Music

“A lot of my songwriting comes from a desire to open myself up to nature and the universe, experiences with love, my subconscious, childhood memories, imagination and various cocktails of each.” – Christopher Lynch

This video for Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaur’s “Trouble” resides mostly in a David Lynchian universe, with heroined-out slow-motion vibes. Interspliced, however, are quick flickering shots of TEED (Orlando Higginbottom) being adorned with mysterious headdresses — an art form that has become a staple in TEED’s videos. The pieces featured in this video include a geometric wire-framed headpiece, crafted by UK wearable art designers Yunus And Eliza, and a feathery piece reminiscent of a Native American headdress. Each of TEED’s videos are amalgams of a number of wordly influences, and TEED himself has a hard time explaining where they come from. When asked if there are any cultures which he finds particularly inspirational, he responds, “Eastern, western, northern, southern..? I don’t [...]

November 2nd, 2011 – The Casbah – San Diego, CA The crowd at The Casbah seemed to lovingly embrace fem-fueled rock and three-pieces at the tour stop for Shonen Knife and Oakland’s Shannon And The Clams. Between all three acts, all with strong female leads, and the customary guitar, bass, and drums set ups, the night wasn’t without fast three-chord ditties all nicely honed to a woman’s touch. Jungle Fever SD locals Jungle Fever were up first, a trio with all the pop-power of a band like Shonen Knife, but with enough bad girl edge to set them apart from being a cross-cultural equivalent. Songs like “I Won’t Tell Your Wife” and “Cryin Blood” are every bit street-tough as they [...]

Dntel, Anamanaguchi, Teen Daze, Raleigh Moncrief and more join Baths for select dates through North America. Baths also covers Moncrief’s “I Just Saw,” which you can stream/download below! Listen to “I Just Saw (BATHS Cover)” – DOWNLOAD MP3 Listen to “I Just Saw” – DOWNLOAD MP3 BATHS TOUR DATES * w/ Anamanaguchi, Ki:Theory $ w/ Dinosaur Feathers, Ki:Theory # w/ Teen Daze, Morgan Greenwood ^ w/ Dntel, Raleigh Moncrief 11.30 – Philadelphia – The Arch * 12.1 – Cambridge – The Middle East (Downstairs) * 12.2 – New York – Bowery Ballroom $ 12.3 – Washington – Black Cat * 12.9 – Seattle – The Neptune # 12.10 – Vancouver – Electric Owl # 12.15 – San Francisco – Slim’s [...]

I’ve never been the biggest fan of magazine-sponsored package tours. A lot of times, the package just doesn’t seem to work out that well for anyone, except for that one weird guy who is the only person in the world that is the biggest fan of all the bands playing that night. Going in, the AP Tour featuring Four Year Strong, Gallows, Title Fight, The Swellers, and Sharks seemed exactly like it would be one of those tours. From the beginning, just due to headliners Four Year Strong (and the fact the tour is sponsored by AP), I knew it was going to be a young crowd. However, I didn’t anticipate it being such a young crowd that the show [...]

The Widow Blades is a concept album based on the disappearance of a woman in a blizzard in 1978.

The legendary KATE BUSH releases a brand new studio album 50 Words For Snow on Anti-Records on November 21. The album features 7 new tracks set against a background of falling snow, with a total running time of 65 minutes; through a highly evocative musical and lyrical landscape this haunting album once again pushes the boundaries. ” I can feel him melting in my hands….” 50 Words For Snow is KATE’s second album release of 2011, following Director’s Cut which was released in May to massive critical acclaim. The new album features a small number of special guest musicians including Elton John, Andy Fairweather Low and, on the title track, the British writer/broadcaster/raconteur Stephen Fry. KATE BUSH has been cited [...]

Rob Crow is a man of multiple musical ventures. One could even say he is a man of multiple musical adventures: hailing from very distinct bands such as Pinback, Goblin Cock, The Ladies, Heavy Vegetable, and Thingy (amidst several others), he now brings us a versatile new solo record curiously entitled He Thinks He’s People. I am still trying to uncover what that title means or could mean, just as I am still trying to decipher all the lyrics for the songs on this album. From what I can make out, the words throughout the album are quite clever and curt, often times posing provocative questions like “Does your memory do you justice?” from the track “Locking Seth Putnam In [...]

On Lo & Behold, Emil & Friends have assembled a pop album the way a mash-up DJ might piece together a mix. By incorporating a wide-reaching mélange of elements, the band has created a playful universe of sound where just about anything they can dream up goes.   See all Emil & Friends-related posts From track to track and within each track itself, the possibilities are… unpredictable. “Rain Check,” with its groovy basslines and horns, could soundtrack a New York street party in the middle of a summer; “Mask Like Face” begins as a traditional indie pop track but explodes into digitized voice manipulations that cavort with strings and electronic blips. “C.U.P.I.D.” rolls with modern hip-hop swagger yet bears proggy [...]

Keeping score of Battles’ musical configuration from album to album can be perplexing, but the effort is more than worth the confusion. They began as an instrumental band (EP C), to add vocals (Mirrored), then lose vocalist Tyondai Braxton. For their latest, Gloss Drop, they’ve featured a whole host of guest vocalists. As Battles is now a trio featuring founding members Ian William (Don Caballero), John Stainer (Helmet), and Dave Konopka (Lynx); they must answer the question, “How do we recreate an album of guest vocalists live?” And more importantly, will Gary Numan come along and let us use his jet? The Mayan – Los Angeles, CA – 17 October 2011 Tokyo-based Nisennenmondai opened the show. Like Battles, they are [...]