Everyone's a Critic
Were I the man on the deck at the college radio station, I'd first throw on track two, "Mine As You Ever Were." Not so direct as the opener "One of One," this "Mine" nevertheless …
Singer Gary Heffern is on a visit from Finland for a Penetrators reunion show. As stalwarts of the San Diego music scene fill the Casbah, an air of expectancy hangs heavy. Have they still got …
A new Radiohead album is an event, a holiday for my depression, a time when my melancholy is paid the respect it is owed. Radiohead's eighth full-length, however, starts off emotionless and weak. "Bloom" is …
The Lady Gaga show at Viejas Arena was a spectacle. The set design featured neon signs of roadside motels and gas stations and a fluorescent green car (with a keyboard hidden under the hood), elaborate …
If you were around the local music scene during the mid to late '90s (think B-Side Players, Greyboy Allstars, Price of Dope), then I'm sure you caught the funkified rhythms of Wise Monkey Orchestra. Shifting …
Polly Jean Harvey returns and sounds positively (Kate) Bush–whacked on her eighth and most commercial album since Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea. From the nursery-rhyme chant of the title track, it rarely …
If you're getting dressed to go to a party, you don't want to warm up listening to three-time Grammy winner Lucinda Williams. But if you just ended a relationship and want some consolation that somebody …
Controlling a crowd's attention is a talent. Controlling its emotions is a feat. The curvilinear patterns of French composer Yann Tiersen and his superb backing band — orchestral at times and psychedelic at others — …
Respectful (albeit soulful) backing vocals and laid-back, loping resolutions on the first couple tracks of this reissue (originally released in '01) seem a lifetime from Peter Green's stints with the Bluesbreakers and Fleetwood Mac. And …
Cool blue lighting bathes the stage as sultry guitar tones initiate "The Sea" from Morcheeba's 1998 debut Big Calm. Opening with what is arguably their most recognized song, the group sets the bar high for …
I hope people don't write off the Smoosh record because it's self-released. Or because it's a mostly web release. Or because it sounds more mainstream than the last two. Or because they're young. Or because …
Eric Clapton showed a sold-out Valley View Casino Center why he is a rock icon and the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a solo artist and as a …
When big brother Noel Gallagher, the chief songwriter, quit Oasis, the jury was out on how little bother Liam and the remaining members would survive. Apart from the erstwhile Noel, they return as Beady Eye. …
For a band that hasn't recorded an album in ten years, Sebadoh sounded as sharp as ever. Lou Barlow and Jason Loewenstein traded guitar and vocals throughout a two-hour set that drew heavily from the …
Valentine's Day was last Monday, but the love fest was at Viejas Arena this Sunday, February 20, for Linkin Park. The crowd erupted into noisy fits of passion for the nu-metal, rap metal, and alternative …
London’s Yuck is one of several new acts to lean on the ’90s indie-rock formula of distorted, busy guitar hooks, simple bass lines, and literate lyrics. But on their s/t debut, Yuck accomplishes something that …