripes frontman’s various sonic disguises for Metromix last week, which was a hoot. As much as I love White’s musical talent, I […]
Pink Mountaintops Find Love In Hypno-Pop
Someday I want to move to gorgeous Vancouver, home of Stephen McBean. It’s the kind of place that inspires beautiful music, whether that is McBean’s crushing metal band Black Mountain […]
The Kills Fall Through The Kracks
I interviewed The Kills’ Allison Mosshart, who is now fronting Jack White’s new band The Dead Weather, about her various groups, The Mighty Boosh, why The Killers aren’t cool and […]
Great Northern Seeks The Lynchian Light
Los Angeles thrives on space rock, but local heroes Great Northern filter it through David Lynch’s Twin Peaks gothic pop for good measure. I reviewed the band’s latest effort for […]