Having strummed his guitar and sang his heart out for the past 10 years, Taylor Locke is no stranger to the stage, since he played as lead guitarist and singer in Rooney and in the Roughs. With his new band, Locke steps back onto the LA music scene with “Time Stands Still” — his first solo album. Still inspired...
Cannibal Ox is a hip-hop duo from Harlem, N.Y., composed of emcees Vordul Mega and Vast Aire. This is the group’s second album and first album release in 14 years, but the group switched producer El P for Bill Cosmiq for this album, with one guest production spot by Black Milk. Their first album is a lot to live...
Ghostface Killah and Toronto jazz band BadBadNotGood’s (BBNG) collaborative album, “Sour Soul,” is a tour de force of gritty hip-hop and smooth jazz. This LP is Ghostface’s third album rapping over live instruments, following “36 Seasons,” and “12 Reasons to Die.” Unfortunately, the album gets bogged down at times by Ghostface Killah’s lyrics, which come off as dated and...
The new album "The Order of Things" is the radical seventh studio album by All That Remains. It was revealed by the band that it would be largely melodic and harmonious. This is a major progressive step in a different direction coming from their previous album “A War You Cannot Win.” “The Order of Things” is reminiscent of “A...
Jose Gonzalez, Swedish indie folk singer, songwriter and guitarist, has released his most recent work, “Vestiges and Claws,” in a return to much of the same melancholic, spatial folk music he has released in the past. The album is a series of 10 midtempo indie folk jams that use Gonzalez’s usual formula of layered finger-style nylon guitar playing and...
After phenomenal success with their hit album “Night Visions,” Imagine Dragons is back with their latest album, “Smoke + Mirrors.” This album is good news for fans of their previous work, who will recognize frontman Dan Reynolds shouting at the top of his lungs, a mix of pop and rock elements and of course, an ever-prominent drum line. Imagine...
I like to think that when I look back at writing for this newspaper years from now, some of my articles, even written through the constraints of a music or film review, will reflect somewhat what state of mind I was in. After all, even behind this faceless writing you see on the page or screen, I’m sitting here...
In the ‘80s, icons like Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers terrorized theaters but amongst them an even bigger star arose. As one of the biggest names associated with modern horror, American director John Carpenter has directed horror masterpieces such as “The Thing,” “Halloween” and “In the Mouth of Madness.” He is known for his minimalist lighting, static...
It’s cliche by now that when listening to the Decemberists, you may need to keep a dictionary or reference book (or, you know, Google) by your side. The lexicon and historical and mythological knowledge of the band, and in particular lead singer and songwriter Colin Meloy has been well-tread. As is the case for their previous album, “The King...
Fall Out Boy’s “From Under the Cork Tree” will always be my first idea of high school. (And I am definitely disillusioned. Where is the hierarchical high school and relationship system that Fall Out Boy romanticized for me?) However, disentangling themselves from their breakout punk rock roots, (emo rock for those teens of 2003) Fall Out Boy’s “American Beauty/American...