Sting and The Police are to Andy Griffith as The Cops, and their full-length debut, Get Good or Stay Bad, are to renegade cop and all-around badass Steven Seagal. Like Seagal and his maverick ways, The Cops have answered the call and are coming to rock you with their explosive sound complete with a shoot first, ask questions later approach. Read more…
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Suffrajett, a quartet from the Big Apple, spills onto the scene with a five song EP designed to whet the tastes of punk fans clamoring after their brief tour opening for MC5. Utilizing a female lead, they try to instill some life into a riot grrl landscape that has floundered since the recent outbreak of the Donnas and Liz Phair. Read more…
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Hung Up has brought Madonna more than just another Billboard Top 10 hit — it’s brought her to a tie with Elvis Presley. Elvis racked up thirty-six Top 10 hits in sixteen years — the most of any artist, until now. “Hung Up” is Madonna’s thirty-sixth hit; however, it took her twenty-two years to claim it. She achieved her first hit with “Holiday” in 1983 and has not spent a single year away from the Billboard Hot 100 since. Read more…
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Both Black Sabbath and the Sex Pistols will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 alongside Miles Davis, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Blondie. The ceremony will be held March 13 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Artists become eligible for induction twenty-five years after the release of their first album. Read more…
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Canadian junior prime minister Dan McTeague is campaigning to keep rapper 50 Cent out of Canada. McTeague feels 50 Cent promotes gun violence through his music and hopes to protect “impressionable young men.” 50 Cent has seven Canadian tour dates lined up next month and in order to perform, he will have to acquire a special ministerial permit thanks to his criminal record. McTeague is pressuring the powers that be to deny the rapper this permit. Read more…
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On Bright Ideas’ title track, Portastatic’s Mac McCaughan sings that he “put [his] bright ideas right back in [his] ass.” That’s a shame and probably uncomfortable. While enjoyable, Bright Ideas falls short of being inspiring and doesn’t quite live up to its author’s potential. The album would have benefited from a few more bright ideas sprinkled throughout. As is, it ambles along, fueled by a few merely mediocre ones. Read more…
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Yep, a good rock show can make your weekend. There are certain feelings that take hold of you after seeing a band perform to the height of its capabilities. It can make you feel inspired. Unhindered. Free. It was clear that The New Pornographers made a lot of people’s weekend after their blistering set at the Trocadero in Philadelphia. Read more…
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Remember that song in American Pie when the gang’s getting ready for the prom? That was “Flagpole Sitta” by Harvey Danger. In the time it took to produce and release two more American Pies, Danger released one album, King James Version, which flopped, and the band disappeared. Now after five years of remaining incognito, the quartet has released their third album, a two disc set entitled Little By Little. Read more…
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In pop music, truly unique voices tend to come in cycles: the ruggid, textured voice of Tom Waits, the ethereal and resonating sound of Ian Curtis. Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons) possesses such a voice. It is one that brings tremendous character and wrought to his incredibly androgynous, haunting album, I Am A Bird Now. Read more…
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Goth had dug itself a neat little niche, nestled beyond any reach of the blinding lights of pop. A long time ago there were a few crossover bands like Bauhaus, The Cure and Joy Division that braved that gap. Since their era, there have been few who really tried until now except for the likes of Viva K. Viva K’s self-titled debut takes different elements of Goth and fuses it with several genres, creating their own other-worldly species of pop.
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