Everyone's a Critic
The oldest member of the Enemy is 23, but this three-piece from England displays impressive musical maturity. Music for the People is the band's sophomore effort and it delivers, with high-energy crowd-pleasers such as “51st …
Maybe the name of the band should be Trial by Audience. New band, new music. The frontman, blues-rock guitarist Robben Ford, said it was the first time they'd played it for anyone. It was groundbreaking, …
Lupe Fiasco makes relevant, conscientious, agreeable hip-hop music that anyone can get behind, regardless of exposure to -- or seclusion from -- the rap scene. That said, the emcee's latest "mixtape," Enemy of the State: …
Concertgoers attending the San Diego Symphony's performance of Prokofiev's 5th Symphony on January 7 were greeted by the composer himself, or rather, his very convincing look-alike (right down to hair style and Russki accent) Nuvi …
Much as I want to get behind a band from my old Maryland stomping grounds (Wheaton, Rockville), I'm as bored as I am impressed by Hotspur. My feelings really don't apply -- these guys have …
Genial Sacramento eccentric Anton Barbeau travels to England for this one, and writes about same for his first song, no less. Other selections highlight the thin line between Esperanto and joyous gibberish, with backwards- and …
Ex Libras are the latest disciple of the new prog genre, and like their primogenitors Muse and Oceansize, they're more concerned with bombastic, stadium-crushing peaks than, say, making actual music. Their debut album Suite(s) is …
When Lisa and I exited the Ruby Room, we couldn't decide between triple espressos or permanent bunks in Titicacaman's parallel universe. With the mildly strangled, dreamily idiotic vocals of an erotic asphyxiator, he took us …
With beguiling rhythms and building-block layers, Oceanside-based band the Drowning Men stand out from the indie-rock pack. Over pure punk and Irish folk and through tasteful use of voice, drums, organ, guitar, accompanied by the …
The one-man space-ambient project of Daniel Lopatin, Oneohtrix Point Never, is more concerned with the background than the foreground. His debut Rifts smothers you with arcane haze, apocalyptic drone, and dementia-inducing synth for 27 difficult …
I Have Hands should appeal to Residents fans who need something to embellish their burns and to know-it-alls who've "heard everything." The Bran Flakes is a mix/mash-up creature conceived between 'zinesters in 1992. The resulting …
Mika's second album dials down excess (just a few hairs) to prove that nothing succeeds like forthrightness. Even more than his three-strip Technicolor debut Life In Cartoon Motion, Boy works best as an Original Cast …
"The freaks are outside, and we've locked the doors!" whoops Lady Gaga during Monster Ball, the show created as a safe place for her “little monsters,” as she refers to her fans who displayed a …
I feared the cheerful Christmas lights decking the stage at Belly Up would be too incongruous to the sepia tones of rust-belt Americana act Son Volt, but the band tore through their set with an …
A funk-infused, wah-drenched guitar riff surrenders to a prog-rock progression as lead vocalist/guitarist Thomas Erak screams, "I f*ing hate myself." With unmitigated audacity, the power trio of Erak, drummer Andrew Forsman, and bassist Frank Ene, …
Jingle Ball 2009, a Star 94.1 fundraiser concert for women's shelter Becky's House, was an acoustic triple bill featuring Ingrid Michaelson, Uncle Kracker, and Michelle Branch. The three artists played in that order and provided …