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Apparently, I had Paul Weller all wrong. He hasn’t lost his edge, despite years of boring, watered down soul records. At the Teenage Cancer Trust concert on March 28th, Weller saw a portrait of Sting hanging in the corridor at Royal Albert Hall in London and decided to spit on it. Accoring to [...]

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Andy Partridge has teamed up with original XTC keyboard player Barry Andrews and drummer Martyn Barker to form Monstrance- an improvisational trio. Its self-titled debut, a double CD set, is performed comletely live and, obviously, improvised and available in two forms, orange, and a very limited pressing of blue. However, due to its extreme [...]

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Impressive, in-depth piece on Of Montreal mastermind and resident freak Kevin Barnes over at Australia’s Wireless Bollinger. In it he discusses how anti-depressants saved his life but screwed up his marriage (thus, creating the thematic groundwork for Hissing Fauna…), his affinity for Syd Barret’s pop complexities, and his work on the next Of Montreal [...]

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A vintage 1994 performance by The Jesus Lizard at the Rat in Boston is very exciting, indeed. There are few frontmen as blissfully insane as David Yow. I love how perfectly this Michael Azerrad quote from his book, Our Band Could Be Your Life describes Yow’s vocals: “on the Jesus Lizard albums (Steve) Albini [...]

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What? Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain count as The Smashing Pumpkins? Since when? Oh, since Billy Corgan’s solo album tanked. A full reunion didn’t seem so important, then, I guess. Granted, Billy Corgan was inarguably the creative force in that band, but there were two other players…James Iha and what’s her drugs…D’Arcy? This [...]

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Never the wittiest man in the music business, Oasis’ Noel Gallager has slandered Bloc Party as “a band off University Challenge” (a long-running, British television quiz show). Coming from Noel, that’s actually not too bad, considering he wished members of Blur to be smited with Aids back in 1995. But Bloc Party isn’t taking [...]

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It does seem like there’s a rash of foul-mouthed British pop singers storming our shores lately. Well, ok, two. That’s not quite a storm. But Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse have kicked up enough press in the wakes of their respective US releases of proven overseas hits to make it seem like one.

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Tower Records went under because it ripped off customers, overcharging by embarrassing margins that anyone with half a clue knew better than to pay. Most mall record store chains have died similar deaths for similar reasons, but that doesn’t mean the CD is dead. Yet. Slate’s piece today calls the constant CD doomsaying an anomoly, [...]

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According to Punknews, heart on sleeve bedwetters, Thursday, are parting ways with Island records. Amicably, of course: “Everyone at IDJ has treated the band with respect and we are leaving on good terms with all our friendships still intact.” Right, right. This is all code for “we didn’t sell as many records as our shitty [...]

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We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank sold 133,000 copies, topping Joss Stone and some American Idol nonsense. It’s kind of hard to wrap my head around the fact that Modest Mouse is as big as it is. With The Shins, The Arcade Fire, and Modest Mouse all selling well, the Top 200 [...]

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I’ve never really understood the psyche rock tag when applied to Of Montreal. Kevin Barnes is such a succinct songwriter. His arrangements are meticulously composed and arranged, and he incorporates so many styles in his complicated pop tunes that downgrading any of it to psyche rock would be an injustice that’s not only inaccurate [...]

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This band knows how to put together some merchandise. When I first saw it in 2003, I was astounded by the selection (especially for a band that, at the time, only had one record under a different name). Everything from pint glasses and shot glasses down to hoodies and patches, you know, for the emo kids. Who would [...]

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Boderline personality disorder poster woman, Sinead O’Connor has a new double album headed your way on June 26th via Koch, who has reportedly signed O’Connor for “multi-products”, whatever the hell that means.
O’Connor promises her new set, entitled Theology, has “no message…no preaching.” Off to a good start, I suppose. On the bad side, she [...]

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There’s been an arrest in the Weiland family, but this time it’s not for drugs. I know, I know. I, too, was hoping for that long overdue overdose. Anyway, Ex-Stone Temple Pilots and current Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland had his clothes torched by his wife after they had a “brawl” at a luxury [...]

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If the [...]

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