ALARM threw a party in celebration of Dub Trio’s latest record Another Sound is Dying (Ipecac, vinyl on ROIR) at The Subterranean in Chicago on February 27. Sure, it was cold outside, but a night of dub and rock combined with generous specials from Red Stripe let concertgoers imagine they were far, far away.
Year: 2008
Commentaries On The Golden Path: The Allure of Belonging To America
On Wednesday, as I watched Joey Chestnut get a world record for most hot dogs and buns eaten in twelve minutes, I thought about how to assess my identity as an American. It is a confusing thing for me.
There are so many things about this place I love without fully understanding why I love them.
Bad Brains Vinyl Box Set
The release of last years Build A Nation (Megaforce), marked the 30th anniversary of rasta rockers, Bad Brains. Produced by Adam Yauch (MCA of the Beastie Boys), Build A Nation satisfied the restless ears of aging punks and impressionable youth worldwide. The album even found its way on ALARM’s Top 10 of 2007 list. Starting April 1st, fans have another reason to rejoice as the 7″ Build A Nation Box set is released.
The Raveonettes: Chicago 3/18/08
Good things come in threes- such as The Raveonettes’ new record, Lust Lust Lust. When I talked to Sune Rose Wagner of the Raveonettes in December, he told me how appealing a three-piece band looks on stage. He wasn’t kidding- as the new bare-bones approach to the stage was only one of the aesthetic pleasures that the Danish duo brought to Chicago’s Double Door last Tuesday.
Cage Match Between Music and the Net—Are You Helping the Wrong Side Win?
Since the 1960s, we’ve had a music filter with the major-label system. Now technology is putting that system to the test by giving artists and consumers new choices. But are these choices at the expense of an entire industry that has supported tens of thousands for over seven decades?
Jodi Rose: Making Bridges Sing
When the Golden Gate was built, the San Francisco Chronicle called it a thirty-five-million-dollar steel harp. Its chief engineer, Joseph B. Strauss, probably didn’t mind. In fact, he seemed to think so too, writing, “As harps for the winds of heaven / my weblike cables are spun.” Australia’s Glebe Island Bridge elicited a similar response in budding sound artist Jodi Rose.
Stephin Merritt Just Wont Stop
Stephin Merritt is a quirky and frighteningly prolific singer, songwriter, and multitalented musician whose multiple projects include solo work, four bands (The Magnetic Fields, Future Bible Heroes, The Gothic Archies, and the Sixths), musical theater productions, and film scores. Merritt has recorded a number of songs and albums as a solo artist (including a variation on the classic children’s song “The Wheels on the Bus,” for a recent Volvo commercial), but he is best known for his work with The Magnetic Fields, the group he founded in 1989 while living in Boston. Though the band’s lineup has changed over the years, Merritt has always retained the role of primary composer, lyricist, and arranger.
International, Post Global Beats and You
…the concrete floor—seemingly so solid and utterly inviolable—begins to vibrate in a steady, slow pulse. You feel it in your feet and then in your bones. You can’t hear anything but Studio One horns and overloud club conversation in this room, but you can definitely sense it: something serious is going on in a world down below, and Surya Dub—a monthly club night that celebrates “global dubwize vibes and dread bass culture”—is officially on.
Rock The Bells: An Impossible Mission to Reunite the Wu-Tang Clan
Rock the Bells is a funny and quite often frightening account of concert promoter Chang Weisberg’s attempt to reunite all nine original members of the Wu-Tang Clan for the 2005 “Rock the Bells” hip hop festival—a show that would be Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s last before his death less than six months later. It’s a skillfully paced doc that slowly builds to an almost-harrowing conclusion as the promoters and fans wait for the group’s troubled wildcard, ODB, to complete the reunion. “It’s planning a wedding, and you hope the groom shows up,” Weisberg comments, but he is seriously understating the situation.
Inaugural Fest, Summer 08′ in Pemberton, BC
Clear Channel Spin-off company, Live Nation, recently announced the line up for the first ever Pemberton Music Festival. Set to take place July 25th through July 27th with the backdrop of postcard perfect Pemberton, British Columbia. The concert features heavyweight acts such as Coldplay, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Nine Inch Nails, and Jay-Z.
Coheed and Cambria Finish Good Apollo, Plan for Prequel
Prog-based post-punk outfit Coheed and Cambria wrote the final chapter to its long-standing concept series with just one album. But for the New York-based act, the terminus of its own story almost became reality before its album storyline could be completed.
ALARM Magazine Co-Presents Tee Pee Records Day Party. Austin Texas 3/13/2008
As soon as I entered Austin’s Encore Records, I should have surrendered my credit card at the door. Whose great idea was it to leave me unattended in a record store for six hours? The Austin, Texas independent music retailer (and DVD rental location) has one of the country’s best selections of metal and hardcore, as well as an impressive selection of music from local artists. Of course “local” in these parts means Roky Erickson and Scratch Acid, but that’s a story for another time.