I heard an NPR piece on Courtney Love a few weeks ago. The woman is over 40 and sounds like a stoned piece of used jet-trash when she talks. I know she’s 100% “punk” and everything and talking like a “suit” is unthinkable, but you’d think she’d be able form a cohesive thought without saying […]

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Keep Your Eyes Open – The Fugazi photographs of Glen E. Friedman will be released by Burning Flags Press on September 3, 2007, marking the 20th anniversary of Fugazi’s first-ever show to the day. Friedman is a famed photographer of the early American punk and hardcore scenes. An exhibition of his work just ended May […]

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1,400 fans will get to watch Prince perform in his hometown of Minneapolis at the local Macy’s department store on July 7, as the singer launches his new ‘3121’ fragrance. For a whirlwind tour featuring Prince at local department stores and discount marts, one can purchase the Ultimate Prince Xperience, which, get this, guarantees entry […]

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A mover and a shaker in the mid-90’s queercore movement in the Northwest, Team Dresch released this rocking pop gem (which I used to play constantly on my show at WUSC, despite its saying “fuck”) on the Rock Stars Kill compilation on Kill Rock Stars in 1995, which also featured songs by Mulkiteo Fairies, Boredoms, […]

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For a mess of a guy like Ryan Adams, there’s not much left in the shock value vault. But his picks for top five best hair metal tunes are puzzling to say the least. Kix? Yikes. But what do you expect from a certain hangover-induced blog entry on Myspace at the crack of dawn? From […]

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This can’t be good. CBS has purchased Last.fm for $280 million. Says a CBS representative: “We’re emulating what Fox did with MySpace. There are a lot of super-cool, whiz-bang applications they have that I can’t wait to apply to other parts of the business.” Whiz-bang applications? When corporate fruitcakes use terms like that it shows […]

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What? Well, it’s less of a mind-fuck when you find out that Nuno Bettencourt was also the guitarist for the ultra-cheesy 80’s hair metal band Extreme. Granted, Extreme rolled in a higher sphere of cheese than Journey ever did, but the pairing isn’t completely bizarre. The fact that Buttencourt is also in a band with […]

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I think this song could make a believer out of anyone on the fence about this band. I imagine there are plenty of people put off by the hype and the accolades, and that’s a shame. The lyrics are just too insanely good to be ignored, and Alex Turner is too fucking young to be […]

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I can’t complain a bit. Well, no “Peanuts”, but other than that…it’s a flawless set. And according to the veritable stable of credibility, the USA Today, the band made a no frills comeback: “Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers made their reunion a tribute to the muscular but intricate minimalism on which their chemistry was […]

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Joe Jackson has dabbled in every whim of his fancy from classical to new age to jazz to salsa, but it’s the rock on his legendary Look Sharp! record for which he will be remembered best. Why it takes these people so damn long to figure this stuff out astounds me. I know the self-important, […]

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The two remaining members of The Cult have signed a deal with Roadrunner records. Score? I guess the stint with The Doors of the 21st Century didn’t pan out for Ian Astbury? Or maybe it did, and this is the prize. Play lame, grave-rolling reunion with dregs of obsolete band and you get to sign […]

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I wanted to wait to listen to this record so as not to judge it too quickly. Admittedly, it took more than a few listens to sink in. At first I thought it suffered from too much sameness, but today is the day it finally clicked. And I think it might even be better than […]

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Agreed. It should have won worst cover of the month, too. As you can see from the picture to the left, it is none too exciting. I’ve always hated Wilco. It bores me into oblivion. I could never bring myself to sit through an entire album without nodding off and drooling. I fully realize Vice […]

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Isaac Brock sounds strangely detached from this, his band’s fifth album. At first, I wasn’t sure what the problem was. It sounds convincingly enough like Modest Mouse on the surface. The quirky, off-kilter guitars are as jittery as ever. And Brock’s guttural wail is, perhaps, even testier than usual. So what’s the problem? Well, this […]

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Bands don’t often burst out of the gate with this much confidence and finesse. So it follows that bassist/vocalist Shingai Shoniwa and guitarist Dan Smith had already formed a musical bond in the band Sonarfly before starting the Noisettes in late 2003. Meeting up with drummer Jamie Morrison gave the new trio its matching manic […]

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Like Cat Power, it’s not so much about the music as it is the voice for Leslie Feist. She has a voice that makes you pay attention. She can pull off simple, saccharine lines like “we could hold each other tight tonight” (“So Sorry”) simply because her inflection makes it mean so much more than […]

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