The xx are four precocious 19 year olds from south west london who provide the hushed minimal strokes of young marble giants and early cure but through the minds of a young act obsessed with the r&b turns of ciara and aaliyah, having gone so far as to cover the latter's 'hot like fire' as the b-side for their first single, 'crystalised' and having first been picked up after recording a sensational version of womak and womak's 'teardrops'. having signed to xl sub-label young turks earlier in the year the band begun to record with a host of the finest producers going, including brazilian giant diplo and up-and-coming hotshot kwes the four eventually settled with the option of recording at xl's in-house studio, with 'xx' e...
If you were to take the ingredients - fun, fearless, talented, prolific, savvy - throw them in a bowl and mix it all together, there's a very good chance you'd come up with power punk band The Summer Set, from Scottsdale, AZ.The Summer Set began with the Gomez brothers, bassist Stephen and guitarist John, who spent a great deal of their growing up time playing music together. Feeling that this was to become much more than a hobby, at the age of 14 they made the mature decision to put together a band. Turning to longtime gal pal Jess Bowen, who was playing drums in the school band, they began setting the roots for The Summer Set. As soon as they met vocalist Brian Dales and guitarist Josh Montgomery in 2007, they k...
Medeski Martin & Wood culminate their 2-year Radiolarians Series with a comprehensive box set of material entitled Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set, which Indirecto Records will release on November 24, 2009. The box set will include: Radiolarians I, II and III complete with bonus tracks, a 10 track disc of remixed music, a previously unreleased 70-minute live album, a double vinyl LP set consisting of highlights from the three Radiolarians albums, plus a DVD feature film entitled Fly In A Bottle directed by Billy Martin. All of the material contained in the box was written and performed by MMW specifically for The Radiolarians Series. Additionally, fans who pre-order the boxset on MMW.net by Novem...
History has proved that every time a prevailing culture grows stagnant, a new artistic uprising takes place in order to wash away the past and look toward the future. For the past seven years Mukilteo, Washington's own The Fall Of Troy has been ignoring fleeting musical and fashion trends as its members have embarked on a quest to cultivate their own unique brand of progressive rock-and that process is culminating with the release of the trio's fourth album In the Unlikely Event (October 6, 2009/Equal Vision). Cinematic in scope and vision, In the Unlikely Event sees the band expanding its sound in every sense of the phrase: the heavy songs are bone-crushing, the melodic passages are instantly memorable and, most importa...
Over Stars And Gutters' Consider This Your Curse is the tale of two sides at war. The band's debut is a collection of passionate punk rock anthems that will leave you singing along in no time. Yet, the album breeds much more than your standard, mindless fist-pumping. Consider This Your Curse is sincere and passionate yet ripe with despair and confusion. Over Stars And Gutters wrap their jaded, lyrical stabs in heaps of emphatic melody. This is raw pop/punk for the seriously downtrodden yet there is an overwhelming sense of optimism that oozes from the band's memorable songs. Has hopelessness ever sounded this infectious and uplifting before?Consider This Your Curse is about the pain and confusion of growing up and...
Janus - is an ancient, two-faced Roman god of gateways and beginnings. Also the root word of January, Janus is a mythological figure that looks both forward and back and symbolizes change and transformation.To their fans' dismay, in mid-2008 JANUS disappeared from their hometown rock scene in Chicago...they secretly slaved away on a new project. This project was to be uncompromising in every aspect: from producing and engineering, to songwriting and branding, the band was going to do it own their own and better than anyone else in the business. One year later, RED RIGHT RETURN was born. JANUS' debut harkens back to the days w...
"I like to listen to music that makes me feel a certain way--either it reminds me of something important that happened or a certain time in my life," says Boys Like Girls frontman Martin Johnson. "If kids are feeling that way about our songs, I couldn't ask for anything more." The Boston-area band -- which also includes John Keefe (drums), Bryan Donahue (bass) and Paul DiGiovanni (lead guitar) -- is paying that feeling forward by focusing on making lasting connections with its fans. It's clear from the first note of their self-titled debut disc, which kicks off with the youthful enthusiasm of "The Great Escape" and closes with the "what's next?" sentiment of ball...
