Music Archives - Page 138 of 349

Concert Photos: The World/Inferno Friendship Society @ Reggies (Chicago, IL)

If you’ve ever been to a show by The World/Inferno Friendship Society, you know that the NY-based cabaret-punk band tends to pack the stage — in addition to packing the house. With a rotating roster of roughly 30 players, 10 of which generally perform live, The WIFS could feasibly hold its own intra-band softball game. Led by dapper vocalist Jack Terricloth, the collective stormed through a set of horn- and string-heavy punk-rock tunes in a recent stop at Reggies in Chicago. Photographer Mandy Dempsey captured these images of the show.

Soundgarden announces summer tour

James Falzone: Cross-Pollinating Classical in an Avant-Garde Ecclesia

With his work in countless avant-jazz ensembles such as Klang, Allos Musica, and Vox Arcana, Chicago-based clarinetist James Falzone is adroitly cross-pollinating the worlds of improvised jazz and classical, while also doing so in an atypical congregation.

Pop Addict: The Kills’ Blood Pressures

Every Thursday, Pop Addict presents infectious tunes from contemporary musicians across indie rock, pop, folk, electronica, and more.

The Kills: Blood Pressures (Domino, 4/5/11)

The Kills: “DNA”

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Ever since 2002, Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince, better known as The Kills, have been etching their names in the minds of listeners thanks to their abundance of menacing, freaked-out rock. But on Blood Pressures, the band’s latest effort, The Kills’ typical rough-sewn, scatterbrained freak rock is pared down. Unlike past efforts — where the focus of songs may have been more bent on making raucous, balls-to-the-wall mishmashes — the new album plays to The Kills’ strengths, as the veteran witch/warlock duo constructs an impressive collection of dark, decadent indie rock.

Mosshart, who has become a household name in the indie scene thanks to the immense popularity of her Jack White-helmed side project, The Dead Weather, once again teams with her cohort, Hince, who has lately found his way into headlines (in Britain, anyway) for his recent engagement to Kate Moss. Once again, the two have come together to devise a simultaneously explosive and subdued collection. Mosshart’s familiar vocals are as confident and as fierce as ever, while Hince’s flexed musical muscles show off an assortment of multi-instrumentation and sonic diversity.

World in Stereo: Dengue Fever’s Cannibal Courtship

World in Stereo examines classic and modern world music while striving for a greater appreciation of other cultures.

Dengue Fever: Cannibal Courtship (Fantasy Records, 4/19/2011)

Dengue Fever: “Uku”

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Righteously capturing the free spirit of Cambodia’s 1960s surf-rock and psychedelic-pop scene is Dengue Fever‘s fourth LP, Cannibal Courtship. For almost a decade, the Los Angeles-based ensemble, led by Cambodian songstress Chhom Nimol, has shone a light on the undeniable wealth of grooves that Khmer music has to offer, intricately reworking its musical foundations in an approach that is vintage in style with an ear towards global sounds.

Cannibal Courtship shows the band expanding its sound into new territories, playing a more fuzzed-out, rock-and-roll style while keeping true to the dreamy, reverberated guitar licks and driving bass riffs that make its music so hypnotic. Guitarist Zac Holtzman takes a prominent vocal presence, and Nimol’s English has become increasingly better, resulting in a record that is sung half in Khmer and half in English. The two linguistic styles are tied together with groovy dual vocal parts from the singers.

Whereas the larger Southeast Asian scene — including Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam — saw an incredible boom of Western-influenced, psychedelic rock and roll as early as the ’60s, Cambodia had its golden era of musical mutation before the horrifying Pol Pot regime took over in 1975. During his reign, Western-influenced musicians were killed, and their music was banned and destroyed.

Contest: Win Graveyard’s Hisingen Blues on CD + a poster

Gallery Spotlight: Extra Extra

When Dan Wallace, Derek Frech, and Joe Lacina started Extra Extra in 2009, they had relocated to Philadelphia and were discovering the city’s growing art scene. The three initially met at the Maryland Institute College of Art and planned to eventually open an art space.

“Initially, a lot of people were interested [in starting a space], but then it just dwindled down to the few that were actually devoted to it,” Wallace says. “So we moved to Philadelphia with the intention of starting a space.”

Extra Extra is one of a handful of artist-run spaces in Philadelphia. Wallace, Frech, and Lacina wanted the space to provide a platform that would allow artists to create work that could challenge the traditional notions of what art, an artist, or a gallery could be.

Nick Cave: The Other Man in Black

With dozens of records, several novels, and many film and theater scores, Nick Cave is one of today’s most prolific, consistent, and intense artists. In this interview, conducted in 2008, Cave discusses longevity and reinvention.

Morrow vs. Hajduch: The Psychic Paramount’s II

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

The Psychic Paramount: II (No Quarter, 2/22/11)

The Psychic Paramount: “RW”

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Morrow: Though relatively silent for the past six years, New York noise-rock trio The Psychic Paramount recently released a new full-length album, its first since Gamelan Into the Mink Supernatural in 2005. The wait was well worth it.

Effected guitar loops, devastating low-end grooves, and bashing rhythms again form the core of the band’s sound, but II is more compact than its predecessor. Both pack a mighty wallop, but Gamelan…, which was based on live jamming, was more sprawling and improvised. This one is a direct but dynamic rock explosion.

Hajduch: If you like tremolo picking, but don’t want to listen to black metal or Godspeed You! Black Emperor, then this may be the album for you. The guitar is a constant, blurry howl. Between the guitar, the cymbals, and the effects, the mid-range gets a constant workout. You don’t even notice how ferocious the drums are until the guitar drops out. But the drums are pretty ferocious!

Concert Photos: Explosions in the Sky @ Radio City Music Hall (New York, NY)

Last week, guitar-heavy, instrumental-rock band Explosions in the Sky took its slow-moving, hard-rocking show to the legendary Radio City Music Hall in New York. Attendees got a glimpse of new material from the Austin-based band; its new album, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care (Temporary Residence, 4/26/11), comes out in a mere two weeks. Photographer Gavin Thomas was on hand to capture the action.

Zine Scene: Shut Up and Love the Rain

Robnoxious: Shut Up and Love the Rain (Microcosm Publishing, 2010)

Sexuality, especially non-normative sexuality, can be a confusing topic. Thankfully, there’s Robnoxious to provide us with a guide to “Queer Anarchist Happiness Thru Good Living” through his eye-opening and creative zine, Shut Up and Love the Rain. California-based Robnoxious, or Rob, has been writing about these and other topics for years, but his new zine is an especially impressive effort of clarity and understanding.

In Shut Up and Love the Rain, Rob describes his early sexual experiences through comics, attempts to explain his queerness in a few essays, and even provides a list of books for further reading. His explicitness in relating his experiences — a bully grinding on him, experimenting with masturbation, and more — are humorous and insightful. Whether wondering if masturbation is the reason “Jesus got busted” or showing his speculative side in a comic about two robots that explore sexual pleasure through mechanized attachments, he writes about sexuality honestly and openly.

The centerpiece of the zine is a wonderful story/interview with Rob’s father, Rachel, and her recent process of coming out as transgendered. Even with a highly supportive group surrounding her, Rachel encountered plenty of difficulties in the process of transitioning, and Rob treats this clearly personal story with honesty and forthrightness. He gives tips for making the transition as healthy and positive as possible, and his father inspires through her success. As Rachel says of transitioning, “It gets easier. As time goes on, it’s getting easier and easier. I go to work, and I don’t even think about being female, I’m just me, and I’m there.”