Despite her stage name, blues bombshell Candye Kane hasn’t led a life of peppermints and puppy dogs. Working her way out of East L.A. as a sex professional, she appeared on the cover of magazines like Juggs and Floppers during the ’80s and fell in with Hollywood’s hard-living punkabilly scene…
Not even Satan’s minions could keep Hurricane Frances at bay back in September. Her wrathful weather prevented Ozzfest 2004 from reaching South Florida. The seas are calmer now, but Slayer most certainly is not, bringing its devilishly decadent speed metal to the far more intimate confines of Revolution, where weaklings…
KISS wasn’t lying when the group penned “Detroit Rock City.” Honestly, what’s going on in Michigan? I hope you’re ready to add a new name to the already loaded list of awesome bands from the Wolverine State. Saturday Looks Good to Me plays bittersweet pop tunes à la Brian Wilson,…
The Republican Party’s sweeping victory on November 2 was billed as a “triumph of morals.” But the bad guys haven’t won yet. If that were the case, Tampa Bay pain-rockers Genitorturers wouldn’t still be careening through our great red state, putting on shows seething with so much vice, it makes…
After five albums and tireless rounds of touring, the boys in Hot Rod Circuit still hurt deep down inside, and thousands of fans are hurting right alongside them. Who can’t identify with having his or her heart stomped on or being misunderstood? Call it Alab-emo. Even if you’re an emotionally…
How could anyone not be intrigued by a woman called “The Empress of Soul”? E.C. Scott is not exactly the model of a blues and soul singer on paper — I mean, California is not really known for blues singers — but when she starts to wail, you will be…
Genre-defying. You’ve heard it too many times. We often like to come up with new tags that generally roll off your tongue like a big spoonful of low-grade peanut butter. Luckily, the Zutons have succeeded in striding into labels-be-damned territory with their debut, Who Killed… the Zutons. Their sound is…
Pianist and composer Manuel Valera is not interested in the usual Latin licks over post-bop beats but in the shape of cubano jazz to come. Valera proves he can heat it up with the best. — Makkada The Manuel Valera Quartet and the McCoy Tyner Trio with Stanley Clarke perform…
Generally speaking, ’80s icons don’t fare well over the years in the looks department. The combination of cocaine, groupies, and incidents that may or may not have involved farm animals are to blame. The only exception to the “What the Hell Happened to Him — He Used to Be So…
Already a legend in the drum ‘n’ bass scene by the turn of the millennium, DJ/producer Grooverider has been a champion of the genre’s enduring hold on the dance floor. Renowned for his infamous BBC Radio 1 show in the U.K. alongside perennial DJ cohort Fabio, Grooverider has been a…
Your prayers for a Jimmy Eat World/Rush hybrid have finally been answered — as the teenager in Animal House exclaimed when a sorority girl crashed into his bedroom and landed on his bed, “Thank you, God!” Coheed & Cambria combine pointy-headed lyrical concepts with pop-punk choruses, giddy handclaps, and disquieting…
The aftermath of the breakup of the El Paso five-piece At the Drive-In has yielded two very successful bands — Sparta and the Mars Volta. While the Mars Volta spiraled off into its prog/psych/world music wormhole, Sparta stayed true to ATDI’s driving sound. The group’s latest album, Porcelain, delivers more…
Lightweight entertainers suffer from acid reflux live (hey, Ashlee!), survive on a steady cocktail of water and lemon, and form far-too-dependent relationships with their personal trainers. Biggie-sized entertainers have more fun pound for pound. For this, the man at the center of Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys is in…
Although he’d like to be a martyr of the law to his loyal followers, R. Kelly’s recently been brought down to comedic folly thanks to the patron saint of parody, Dave Chappelle. Guilty or not, fans always flock to buy Kelly’s blend of thug soul and catchy-as-hell R&B, as evident…
If you were born before 1981, it’s possible you went to a rave when you were younger. Really, it is. And one Charissa Saverio, a.k.a. DJ Rap, might have been the chick with the decks spinning that very rave. Since the ’90s, Rap has emerged from the hedonistic rave jungle…
Pinback’s new release, a catchy multimelodic, indie-rock affair titled Summer in Abaddon, could be its best work yet. And it should be: The duo spent three years fine-tuning the CD with painstaking detail. “Zach and I are different people,” says multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Rob Crow of his co-conspirator, Armistead Burwell Smith IV,…
By the time Taking Back Sunday released its first album, 2002’s Tell All Your Friends, emo had been around for years. TBS had all the requisite moves — churning, angular, post-punk guitar, earnest, heart-worn vocals, anthemic choruses with big hooks, and rumbling, hardcore rhythms into the breaks. It was hardly…
Six months after its release, UNKLE’s Never Never Land finally lands stateside. The brainchild of DJ/producer/Mo’ Wax boss James Lavelle, UNKLE’s latest (featuring Jarvis Cocker and Brian Eno) is DJ Shadow-less but no less operatic in its symphonic, electronic trip-hop that evokes Massive Attack and Pink Floyd. With new colleague…
Chances are you’ve heard at least a bit of Motorcycle’s “As the Rush Comes,” the techno-house dance-floor burner that’s probably spinning at a club as you read this. The men behind the fist-pumping song are dance hit makers Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden, but those seductive vocals are all singer…
Morrissey fans are just plain weird. Case in point — the Moz’s message board on his website, where fans can discuss all things Morrissey. A sampling: “Early on in the show I managed to shake (or rather, grasp) his hand while he walked by us at the front of the…
The Anti-Sessions has been a collaborative effort of local musicians rocking against the current shrub in office, kind of like a smaller version of Bands Against Bush. As the last chance to snag any undecided voters, “The Anti-Sessions: Final Volume” features several bands with equally shady records and questionable pasts…
After parting ways with a major label and dealing with the loss of his father, Dave Wyndorf and company have bounced back with a new lineup, label, and record. Monolithic Baby surpasses 2001’s God Says No as straight-ahead stoner rock. “The Right Stuff” is the ballsiest Lemmy-era Hawkwind tribute anyone…