They love Andy Warhol, Darwin, Jimmy Page and Beethoven. Their MySpace friends include Phil Spector, Houdini and Napoleon. Their frontman loves shaking his hips on Steinway pianos. They love playing theremins, going crazy with synthesisers, turning their guitars up to 12 and singing exuberant songs about love, drugs, and girls. They are Raygun - the brand new British band who want to bring excitement, Pop, and magic back to Rock and Roll. More about their frontman? He's called Ray Gun. He's the man on "lead vox and sonic experimentation". Blue-eyed, slinky-limbed and razor-cheekboned, he looks and sounds like the velvet-voiced, finger-waggling progeny of a promiscuous session between Jagger, Bowie and Iggy pop....
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's story from a couple summers ago, its pages turned in no particular order: Bitterness. Regret. Betrayal. Bouts of self-loathing. Burning buildings and falling bodies. Breakups and new beginnings. Numerology. And endless nights at the same Brooklyn bar-lots of last calls that drop you in the arms of another, in the death grip of deci- sions that are wrong in retrospect yet oh-so-right... right?"The summer of 2007 was like that episode of Seinfeld, where everyone decides to do the opposite of what they're supposed to do," explains Robinson. "So instead of going home to your girlfriend or whatever at night, you'd just stay at the bar and let someone inappropriate take y...
Protest The Hero are making their mark on the hard rock, hardcore, heavy metal and post-whatever scenes, thanks to the progressive, metallic, and so-far-left-of-center-that-it-hangs-out-at-dangerously-close-to-the-warning-track music on their latest album, Fortress.PTH formed seven years ago in their hometown of Whitby, Ontario, when they were just 14-years old. They spent weekends, holiday breaks and summers on the road and on the very same day they graduated from high school – began a headlining tour of their home turf. While spending their formative years in a van playing shows, they also released an indie EP called A Calculated Use Of Sound, which was followed by their 2005 debut, Kezia, which wowed cr...
Robb Murphy is heavily involved in the music scene in Belfast, from being a sound engineer at gigs and recording local bands, to being in a band. Working away in his kitchen / studio he is producing some original pop music....
Anna Madorsky was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and raised in Houston/Knoxville, TN. Formerly recording under the name Rouse, she is now based in LA. Classically-trained, with a variety of influences under her belt (Russian, Jewish, pop radio, working as a counselor) her dreamy blend of pop/punk/blues is quite compelling.From a conservative family, Madorsky first became involved in music when she put out a classified ad for band members while a student at UC Riverside. While that venture didn't go far, it did solidify her direction and took her everywhere from Austin to Long Beach to Seattle on a voyage of musical self-discovery. She released her debut as Rouse, 'Talk is Cheap', in 2008 and follows this up in her own name in 200...
Out October 6th via LOAD Music, Weapons Grade Romantic is the new release from The Dojo Workhorse - the solo moniker of Dan Vacon and the emotional counterpoint to his main group - The Dudes.Since the early rough demos, the regional and online response for Dojo has been overwhelming, prompting Vacon to perform the material live as a solo act. Home-made CDRs were flying off of local consignment shelves and word spread through the Calgary music community building the band into a local super-group of sorts, featuring eclectic instrumentation from lapsteel to cello.Unable to ignore the public appeal, Vacon was convinced to record a proper full-length album pulling from the "best of" his demoed materi...
"Absolutely stunning. After listening to this album a staggering number of times since receiving it, I've come to the conclusion that Hymns of Love and Spirits is a combination of the best parts of two of last year's breakout bands, Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver. I'm thinking we might have a new front runner for Best Album of 2009." (London ON:) Burgeoning MetropolisSomething special happens when the four members of the Wilderness of Manitoba sing together, whether it's in the basement of the house on Delaware Avenue in Toronto where three of them live and where the band recorded their EP Hymns Of Love & Spirits or in the garage out back where they sometimes stage their own shows including their live debu...
Guy Kozowyk - vocals Mike ‘Gunface' McKenzie - guitars Gregory Weeks - bass Brad Fickeisen - drums"We've been in this band for over nine years," The Red Chord vocalist Guy Kozowyk said. "We're not the hot shit, of-the-moment band, nor are we the young guns. We're jaded, bitter, old men and we wrote a record that is vicious and heavy because we have a lot to be pissed off about. I am too old to understand or respect a lot of what's going on out there in music. And to be honest, I don't want to get what's going on because it sucks."Nothing like a little old fashion infuriation and disgust over the recycled, unoriginal and done-to-death landscape to get those creative juices pumping t...
