Arts

Sterile Jets Liquor Store (Yesca Rock) 3/5 Liquor Store revisits the original definition of what it means to be punk, and does it with a certain likeability. California’s Sterile Jets set out to make music that transcends musical restraint. Trying to place this album into one genre is nearly impossible. Drawing influences from noise/art/stoner-punk and […]

The New Pornographers Brill Bruisers (Last Gang Records) 3/5 You may remember The New Pornographers last album, Together, from the whole month it was stuck in your head after listening to it. If you are looking for the same edgy, catchy, high-energy hits in Brill Bruisers, prepare to be disappointed. The Vancouver supergroup’s new album […]

Minneapolis-based rapper Brother Ali has spent the past couple of years playing some big-ass festivals: Rock the Bells, Back to Basics, Soundcheck, even headlining the Minnesota State Fair… the man has done it all. But it’s his upcoming club tour that he’s most excited about, because it’s a chance to reconnect with his longtime fans. […]

Gospel singer Marvin Matthews almost pursued a career in opera singing, but because he had difficulty with opera’s darker subject matter he found the light and focused his efforts on gospel music. It’s a genre that allows him to share a message with the audience that is meaningful to him. “I started singing in church […]

Man… sometimes there’s another batch of Led Zeppelin reissues and you just want to close your eyes and wish it all away. I mean, the band put out eight (nine if you count Coda) classic, timeless albums, and then we have to suffer through a lifetime of BS because of it? Well, good news: while […]

WISH WISH (Hand Drawn Dracula) 2/5 After a couple of mugs of coffee I sat down to listen to WISH’s self-titled and self-described “alternative/psychedelic” album. I quickly became irritated by the excessively grungy sound of feedback from heavily distorted guitars going off on unending solo jam sprees. Perhaps the coffee had made me overly sensitive […]