Fans of Slayer would find themselves in familiar territory if they stopped in Saturday night at Bricktown Live, 103 Flaming Lips Alley, where the Wisconsin-based band will be playing tracks off “Black Rivers Flow.” The album was released by legendary label Metal Blade Records last week. Similarly thrash-minded bands Death Angel and Bonded by Blood […]
Stephen Carradini
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Such great Heights
JT Woodruff, lead singer of Hawthorne Heights, loves Bruce Springsteen’s work. And not just the anthem-laden albums, which would make sense, as Hawthorne Heights have been playing their own soaring, pounding rock songs for 10 years. Nope, he’s a fan of The Boss’ “The Promise,” a 2010 collection of B-sides from the “Darkness at the […]
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The Ex — Catch My Shoe
Rebelling against the man became a played-out cliché that doesn’t inspire any actual action. Pop-punk is the only bearer of the word these days, and that’s just really hyper pop music. Punk, really and truly this time, is on its last legs. But it’s not totally dead, as long as The Ex is around. Formed […]
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Cake — Showroom of Compassion
If you don’t like Cake, you still won’t after “Showroom Of Compassion.” There’s nothing here that even tries to convince you otherwise. If you love Cake, though, this is the equivalent of John McCrea delivering a singing “thank you” and then giving you a hug. This album is magic (prolonged). By “fan’s album,” I mean […]
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Starlings, TN — How Dark It Is Before the Dawn
“How Dark It Is Before The Dawn” by Starlings, TN is easily the most crushingly sad album I’ve heard this year. It’s also on the shortlist for “Most Depressing Album I’ve Ever Heard,” right up there with every one of Elliott Smith’s records and “And Now That I’m In Your Shadow” by Damien Jurado. Starlings, […]
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Social Distortion — Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes
On the other, the fact that a 32-year-old band is writing relevant music is kind of amazing and deserves more props than the first line gave it. I suppose it matters if you’ve heard Social Distortion before: If you’re a fan of their music, “Hard Times” will be nothing but exciting to you. New listeners […]
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Esben and the Witch — Violet Cries
The quiz determines whether or not you will want to purchase “Violet Cries” by Esben and the Witch: 1. Do you like Björk? If yes, buy album. If no, continue to question two. 2. Do you like art for the sake of art? If yes, buy album. If no, continue to question three. 3. Do […]
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Ugly no more
“We didn’t know if, when we broke up, these songs would ever get released,” said Colin Bray, guitarist for the band. “I’m really glad they did. I think they’re some of the best songs we’ve written.” The disc was recorded pre-breakup in the band members’ houses, and the cover was conceived by them and local […]
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Fold me now
Ben Folds has been at this so long that the first release of his second band was 10 years ago. “That’s my old shit now. That’s fucked up,” he said, laughing. But even if “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” his first album of piano pop under his own name after the dissolution of ’90s indie critical darling […]
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Steven Drozd — The Heart Is a Drum Machine
Steven Drozd — The Heart Is a Drum Machine The Flaming Lips are incredibly self-contained; the members rarely do side projects. So it’s with great interest that multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd’s score for the music documentary “The Heart Is a Drum Machine” appears, as the Lips’ resident music genius hasn’t released his own stuff (ignoring studio […]