Andy Partridge has teamed up with original XTC keyboard player Barry Andrews and drummer Martyn Barker to form Monstrance– an improvisational trio. Its self-titled debut, a double CD set, is performed comletely live and, obviously, improvised and available in two forms, orange, and a very limited pressing of blue. However, due to its extreme rarity, […]

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A vintage 1994 performance by The Jesus Lizard at the Rat in Boston is very exciting, indeed. There are few frontmen as blissfully insane as David Yow. I love how perfectly this Michael Azerrad quote from his book, Our Band Could Be Your Life describes Yow’s vocals: “on the Jesus Lizard albums (Steve) Albini recorded, […]

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This band knows how to put together some merchandise. When I first saw it in 2003, I was astounded by the selection (especially for a band that, at the time, only had one record under a different name). Everything from pint glasses and shot glasses down to hoodies and patches, you know, for the emo kids. Who would have […]

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After the disaster of Travistan, former Dismemberment Plan leader Travis Morrison has been taking his time rebuilding his wrecked solo career. Well, the wait is almost over, as he’s posted a new song from his forthcoming All Y’all album (due out on Barsuk in April) on his Myspace page. “Catch Up” starts off promising with […]

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Getting a shitty burned CD in the mail is not a good way to make it to the stereo. But for some reason I put this one in, and I listened to it all the way through. And then I immediately had to go look up everything I could learn about Cortney Tidwell.

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Blessed with what is easily one of Columbia, South Carolina’s finest voices, Grey Egg is set to release the follow up to its preternaturally compelling No Prob! EP. No band in recent memory has carried off such archaic mythology to the point that no one is quite sure what lies behind the band’s motives, Russian […]

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Full steam ahead for Idlewild in its quest to continue sucking on Make Another World (even the title reeks of fey self-importance). The downward spiral since 100 Broken Windows has been so steep and slippery I can barely even listen to the early stuff anymore. Vocalist Roddy Woomble’s Michael Stipe impersonation has devolved into a […]

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