music Tag

What’s in a name?  For a band like Metallica or Five Finger Death Punch the answer may be obvious.  Others are a little harder to peg.  Take Australia’s Birds of Tokyo for instance.  For a first time listener, it isn’t instantly clear what to expect when you hit the play button on Spotify.  “I’m not sure we really know either,” admits BoT guitarist Adam Spark.  Sound check is in full swing at Los Angeles’ Bootleg HiFi, so he and lead singer Ian Kenny are tucked in a back room withRead More

So yesterday we came across this on the Internet: A Dutch, all-female band named ADAM recorded themselves trying to sing a song…while pleasuring themselves with vibrators and having orgasms. Interesting idea? Yes. Shock value? Yes. Good publicity stunt? DEFINITELY. See what happened below. No word on if the group is going to try this tactic while singing Usher’s “Climax” next…we think they’d be more successful.Read More

In yet another shocking, yet not-at-all-surprising move, our good ol’ pal and perfectly sane Führer, Vladimir Putin, has decided to take his totalitarian deathgrip on the Russian subcontinent one large squeeze further. Mulling it over for a solid couple minutes and passing it to a vote in the Russian Congress, if you can even call it that, made up of Czar Putin I, His Highness Putin, Vlad The Putin, and Vladimir Putin, Putin decided that the whole gay hate thing was simply not enough for him – hatred unless theyRead More

I’ve honestly been thinking about writing this list for a while because I love rappers, and while most of my friends and probably a good chunk of the internet think I’m just some big groupie, I don’t want to hook up with every black guy with a mixtape or a Soundcloud profile, I swear! And in order to prove that to you, I’ve come up with a list of my top 5 rappers I’d love to kick it with in a totally platonic and not at all sexual way.  Read More

The Hold Steady is arguably the most critically-acclaimed rock n’ roll band of our generation. Having just released their sixth studio album, Teeth Dreams, on March 25th of this year, the band holds an otherworldly 80/100 average score on Metacritic, spanning the body of work they have produced over a decade of making music (find another contemporary group that comes close to that score – you can’t). Yet, mention the Hold Steady to your average music fan today, and you will more than likely be met with a blank stare.Read More

The scene around the Newport Music Hall in Columbus, OH is familiar. This place is as stereotypical as a concert venue gets; old-timey, even. There’s a marquee above the door, advertising that day’s show on one edge and the upcoming six on the other. The doors are closed, covered in graffiti unpainted and untouched in the two plus years I’d been coming to shows here, almost like a point of pride. The line stretches long but not as long as I’d expected. Usually it trails up the sidewalk at leastRead More

When it comes to your favorite musical artist, or I guess just any celebrity in general, there’s a fine line between being a fan and being a Stan. Between fandom and Standom, between fanaticism and Stan-aticism, between…you get the idea. In case you don’t know what a Stan is, I will kindly direct you to this Eminem song: Um, so yeah. I am kind of a Stan for one music artist in particular. Although I’m not gonna tell you who it is so as to protect my integrity, I willRead More

I just got back from Counterpoint in Georgia which was my first music festival, aside from “that time I spent 5 days back in October chasing rappers around Atlanta,” aka the A3C Hip-Hop Festival. This time I did the whole “sleep in a tent for three days and don’t shower” thing, and I learned a lot. Thankfully I’m not being selfish with the wisdom and I’m choosing to share my knowledge with you because I’m #based. 1. Don’t wear a leotard I know, I know, you see that neon greenRead More

The first time I saw Odesza, it was completely by accident. I stood in line at the coat check at Mezzanine, a smallish venue tucked away in the SOMA district of San Francisco, as they opened for Emancipator. I had no idea that this was their first-ever show in this city, as my friend and I remarked, “Wait…I really like this!” It was the kind of upbeat, laid-back electronic sound that perfectly emulates how you want to feel 24/7. Walking out of the venue later that night, we happened toRead More

It’s that time of year again, when all your hipster friends bring out their inner trust fund baby and venture to Indio, California for three days of sweat, dust, and ridiculous outfit choices.  Remember your sweet friend Sally?  Okay, maybe it was kind of strange that she didn’t wear shoes to school the other day, but you’re about to see a brand new side of her as she corrupts your feed with a horrific Instavideo of her dry-humping the desert floor…naked.  On the bright side, Sally just got fired andRead More

I started listening to rap when I started going out in college, and that was what they played at frat parties. (Never mind that at the time I thought “Lazers” and “I’m on a Boat” counted as real rap, but I’ve come a long way since then…I hope). Sometimes, as an extremely naive white girl, it’s hard to be into rap. I try to identify as much as I can, but once ScHoolboy Q starts talking about things like “selling crack” and “having a daughter,” he loses me. Cue theRead More

Enclosure was made available April 8th, but I was able to hear it early because a satellite beamed it into my skull from outer space. The experimental satellite in question–not Valis but Sat-JF14–was deployed to transmit Frusciante’s twelfth full-length as it toured the planet. It sounded like an April Fool’s joke disguised as a marketing ploy займ на карту онлайн без отказа. It wasn’t. Unless the satellite was  in my head all along, in which case I have to avoid a certain delusion-inducing Dick in the library fiction aisle. FansRead More

Oh god, I done did it again… One too many crantinis and this girl became an absolute trainwreck – complete with tear-smeared mascara and thirteen “prof pic!” updates in the space of 45 minutes, all iced with a nice Technicolor yawn and a porcelain pillow at the end of the night. What was I thinking??? I kid, I kid. So it wasn’t quite that kind of night, sorry to disappoint, but I did manage to find another perfectly neat, and much less “I’m-going-to-feel-like-a-complete-dumbass-in-the-morning-once-I-have-slept-off-this-jackhammer-being-taken-to-my-temple,” way to destroy myself on a SaturdayRead More

If I had a nickel for every time someone chalked up a series of bad decisions to “daddy issues” I’d probably be rich.  A whole Diet Coke rich.  That’s a lot considering every striptease is met with a series of *tsk tsk tsks* and a general inquiry as to where that woman’s father was.  I’m not going to get into a discussion about the parental effects on a child’s decision to disrobe for a living–which I, for the record, believe is a perfectly valid and intelligent way of putting oneselfRead More

I start to panic when my friend and I walk up to Beta Nightclub in Denver. My interview with EDM veteran Fedde Le Grand is supposed to start in seven minutes and I still have to get through a long line of eager ravers. It takes some time and I get some questioning looks when I tell door people and bouncers that I’m here to do an interview with the headlining DJ, but we finally get inside and get let into the Green Room. It’s empty. So here we are, sitting,Read More