The last time I saw Taking Back Sunday, with original members John Nolan and Shaun Cooper, was a show that sticks out clear as day in my memory. It was April 26th, 2003, the Saturday date of the Skate and Surf festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Taking Back Sunday was playing the main...
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I suppose sooner or later, an overly-catchy, extremely poppy album comes out of any genre. Yes, even that of the shoegaze catalog. Not saying there weren’t shoegaze anthems before. I was a huge Carrisa’s Wierd supporter for years on end. Shoegaze itself teeters between “music for a college-made indie film” and “music to make...
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This is a little different for everyone, I believe. The funk/soul 60s/70s sound is sort of an in-and-out gimmick for most bands. The first time I heard the doo-wop sound in any one-off fashion was from Saturday Looks Good to Me and the song “Since You Stole My Heart”. I fell in love with...
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Who better to play with than your relatives? Meg and Dia do it. The Brady Bunch? Jackson 5? Van Halen? My loves Tegan and Sara? Usually, it’s not too difficult to find yourself playing with the people closest to you. CocoRosie, a duo of sisters, have found themselves existing in this world for… well…...
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Where do I begin…
Here We Go Magic seems to be a former solo project turned band. The lo-fi music meets passive vocals means one thing to me: scenester love. That doesn’t necessarily make that insta-good or insta-bad does it? …..
Progressive and lo-fi. That’s what the scene is all about right now. What better way...
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Not too many times am I outspoken about my star-struckenness (sp?????). Geoff Farina has been an inspiration for years for me: from Karate to his small-room solo live shows in the Boston area to Ardecore and Glorytellers to now. I’ve even gone so far as to email about guitar lesson rates because I truly...
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Not too long ago, Shane interviewed Fang Island about what they were into. They mentioned Roky Erickson’s newest album, so I decided to take a gander. Usually, from what I noticed, favored bands have interesting tastes in music that usually have no connections (or at least very subtle connections) to the music they play....
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Some strange world these indie kids live in. I can’t tell if these bands these days are serious or kidding. Usually, a coin flip that determines professionalism and immaturity isn’t necessarily that great by any means. Usually, if it’s a silly band, you’ll expect that silliness all the time. Blink 182 is known for...
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I was kind of sad when I took The Magic Theatre off my album of the year nomination list. But luckily, where there is a void there is a filler. May it be tears, drugs, or weird album art (see above?), Blitzen Trapper ended up being the filler to the void. Why? Well, let...
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Sometimes I get albums from bands that are very new. Enter New Orleans band Youth Sounds. The band itself seems to be only a few months old but the personnel seems to have known each other for quite some times. For their entire lives, if you could imagine. Three of the four members are...
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