rock

[dailymotion id=k4zS9PPgAGs29b2Yp6&related=1] Top 10 Reasons Why the Video for Journey’s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” Rules Hard 10. Air instruments, including air keyboards9. Super-manly white pants8. Super-unmanly Steinberger bass7. Mullets galore6. Band seemingly playing in back of IKEA5. Icy blonde in leather miniskirt4. Unnecessary slow motion sequences3. Scorpions-style synchronized mugging at camera2. Steve Perry’s constant O […]

Laura Pleasants, Kylesa Kylesa is touring with fucking Pinback. I commented last year on another weird tour Kylesa did (Revolver‘s “Hottest Chicks in Metal” tour, with Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation, et al.), but this is just bizarre. In case you don’t know Pinback, they’re indie rock. They have a knack for interlocking vocals and guitars […]

Jucifer Music critics are privileged in that people send them music for free. They are also cursed in that people send them music for free. Ever since I became a music critic, I have been deluged with such piles of shit that part of me wants to say “fuck you” to all “benefactors” and just […]

Speaking of Dischord, Gordon Withers has put out an all-cello tribute to Jawbox. The record is a benefit for Callum Robbins, son of J. Robbins, frontman for Jawbox, Burning Airlines, and Channels. Cal was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which affects the brain’s ability to communicate with muscles. He cannot stand, crawl, or sit without […]

Speaking of Joan Jett, she produced a 7″ in 1992 for DC’s Circus Lupus. The pairing was odd – jukebox queen and Dischord geeks – but it showed she had good taste. (The tracks also appeared on 1993’s Solid Brass.) Circus Lupus were one of Dischord’s more aggressive bands, not counting its straight-up hardcore acts […]

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt CheapAustralian album cover AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” has taken up literally hours of my life. It’s strange for a single – the breathing sounds on beats 2 and 4, rare singing by Malcolm Young, ridiculous lyrics about being a contract killer. When I tracked down covers of the song, […]

Speaking of black metal, Sunday marks the 15th anniversary of Living Colour’s Stain. I’m admittedly not a huge fan of the band, as their records are wildly disjointed. They have a soul singer for a vocalist (Corey Glover), Ornette Coleman-meets-Eddie Van Halen for a guitarist (Vernon Reid), and an avant-funk rhythm section (Will Calhoun and […]

Speaking of Van Halen, have you ever noticed the similarity betweeen “Panama” and Ratt’s “Round and Round”? Both singles came out in 1984, but I’m not sure which was written and/or released first. I’d guess that “Panama” was written first, due to (a) Eddie Van Halen’s tendency to have tons of material lying around, often […]

Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of Van Halen’s debut. I’m reading Everybody Wants Some, Ian Christe’s fine biography of the band, and I’ve had fun revisiting the old records (that is, until the Sammy Hagar era; 5150 is fucking repulsive). They’re fascinatingly varied (Fair Warning and 1984 are almost polar opposites), but I keep coming […]

Others have written on these demos, but I’ll revisit them since yesterday’s mixtape had a tune from In on the Kill Taker. Fugazi were somewhat creatures of habit. They jammed at Ian MacKaye’s grandparents’ house in Guilford, CT; they recorded at Don Zientara’s Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, VA (interesting how the various Fugazi albums […]