…”We traveled around the world collaborating with the most happening musicians, authors, scientists and thinkers… 70 % Water, 18% Carbon, 5% Nitrogen, 2% Calcium.”   … 1 GIANT LEAP is a twelve-step program (tracks) with a very unique time signature - 4/4²… but I think this is not: water, carbon,...

The film A Walk To Remember took a lot of slack for being a middle of the road love story. It should come as no surprise then that A Walk To Remember’s soundtrack serves as an equally lukewarm companion piece.  When all goes according to plan, a movie and it’s...

The specter of Sept 11th seems to have chilled the assortment of politicore bands that once enjoyed ramming their rants at will. Free speech just so long as you pay at the door. Non-conformists to the core, Anti-Flag seize the fulcrum of recent events to unleash their most jarring statement...

Armchair Martian is described as a high-energy punk rock trio out of Fort Collins, Colorado. I don't know where that description originated from, because their new CD WHO WANTS TO PLAY BASS, doesn't fall in that category at all. Maybe the label, MyRecords, should reconsider the genre, because this CD...

I love it when my pundit pals get it wrong. In their collective endorsement of Mississippi bluesman Asie Payton's debut album back in '99 (hands-down, "Worried" was the best blues disc of that year), the majority of reviews noted that the reluctant performer and seldom-recorded guitarist/vocalist wasn't currently touring or...

Along with a back-where-they-belong alliance with the Epitaph label, the prodigal return of guitarist Brett Gurewitz to Bad Religion was a welcomed indication to followers that the band was still focused on its mission in making the music matter. Not that either band or Mr. Brett grew soft during the...

Singer Celine Dion seems to have accomplished the unthinkable -- securing herself a position as a bankable, Streisand-like diva for a new generation. Few women have managed to capture and sustain the spotlight as long as Dion. Testing her fans loyalty, she took a hiatus from making hits and instead,...

Chao is a band in the sense that Nine Inch Nails is a band; it's the vision of one person with a revolving cast of occasional guest musicians. In the case of Chao, it's Regina Chellew, formerly of Dallas' Captain Audio. HITSTHEMISS is a dreamy sort of compilation, with Chellew...

Cyclefly’s latest album arrived from my editor with a host of other ones and I listened to it accordingly, and other then noting its overall tightness and obvious influences it didn‘t sharply stand out except for being much mellower then many of the CD's I have been getting lately. Later...

It's not imagination that Jurado always seems to get shuffled to the bottom of the deck while other pop songsmiths get their due. Not as uneasy as Ryan Adams, not as pensive as the Eel's Mark Everett, nor as assertive as Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carraba, Jurado's work naturally reflects some...