Article A.V. Club Chicago January 2009 Link The Eternals perform “Billions Of People” at the Empty Bottle in 2007. While Chicago attracts its fair share of touring acts, it’s not exactly a reggae hotbed. Our cold Midwestern metropolis with frozen streets are better suited for caribou than Caribbean music. But if you look in the […]
Interview Pitchfork January 2009 Link While the mantle of punk rock elder can be uncomfortable and ultimately a bit awkward, the members of the Buzzcocks have managed to maintain their dignity and humility three decades into their career. Perhaps it’s because, even with solo careers and a shifting lineup, the Manchester band keeps churning out […]
Feature XLR8R January 2009 Link It’s known as the Holocaust, but it’s greeted like the rapture. A sound engineer says it sounds “pretty similar to a jet taking off,” and it has the decibel readings to prove it (roughly 130). “The sound moved my face,” blogged Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox. “My balls retracted.” That sound is […]
Interview Remix November 2008 The medium and the message are never separate in the music of Matthew Herbert. Spun partly from esoteric samples — the sounds of laser eye surgery, drums recorded in a hot air balloon or condoms dragged across the floor — his songs appear to be some form of sonic alchemy or […]
Interview Earplug October 2008 It seems like Morgan Geist should be happy. After all, a bar mitzvah is a big deal for any parent, and the producer’s label, Environ, just became a man. But, after 13 years at the helm, Geist seems to be souring on the industry that’s brought acclaim to his label, his […]
Interview Remix October 2008 Link Few rappers, especially those with a song called “Kryptonite Pussy,” attempt to book a tour with their pastor as the opening act. But that’s the way Shunda K (LaShunda Flowers), half of black Christian lesbian rap duo Yo! Majesty, operates. As her partner Jwl B (Jewel Baynham) explains, their message […]
Interview Earplug October 2008 Planes of bright green figures on an Atari-like landscape of oscillating lines, vectors, and grids — these are the sorts of images that accompany performances by San Francisco’s Tussle. It’s an appropriate set of visuals for a band that creates taut, bewitching rhythms. And, with a recent series of personnel shifts […]
Interview Pitchfork October 21, 2008 Link Well Lord, I’m still on the case. I’m still doing what Dr. King and Pops want me to do. I’m still on that freedom highway, and I’m going to walk on it until Dr. King’s dream is realized.” When Mavis Staples sang in an a cappella choir in grade […]
Interview Earplug September 2008 A lot has happened since Tricky dropped twisted, shape-shifting trip-hop classic Maxinquaye in 1995. Now a daddy with a teenage daughter by vocalist and former collaborator Martina Topley-Bird, the Bristol-bred artist (born Adrian Thaws) is taking great pains to remain animated and kinetic as he enters middle age. Named after the […]
Story Stop Smiling August 2008 Link Inside its worn blue cover, the book Hollywood: All About Motion Pictures is a priceless bit of studio-era propaganda. Published in 1940, the pocket-sized book talks about “the materials for making a picture,” ranging from the grand studio lots to the need for a prop boy (the person who […]