It’s impossible to listen to Texan instrumental rock act Explosions in the Sky without paying notice to texture. As each quiet-loud-quiet song cycles through its emotional peaks and valleys, the band considerately adds, subtracts and multiplies conflicting elements and melodies to complete the picture. Even the song titles — “Catastrophe and the Cure,” “Welcome, […]
Trans Am’s seven previous albums have walked the thin line between genuine homages to Kraftwerk, Rush and Led Zeppelin and are-you-serious? exercises that push the limits of hero worship. Still, there’s something continually appealing about the trio’s refusal to march to any drummer other than its own on “Sex Change,” which revels in straightforward […]
“Cities” is a whirlwind tour through the world of driving rock act Anberlin, with producer Aaron Sprinkle again serving as the guide to the band’s adrenaline-fueled endeavors of the heart. The sheer force of first single “Godspeed” destroys the notion that a pop song can’t kick some furious butt if it’s recorded right. Anberlin’s […]
Despite the fierce squalling Dir en gray kicked up on 2006’s “withering to death,” the Japanese sensation opens “The Marrow of a Bone” with the downtempo “Conceived Sorrow,” letting sparse piano and sonorous bass lead the way. Instead of mixing brutality with pretty melodies, this time the band confines those elements to separate tracks […]
Add an exciting dimension to video-game action with the bone-rocking personal Surround Sound of the Pyramat Sound Rocker. This upgraded version of the popular gaming rocker comes with a 2.4GHz transmitter that plugs into your TV and sends a signal from up to 25 feet away right to the chair no more connection wires! Plus […]
Britney Spears appeared in a tattoo parlor in the San Fernando Valley with her head shaved completely bald.
Video on KABC-TV showed the newly shorn Spears with tiny tattoos on the back of her neck as she sits Friday night for a new tattoo — a pair of red and pink lips.
“She just wanted something […]
Considerably big in his native Canada but still a cult figure around these parts, the shapeshifting rapper K-Os aims on his third album to join the ranks of such genre-benders as Gnarls Barkley and Lupe Fiasco, liberally seasoning his hip-hop with soul, classic rock and well-intentioned New Agey riffs on the tangled state of […]
Much has happened to the Ataris since the Indiana rockers last emerged from the studio with 2003’s “So Long, Astoria.” Somewhere along the line the group effectively splintered before frontman Kristopher Roe and guitarist John Collura brought it back together, parting ways with Columbia Records and dramatically restructuring and reinventing the sound. The Ataris […]
This Florida threesome’s opening salvo weds masterful wordplay to massive grooves and plenty of meat on the bone in melody and message. Founder Manwell Reyes and Crew-man Pablo Villatoro throw down rhymes of hope salvaged from despair, and faith and love in the face of fear, without a wasted word or sappy sentiment anywhere. […]
Opener “Song for Someone” is the pacesetter for an album filled with slow and gentle melodies that escalate into anthemic, string-filled choruses. This structure, which has lately yielded commercial success for groups like Snow Patrol, works here mainly due to the consistency of frontman Glen Hansard’s songwriting and powerfully affecting voice. The problem is […]
While many of San Francisco’s most talented young jazz musicians emigrated to New York in the late ’90s, guitarist Will Bernard stayed put, establishing diverse gigging bands and recording fine albums that sailed under the radar. But Bernard breaks through with greater visibility on the superb “Party Hats,” a groove-infused album that showcases his […]
This is an intriguing and fortuitous signing for Alligator Records. JJ Grey and his band, Mofro, are a Southern-fried buzz out of north Florida. Grey’s a songwriter with a sharp wit and a knack for skewering the hypocrites, jive politicians and carpetbaggers who litter the landscape. The Mofro vibe travels freely among swamp funk, […]
Pop this bilingual Bronx duo’s debut CD into your computer, and the iTunes genre column comes up “Unclassifiable.” That works just fine for the aptly titled “All Good Things,” which explores the spaces where electronic, dancehall (hip-hop/R&B-tinged reggae) and Latin rhythms intersect in surprising ways. “La Verdolaga” starts with a drum-and-bass melody, adds emotional […]
While Ne-Yo has been busy promoting his role in the film “Stomp the Yard,” writing for Whitney Houston and enjoying Beyonce’s perpetual “Irreplaceable” chart reign (which he penned), the crooner eked out time for his latest, “Because of You.” Opening with foot-tapping drums and a romantic harp riff, he revisits the Michael Jackson-esque layered harmonies […]
