Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart (respectively) during "Kissy Kissy" at the Oakland Fox, 9/9/11.
Usually metal bands start off simple and build in complexity. Apparently Revocation didn’t get that memo. They’ve stripped away all the progressive wankery of Existence is Futile and made a lean monster of a modern thrash record. The slow-fast start-stop solo action in “Cradle Robber” recalls heyday Metallica. The riffs are catchy and satisfying (especially “Robber” and “No Funeral”), and the songs are well-constructed. More importantly, though, they’re memorable – something that’s severely lacking…
The two biggest (and, honestly, most important) names in rap come together to brag. A lot. As has always been the case, Kanye has some great lines (“Luxury rap, the Hermes of verses/ Sophisticated ignorance, write my curses in cursive”) and Jay-Z has some better ones (“Cocaine seats, All white like I got the whole thing bleached/ Drug dealer chic”). Since Kanye didn’t produce the entire album, it isn’t as cohesive as his best work. …
Tedeschi Trucks Band - Revelator
Sweet
Sully Erna - Avalon
Album name: Move Like This Artist name: The Cars Genre: Pop Rock Released: May 10, 2011 Label: Hear Music ZME Rating: 8/10 Website: www.thecars.org After nearly 24 years of disbandment, The Cars are back. Move Like This certainly must have been a feat for this throwback group due to the death of original bassist and lead singer Benjamin Orr in 2000; however, to the average listener, it seems the band has barely changed. Who are/were the Cars? Any…
Album name: Wasting Light Artist name: Foo Fighters Genre: Alternative Rock Released: April 12, 2011 Label: RCA ZME Rating: 8/10 Website: foofighters.com —————————— What year is it? It certainly can’t be 2011 because the Foo Fighters have Pat Smear in their line-up. And they made a record, Wasting Light, that’s loud as hell. And they tapped Butch Vig as a producer. And they had Alan Moulder mix the album. And both Bob Mould and Kris Novoselic appear…
Yuck is not exactly the word I’d use to christen this up-and-coming English band. A group of four musicians, all very exceptional at what they do but who embrace a more tame style of play, Yuck can be described as a band strikingly similar to the Sonic Youth. This is very evident in the similarities between the minimalist approach to the amount of chords used in the song and the simple but tight guitar harmonies….
Ben Kitterman
Hailie Hay
Steve Lampiris
Chris Whitten