SOME QUOTES on REGULAR JOHN:"This perfect balance of bile-filled abandon and sandpapered psychedelia doesn't disappoint." **** Rolling Stone"jump on board now because this band is going places." **** Sydney Morning Herald"their debut album delivers by being one of the most exciting Australian rock debuts in recent memory." **** The Age QUICK FACTS:Yes... they are named after the Queens Of The Stone Age song.The 4 piece band is from Sydney Australia where they have become a huge Tripple J Radio act (4 heavy rotation singles) and a ...
Along with The Red Season, Fortune & Spirits was formed of the ashes of indie pop/jazz sextet nothing plural. Founded in 2007 through a partnership of producer/solo artist Jim Robert and drummer Matthew Record the group eventually grew to i...
While sharing The Mars Volta's penchant for expansive passages, Zechs Marquise takes a hazier, psych-laden approach to its songs, as evident on its 15-track debut album Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare to be released August 25, 2009 via Rodriguez Lopez Productions.Zechs Marquise formed in El Paso, Texas during the spring of 2003 when brothers Marfred and Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez came together with childhood friends Matthew Wilkson and Marcos Smith. The group soon named itself after a popular Japanese anime character and hit the studio to record its first album during the late summer months of 2004. That studio effort was later scrapped and in June 2006 the band instead released 34:26, a live improv s...
Masta Menace is a RAPPER/MC from Pennsylvania. Born and raised in Norristown, Pa located 30-40 minutes from the city of Philadelphia, Pa, He has lived in the states of New Jersey, Virginia, Wisconsin and Georgia, but has spent the majority of his life in his home state of PA. His style has been influenced by his favorite artists as well as the many local artists that he's encountered in the different places that he's lived. Masta Menace began writing songs in 1997 to compete with other rappers in his high school. This writing turned from hobby to passion and Masta Menace was born has been actively recording since 2000. While he is a rap artist, he is able to effectively write songs for rappers as well as for singers. MASTA ...
Some people possess a perpetual desire to create. For Nate Butler, the desire is a flame that sears through in rhythm and notes. In his teens, his passion to communicate through music drove him to late-night jam sessions and through long-haul practices in his parents' basement. In and out of bands and back-up drummer for countless musician friends, nothing gives Nate more energy than playing music and that same energy rolls off the stage in waves.A gifted musician and producer, Nate began formulating the project Frequency Theater in the fall of 2007. "My wife put together a folder of all the lyric ideas I've been scratching out and forgetting about over the years that she would find around the house. I've even got lyrics wr...
"The last couple of years were the most challenging for us as a band." Evergreen Terrace's guitarist Joshua James spoke on their recent hardships. "We lost a long time member, gas prices we're eating us alive and record sales were down across the board, all due to the hurting economy. The future didn't look bright. When Craig, Kyle and I got into the practice space to start writing the new album, we didn't know what to expect but it just flowed out of us. All of the good, the bad, and the ugly things that had happened to us just poured out into these songs. It ended up being the easiest record for us to write because we had been through so much, and had so much built up inside of us."In April, ...
"'Evangelion' is a Greek term meaning ‘Good News' and usually refers to the biblical stories of God saving humanity and Jesus and his substitutionary death on the cross and resurrection from the dead." So explains Behemoth vocalist/guitarist Nergal and his co-lyricist Krzysztof Azarewicz in the manifest for the Polish death squad's ninth and latest full-length, Evangelion. As anyone familiar with the band might imagine, Behemoth's own version of "good news" is considerably different than the one offered by the Bible or the self-important evangelicals who thump it, a far cry from the do-as-I-say-but-not-as-I-do theology of grandstanding born-agains, false prophets and opportunistic conse...
In the early part of the 20th century, the magic of "rainmaking" was a favorite trick of traveling showman journeying westward through new territories. That lasted until The Great Dust Bowl Drought hit the mid-west in the 1930s and people saw these slick-talking hucksters as the snake-oil salesmen that they really were. A decade later, Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich created his own rain machine, a contraption he called a "cloudbuster" that was made only of metal pipes and cables, that supposedly altered the energy of clouds as a way to induce rain. Reich was regarded mostly as a crackpot; and he was jailed in 1956 and died less than a year later. In cinema and comic books, many villains often yearn for a rain ma...
