Several things sound familiar about Clipse. Virginia Beach brothers Terrence and Gene Thorntonaka Pusha T and Malicehave experienced major-label ineptitude. Their latest, Hell Hath No Fury, sat through years of label delay, even thought it was one of the most critically anticipated (and now critically acclaimed) albums of this decade. A familiarity with the crack […]
Finn Cohen
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S(odom and Gomorrah)XSW
What do you need if you’re hosting an annual music festival that brings 1,500 bands and 10,000 concertgoers into the downtown area of a city with all of a 3-mile radius? Tents. Lots of tents. And, apparently, more bands. When thousands of people descend on Austin this week for South by Southwest, the city will […]
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Un-caged
It’s about time this happened. Three tracks into New York emcee Cage’s new full-length, Hell’s Winter (Def Jux), Jello Biafra lets loose a torrent of George W. Bush’s finest quotes over a pounding beat courtesy of DJ Shadow. The track, “G.O.P. Uber Alles,” not only references Biafra’s former band the Dead Kennedys’ infamous anti-Reagan song […]
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Once more with feeling
“I’m not guaranteeing that this is going to be super-professional,” chuckles Bob Mould over the phone. He’s referring to the fall tour of the United States he’s about to embark on with a new band that didn’t start practicing until last month–and who will be performing songs from Mould’s entire oeuvre, including Hüsker Dü and […]
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Some of Durham’s best neighborhood bars…
Durham’s reputation throughout the Triangle usually doesn’t entice too many folks from our neighboring towns to come drinking with us. There’s not much warranting such a rep anymore, as it’s just as safe to walk around downtown here as it is in Cary or Carrboro. With the new American Tobacco shrine opening downtown and a […]
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We live indoors
If you’re paying more than $10 for a rock show at a local club, you’re probably contributing to food-and-rent funds for the person who’s making the band you came to see sound the way they’re supposed to. Most of the time, the fee is worth it. When national skewed-pop or indie-rock bands such as The […]
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in it’s all been done
For the past several years, Raleigh’s Lincoln Theatre has been hosting regular nights dedicated to a variety of “professional” cover bands: Cosmic Charlie (um, Grateful Dead, man), Zoso (“Does anybody remember laughter?”), and Who’s Bad (covering Michael Jackson’s oeuvre from his days as a black man). The numerous shows featuring national and local cover bands […]
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It lives!
Almost 30 years ago, in a downtown Cleveland loft, five characters ran through the nine songs they knew with a borrowed reel-to-reel tape recorder oblivious to and unconcerned with how influential the recording would become. Rocket From the Tombs lasted as a band for less than a year playing only a handful of shows. In […]
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Readymade music
As redundant as any claims that “(insert genre here) is dead” would be, there exist certain elements lurking in today’s more mysterious musical forests that are breathing a new life into the concepts of performance and noise. It’s true, anyone can make a racket with an amplifier and a 1/4 inch phone input, but understanding […]
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In foursomes
A four-band bill of garage madness will invade Kings Barcade this week, with The Husbands (pictured right), The Dishes, The Loners and The Pink Slips. The Husbands, three ferocious ladies from San Diego whose new record, Introducing the Husbands (Swami Records), has been a recent favorite on local college stations, make their first trip to […]