The broadcasting community and radio listeners around the world lost a familiar voice this Sunday when Kasem passed away after his health had been deteriorating. Read more…
Arch Enemy started when Michael Amott left Carcass in 1996. Since then, Arch Enemy has put out album after album to wide fan acclaim. Their newest album, War Eternal, marks their tenth studio release and their sixteenth year as a band. You would think that with all that time it would make sense to phone it in — release the same record they release every two years, and call it a day. Not Arch Enemy. Read more…
Jack White’s second solo album, Lazaretto, is upon us. It is not Blunderbuss, Part Two (The Reblundering?), and anyone expecting more of the same from Jack White in any context may have missed the point. Whether it was the steady, continuing evolution of The White Stripes, the dark and moody crunch of The Dead Weather, or the jam-ready rock of The Raconteurs, White changes things up at every turn. When left to his own devices, his sound becomes simultaneously more concentrated and more expansive. Despite taking authorial lead, he invites more collaboration in the form of guest artists and his two backing bands, The Buzzards and The Peacocks. He experiments, he stretches and he surprises, giving little care to style or genre boundaries. In another artist’s hands the variety accomplished on Blunderbuss would have felt unfocused and jarring. Instead, White found thematic continuity and made it exciting. So what of Lazaretto? Read more…
The post-metal subgenre operates under an unwritten but easily discernable mission statement – a sort of amplified Hippocratic oath that extends to every practitioner. This oath silently proclaims that post-metal bands must reach for the ineffable. The subgenre exists as a program for attempting to capture that feeling, to transduce into musical form skies as big as dreams, sunsets supersaturated with hues sublime, verdant forests, churning oceans, supernovas, cosmic gas clouds, crumbling cities watched from grassy windswept hillsides, soaring hopes and gliding birds. Read more…
Last year saw the release and our review of Killing Joke’s singles compilation, an awesome volume distilling the band’s influence and skill across multiple genres. Now another foundation act with a hydra-like legacy—Sheffield electronic group Cabaret Voltaire—is out to put a nice little bow on things for their diehards and neophytes alike, collecting singles and favorites on #7885 (Electropunk to Technopop 1978-1985). Read more…
Dance-punk group Death From Above 1979 have announced the release of a new album this September, as well as a headlining tour in Europe and the U.S. this fall.
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Varg Vikernes, of black metal bands Mayhem and Burzum, has been found guilty of the hate crimes he was on trial for in France.
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Rising star Charli XCX has announced a headlining tour in North America this fall after being a part of two essential songs for summer 2014.
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Singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis has released the title track from her upcoming album The Voyager, which will be released July 29.
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Vans Warped Tour is a huge summer tour, usually consisting of about 50 bands, multiple stages and vendors of all sorts. The tour goes on for months and visits nearly all the major cities in the U.S., the lineup varying sometimes depending on the city. The Dallas stop was one of the first stops on the 2014 tour and it went off without a hitch. The day was sunny and hot but spirits were high as the doors opened. There were five stages plus an Acoustic Underground tent. Most noteworthy was a stand for free water, which was highly appreciated, and even a waterslide. The following is a small glimpse of the Dallas Warped Tour.
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One four year hiatus and new guitarist later, Pelican is stronger than ever with their new album Forever Becoming receiving rave reviews, selling out shows and an upcoming tour just days away. mxdwn had the privilege to speak to the band’s co-founder, Trevor de Brauw, about the mortality of the band, its new beginnings and everlasting “groove.” Read more…
