Hailie Hay | ZME Science

The Black Keys and the Arctic Monkeys pair up for winter-to-spring tour

The Black Keys performing in an iTunes Session, mid October, 2010.

Dangerously addictive and musically clever British garage rock group the Arctic Monkeys have decided to join the Black Keys (who have just dropped their seventh album, El Camino, co-produced by Danger Mouse) in some of their next dates, spanning from now to the 23 of March next year. The Arctics will be joining the Keys for the last half of the tour, from…

Moore and Gordon’s split brands future grim for Sonic Youth

Live on From The Basement.

I wish I could tell you otherwise… but sadly, oh glorious Internet patron and Sonic Youth lover, the title did not lead your eyes astray; this last October, Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, two of the main minds behind Sonic Youth, have filed for a divorce after 27 years of marriage, putting the future of Sonic Youth itself in an ominous fog. There is not much…

The New Breed of Metal: An Interview with Archea

Left to right: Kyle Wallinger (drums), Adam McDaniel (guitar), Jake Quarle (upside-down)(vocals), Alyssa Porras (bass), and Jared Charles (guitar).

Just upstate from the birthing grounds of such great thrash pioneers as Slayer and Metallica comes Archea, a rather rambunctious young group with a definite and ferocious sound. Coming straight out of Pleasant Hill, California, (an otherwise quiet town dwindling in the glare of the lights of San Francisco), Archea can…

PJ Harvey: This Is a Fall Tour

A glance into the explosive garage-rock scene of the early nineties, PJ Harvey is set to once more come forth and grace the stage for an end-of-October mini-tour extravaganza. Playing in support of her latest album, two-and-a-half-year feat Let England Shake, Harvey has announced but five dates, all of which range in location from Sweden to the Czech Republic. A wild and far cry from White Chalk (Harvey’s prior most recent release of 2007), Let England Shake exhibits…

The Kills Tame the Fox

Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart (respectively) during "Kissy Kissy" at the Oakland Fox, 9/9/11.

All is quiet in the Oakland Fox Theatre; the Friday night air (in which the scents of various types of alcohol and stale breath swim) has never been so…silent. The crowd waits, enthralled, hanging on any sound they could manage to hear from beyond the black side-curtains of the stage. Boots hit the hardwood stage floor, but…

Broken Boy Soldiers: The Raconteurs Are Back

I was honestly afraid we’d seen the last of musician/producer Jack White, considering he stopped touring with the Dead Weather late last year and disbanded the White Stripes earlier this year, and that we’d therefore seen the last of the Raconteurs…but I was afraid (past-tense), until I happened upon Jack’s Third Man Records site a few days back. To my (and, presumably, most other Raconteurs fans around the globe) surprise, the Raconteurs have announced an upcoming show…

Amy Winehouse: September 14, 1983- July 23, 2011.

UPDATE: September 14, 2011: According to her family, no illegal substances were found in Winehouse’s body after the toxicology report. At just 27 years of age, Amy Winehouse, the soulful singer/songwriter who brought you such hits as “Rehab” and “You Know I’m No Good”, was found dead this morning of a (not yet confirmed) drug overdose at her home in London. For a long while, Winehouse had noticeably been fighting an intense battle with hard…

Band of Skulls to Embark on European Tour

Left to right: Russell Marsden (guitar, vocals), Emma Richardson (bass, vocals), and Matt Hayward (drums.).

Angsty English garage rock trio Band of Skulls has just announced their up-and-coming European tour, to be held in October of this year. With their tricky, hang-on-the-wire rhythms and delicate harmonies, Band of Skulls made their name in the tough world of indie rock; on the other hand, they are not afraid to pull out the muddy guitar of eras long ago. …

The Kills Come Back for More: Second North American Tour for 2011

Apparently, the seventeen tour dates completed in North America this spring weren’t enough for The Kills, seeing as the raw rock n’ roll duo from London just announced a second leg of the tour, which consists of nine dates and begins this August. The band, comprised of powerful (and daunting) vocalist Alison Mosshart and her striking guitarist Jamie Hince, has been touring in support of their latest and (according to many critics) greatest album to date, Blood Pressures. Because of…

Berkeley Colored Metal: An Interview With Apothesary

Apothesary in the middle of their set at 924 Gilman.

Forget the stereotypes, people. Gone are the greasy, stand-offish metal band members, and in their places come the members of Apothesary, a three-piece metal band from the East Bay Area of California (Concord). Right off the bat, the three main members of the band, Jared Eandi, Greg O’Neill, and Clayton Cagle, were very amiable and willing to let me in to their musical…