Chino Moreno - Vocals Stephen Carpenter - Guitar Frank Delgado - Samples, Keys Abe Cunningham - Drums Chi Cheng - BassTextural, haunting and evocative, the long-awaited follow-up to 2003's Deftones is deceptively tuneful and alarmingly heavy, see-sawing between melancholy reflection and jaw-clenching frustration like a manic depressive refusing his meds. "We really wanted to test ourselves with this record," explains drummer Abe Cunningham. "It's an album that explores a whole spectrum of sound rather than just switching between heavy stuff and light stuff." Indeed, Saturday Night Wrist incorporates disparate elements of hard rock, heavy metal, punk, psychedelia, classic, alternative and...
Celt-punk veterans Dropkick Murphys are set to begin their North American tour in November. The shows will include a November 19th stop at the Sound Academy in Toronto.I'm ecstatic to have been able to do a Q&A with Dropkick Murphys drummer Matt Kelly in advance of their tour.Here's our conversation:T.O. Snob: Matt, thanks for agreeing to do this. Matt Kelly: Hey, no problem Peter; it's my pleasure!T.O. Snob: You are coming into Toronto to play the Sound Academy on November 19th, what are your thoughts or impressions of the city? MK: Well, ever since my first time there, when I was 13, I've enjoyed the city, the people, and general ambiance of TO. The crowds always go bananas for our gigs there, so ...
'All we ever wanted was to be touched by the gentle fingertips of Vangelis,' the men of Royksopp take a moment to spill their collective thoughts, '...but that is still to come.' They have, however, sold over one million copies of their 2001 debut "Melody AM", won an MTV Europe Award for Best Video (for Remind Me), and toured the world. They've chased the success of their second album "The Understanding" (2005) with the live album "Roeyksopp's Night Out" (2006) and the compilation album "Back To Mine" (2007). So what's brewing next, gentlemen?'Alchemy..' begins Berge, 'or at least the idea of what alchemy represents - t...
"I think some people may be surprised," says Alison Sudol. "They think that I'm all fragile and ethereal--and that's lovely, it's flattering. It's all I've really let anyone see, up to this point. But I have a wild side too. I like to bang on things and cause a ruckus every now and then. I'm a quiet person with a loud streak. I like both. This record is a testament to that."Sudol, age 24, is the leader of A Fine Frenzy, which she introduced to the world with the 2007 album ONE CELL IN THE SEA. The project established her as one of the most talented young singers and songwriters around; it received rave reviews, was widely exposed through songs be...
Flood Of Red formed in Airdrie, a satellite town twelve miles east of Glasgow in 2004. Starting out as a trio who met via school and the local skate scene, they soon expanded to a sextet. Sitting in the heart of post-industrial Lanarkshire, Airdrie provided an early inspiration of sorts: inspiration to strive for more. Inspiration to get out. "It's known as a bit of hooligan town," says drummer Graham Griffith. "It was also voted the crappest town in Britain two years running and was the only place to actually address that accolade with a plaque in the town centre, in which effectively it said: ‘Airdrie may be crap, but it's our crap'. Which is sort of how we feel about it too. It made us what...
The Low Anthem began in Providence in 2006 as a collaboration between Ben Knox Miller, a folk musician and painter from New York's Hudson Valley and Jeff Prystowsky, a jazz bassist and baseball scholar from New Jersey. The duo met at Brown University as on-air personalities for the college's commercial alternative formatted station WBRU.Having played together since 2002 in various ensembles ranging from rock, to electronica, to classical, their mutual interest in Americana, baseball, and morally agnostic narrative necessitated the formation of The Low Anthem. Dan Lefkowitz, a bluesman from Strasburg, VA joined the band in September 2006 and amicably left the band in March 2007, with his song "This God Damn Ho...
The Swell Season, the Oscar-winning duo of Frames frontman Glen Hansard and Czech ingenue Marketa Irglova, are putting the finishing touches on 'Strict Joy,' (Sept 29/Anti- Records), the follow-up to their beloved, surprise hit 2007 film and gold-certified soundtrack 'Once.' The twelve new, original songs on 'Strict Joy' were recorded last year and document a time of great change and tumult. 'Strict Joy,' which borrows its name from a work by Irish poet James Stephens, was co-produced by Hansard and Peter Katis (The National, Interpol), and recorded mostly at Katis' Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT. In addition to Hansard and Irglova, the album features Frames members Colm Mac Iomaire (violin), Joe Doyle (bass), Rob Bo...
