October 4, 2006

Silversun Pickups Carnavas [5/5] Yes, the Silversun Pickups sound like the Smashing Pumpkins. They even have a female bass player to make the comparison that much easier. Saying this is nothing new. But what is new for the L.A. band-after launching their fantastic first full-length following 2005’s introductory EP, Pikul-is that they’ve really captured the...

Lola Ray Liars [3/5] If you want to have a little fun at the expense of your favorite local hipster, play them Liars, the new record by Lola Ray, as a blind taste test. Just when said hipster is at the height of flailing to the effective blend of thumping dance rock and warbling new...

Kill Hannah Until There’s Nothing Left Of Us [3/5] Kill Hannah have been in existence since 1995, and although they’ve had the ’80s revival and subsequent craze for black-clad skinny boys in eyeliner on their side, it may only be now, with both trends at their height, that the band will seriously be appreciated. The...

The Panic Channel (ONe) [2/5] Sit back, kids; Grandpa’s got a story. Way back at the end of the ’80s, a band called Jane’s Addiction bestrode the Earth. Yea, they rocked mightily. But time went on, and the band broke up and reunited a few more times before putting out a soggy studio album (Strays)...

New York Dolls One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This [4/5] Legendary cross-dressing ’70s proto-glam rockers the New York Dolls reformed in 2004 at the urging of Morrissey, who was once the president of their fan club. But on their first album in over 30 years, the group-whose only original members left...

Golden Smog Another Fine Day [3/5] What’s surprising about Golden Smog isn’t that they write remarkable songs in the classic alt-pop mold, it’s that they’re still doing it. The erstwhile supergroup-which, in their current incarnation, involves members of the Jayhawks, Wilco, Soul Asylum, Big Star and Run Westy Run-have been going at it since 1992,...

Casket Salesmen Sleeping Giants [3/5] On A Static Lullaby’s 2005 sophomore disc, Faso Latido, there were two opposing forces at play: one anchored to the band’s hardcore underpinnings, the other just itching to rock. Then-bassist Phil Pirrone was in the latter camp, and following a horrific car crash that nearly killed him, eventually abdicated ASL...

Blood Meridian Kick Up The Dust [4/5] Taking their name from Cormac McCarthy’s apocalyptic 1985 border novel, Blood Meridian is the brainchild of Black Mountain bassist Matthew Camirand, who has spent the last few years moving as far away as possible (stylistically speaking) from his days with trash-punk Canucks the Black Halos. The fuzzed-out psych...

Voivod Katorz [3/5] How’s this for a bummer: Just prior to the recording of Voivod’s 14th album, guitar genius Denis “Piggy” D’Amour drops dead from colon cancer, leaving his bandmates with no guitar player and a laptop full of guitar tracks that, while hooky, streamlined and recorded well enough to use on said album, aren’t...