A Magazine for Craftmakers
THE S/T INTERVIEW: Hot Chip
Words by Aaron Richter The windfall of attention soon to hit Hot Chip is obvious. It has built steadily since the UK group’s debut, 2004’s Coming on Strong, and gained momentum with 2006’s The Warning, ignited by the top-of-its-game single “Over And Over.†This past year, Hot Chip set out to match the full-throttle intensity […]
CLASS ACT: Tunng Explains How There’s More to Folk Music Than Flowery Dresses and Facial Hair
What is folk music really? A simple explanation, by Sam Genders of the UK group Tunng. 1. On beards and jumpers. Several members of our band do in fact own one or more of each of these. It’s often said that the close proximity of the two items creates a harmonic resonance audible only to […]
1MM: Neurosis/Mastodon @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
NEUROSIS: Still an enemy of the sun While we don’t subscribe to the theory that bands like Isis are simply ripping Neurosis off–well, some bands ‘borrow’ elements from both of them, but that’s besides the point–the Bay area vets certainly showed their followers how it’s done Thursday night at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. Words honestly […]
1MM: Mahjongg @ Southpaw, Brooklyn
MAHJONGG: Yes, we Can Can Can Photos by Claire Thornton and Aaron Richter There once was a time when Mahjongg was one of the most exhilarating live acts around, spewing polyrhythmic experimentations atop rattling bass lines and catchy lyrical non sequiturs, all abstract as fuck but with a keen ear for pop structures. This was […]
For Pete’s Sake
OVERANALYZE THIS: Babyshambles Babyshambles Shotter’s Nation (Astralwerks) Where, oh, where have all the rock stars gone? Those blithering drug-addled fuckups–tall and charismatic with a Chelsea-boot swagger one minute; pressing a crack pipe into a pet cat’s mouth the next. If our mainstream rock stars are arriving in the form of, say…Pete Wentz, whose biggest blunder […]
DAFT OXFORD PUNKS: A Q&A Session With Vampire Weekend
By Arye Dworken Ask Vampire Weekend vocalist Ezra Koenig what he wants to do with his newfound life as New York’s Next Big Thing and he’ll simply say, “Write catchy songs.” Nothing more, nothing less. So, what’s all the fuss about Koenig’s band among blogs, message boards and, soon, magazine covers? Why is this seemingly […]
THE S/T INTERVIEW: Dax Riggs
Photo/Text by J. Bennett Before we met Dax Riggs, we’re pretty sure we’d never heard anybody mention Obituary and the Fairport Convention in the same sentence–much less as reference points for their own music. For shorthand purposes, we’d been referring to Riggs’ solo debut, We Sing Of Only Blood Or Love (Fat Possum) as the […]
Shaken, Not Stirred With … Sunset Rubdown
SUNSET RUBDOWN: Raise your hands if you’re sure [Photo by Yannick Grandmont] Before blessing us with her wonderful pecan pie recipe, Camilla Wynn Ing, multi-instrumentalist for Montreal’s Sunset Rubdown, offers this simple advice: “Don’t wear black jeans when you make pie dough.” Sure thing, Camilla! She adds, “It’s good with whipped cream or vanilla ice […]
Radiohead Confirms First Leg of North American Tour
RADIOHEAD: Straight outta Oxford Radiohead has finally announced some actual venues for its North American tour behind In Rainbows. They are as follows: 5/5 West Palm Beach, FL – Cruzan Amphitheatre 5/6 Tampa, FL – Ford Amphitheatre 5/8 Atlanta, GA – Lakewood Amphitheatre 5/9 Charlotte, NC – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre 5/11 Bristow, VA – […]
I Was There: Swayzak
David “Brun” Brown of SWAYZAK @ Canal Room, 12/05 [Photo by Andrew Parks] In case you couldn’t already tell, what with the recent release of a Swayzak retrospective (You’ll Never Dance Alone Again) and a double-shot remix/rarities collection (Route de la Slack) , the London-based duo celebrated 10 years together last year. (Their first 12”, […]
QOTSA Sparks Make Out Sessions, Liam Gallagher Gets Married …
Josh Homme: Just likes to watch Liam Gallagher and Nicole Appleton have staged a wedding so secret Noel didn’t even know about it. Queens of the Stone Age are asking fans to make out for a special V-day contest. Massive Attack is curating this year’s Meltdown Festival. The White Stripes have signed an exclusive […]
Greg Dulli Gives Us a Gutter Twins Preview
THE GUTTER TWINS: Just take the fucking picture, will you? [Photo by Sam Holden] Saturnalia, the God-fearing debut of The Gutter Twins (a.k.a. Greg Dulli and his fearsome on-again/off-again Twilight Singers collaborator Mark Lanegan), is still a few weeks away from hitting record stores but the dream college rock pairing is previewing the LP tonight […]