Tim Karan

Anthony Green is all set on drama, thanks. At 34 years old, and after more than a decade fronting Circa Survive (sometimes Saosin, too), he’s seen and/or caused enough of it. So when he finds himself home in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, he mostly goes on adventures with his wife and three sons, plays music with his closest friends and maybe, just maybe takes a bike ride. Occasionally, ...

Sleigh Bells Bitter Rivals You’ve gotta figure Sleigh Bells are in a little bit of a weird spot. The dynamic they crashed into popular consciousness with on 2010’s Treats—the dense, high-gain thrash of mastermind Derek E. Miller and the a ...

Dustin Kensrue The Water & The Blood Since Thrice went on hiatus last year, frontman Dustin Kensrue hasn’t had to worry all that much about impressing label executives or self-serving critics. Instead, his third solo album, The Water & The Blood, was created entirely to please a power far higher than even the top executives at Island Def Jam. Kensrue ...

Moving Mountains Moving Mountains It’s become increasingly apparent that the first step towards truly appreciating any new release from Moving Mountains is to immediately forget everything that preceded it. The self-titled third full-length from the eternally evolving outfit is yet another departure from the intricate instrumentalism of 2007’s Pneuma and a drastic divergence from the more mainst

It isn’t all that shocking to hear that CASEY CRESCENZO is writing a symphony. Everything he’s done from The Receiving End Of Sirens through THE DEAR HUNTER evokes a certain amount of orchestral maneuvering (not to mention his penchant for ambitious musical endeavors like the 36-song rock opera The Color Spectrum), so a symphony seems like a natural progression. Thanks to a suc ...

Soundgarden King Animal How angry were you in 1997? If your answer is, “Not very” or “I was 3,” there’s a chance you’ll be unimpressed with Soundgarden’s first album in more than 15 years. But if you were an undulating ocean of angst in 1997 and subsequently shattered by Soundgarden’s premature end, King Animal is like opening a portal to a time and place for which you probably never thought you

Right Away, Great Captain! The Church Of The Good Thief Rarely does an album review require a spoiler alert. But the plotline of the finale of the Right Away, Great Captain! trilogy is potentially of more interest to some fans than the music ...

Various Artists Come As You Are: A 20th Anniversary Tribute To Nirvana's Nevermind Take a look at the Mona Lisa. Now paint your own version. Stick too close to the original and you’re copying. Veer too far and you’re dissing da Vinci. That’s the ...

All of a sudden, I know what it must feel like to be Josh Farro. And to a lesser extent: Zac Farro. (Nobody thinks it was his idea.) After five years at Alternative Press, three cover stories and countless nights spent before the warm glow of my computer, I’m stepping down as web editor to pursue my solo career. I ...

I thought I was being so clever. This story transpired during a much simpler time: Jonny Craig had yet to check into detox, Japan was in exactly the same spot as the day before and Sammi had just masterfully taken the upper-hand, leaving Ronnie alone in the Jersey Shore house—a shell of an orange man. This ...

30 Seconds To Mars have unveiled dates for their North American spring tour kicking off April 8 in San Jose, California. The new dates include a special hometown show on April 9 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, along with a headlining appearance at the Bamboozle on April 29 at East Rutherford, New Jersey ...

Girl Talk All Day   While it probably takes a mashup lifer (or at least someone with more than a passing knowledge of AdobeMulch and/or Adobe Audition) to fully understand all of the subtle nuances of All Day, most people who have a passing knowledge of Girl Talk will appreciate that it seems like a step forward. Las ...

I was a disgruntled record store employee/recent college graduate when Kid A came out. If you were like me and an emotionally disenfranchised teenager when “Creep” hit MTV in 1993, you’re picking up what I’m putting down here. I liked Radiohead’s de...

I’m pretty sure that my all-time, No. 1, most far-fetched dream job (aside from senior Pop Tarts taste tester: S’mores Division) is being a writer for a TV show. But it’s not like 30 Rock or Breaking Bad ever post openings on Craigslist. For better or ...

I've got an attitude problem. Believe you me. I’m cynical, I’m jaded and I instinctively expect the worst in people. I blame it directly and indirectly on student loans, 15 years of girls systematically breaking my heart and the success of Two And A Half Men. But when I ...

I pay way more attention to TV commercials than I think is healthy for the average American human. Maybe that’s because I watch way more TV than the average American human. Whereas most people probably barely notice commercials or fast forward their DVR to make them nothing more than a blur of fake smiles, I can probably mouth every single word “Flo” says on each Progressive commercial—

There’s only one thing known to man more exhausting and demoralizing than trying to come up with an original band name: trying to come up with an original blog topic. So here we are. As I found myself faced with the latter dilemma, I decided to explore the former. Beca ...

While you were probably out for at least a portion of this summer feeling the grind of warm sand squeeze between your toes, later letting cool evening air descend upon your sunburned face and then staring at starry skies with someone who likes all the same bands as you, I’ve been pretty much in the same spot I am right now—planted in front of my computer with a reality show on behind me. Sure,

I used to hate Third Eye Blind with a ferocious ferver the likes of which caused me to look up the words "ferocious" and "fervor." But this was back when they first rose to prominence and raided radio with songs with lyrics like "doo doo doo" (actual lyrics) and pretentiousness like they thought they were the effin' Beatles. Alas, this was also before th ... Read

I don’t have what scientists would refer to as a “good” memory. Blame the fact that I don’t eat carrots. Or years of watching shows featuring John Stamos. Or any number of intoxicants known to cause memory loss. And that’s why Mont ...