the lead

We here at the AP timeshare have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with music—and frankly, the more obscure, the better. (We're still waiting for the official Cred Points™ chart to be published, but we're sure we're somewhere near the top of the leaderboard.) Below, you'll find 1 ...

The use of backing tracks—pre-recorded material or other selected sonic elements from a band’s record—played during an artists’ live performance is essentially a public secret. The world is familiar with Ashlee Simpson’s meltdown on Saturday Night Live, while the legendary unmasking of doomed ’80s pop-duo Milli Vanilli miming to tracks forced them to have their Grammy awards revoked. The use of

With the explosion in file-sharing on the internet and the incremental obsolescence of the CD, traditional models for purchasing music have been hit hard in the last decade. But for years, a steadfast dedication to buying music the old-fashioned way—on vinyl and cassettes—has helped indie-music labels stay afloat. A recent c ...

There isn’t a person in the music industry who doesn’t have an opinion on how download culture has affected artists’ careers. While everybody in the biz knows it’s hard for a $10 retail CD to beat the lure of a free download, the internet poses additional challenges for bands, managers and labels. The recent controversy ...

In its purest and original form, Alternative Press is a print magazine, and so naturally, we like to write more long-form and critical pieces, ranging from the funny to the super-serious. In the web world, it can be hard to hold a reader's attention for more than a paragraph, but the following long-form pieces intrigued you enough to read them, share them and come back for more. T...

Everybody from scene kids to hipster vermin to beard-scratching avant-garde types have one thing in common: They’re always ready to brag about “the next thing” they’re into. You can’t like deathcore when black metal is the desecrated shit, man. You can’t like dark ambient ...

Since the dawn of rock music, bands in every subgenre have been releasing split records with their friends or teaming up to perform on the actual songs. Since all music scenes are built on the concept of like-minded community, we picked 10 collaborations (6 songs and 4 split EPs) issued this year that we think worked out great and showed not only amazing musicianship, but also fostered that spiri

Every month since November 2004 with issue 196, AP has spotlighted unsigned bands in the AP&R section and if we may toot our own horn for a second, we’ve picked some damn good ones throughout the years. Here are 10 bands we picked up on early in the game that ended up making a name for themselves in the scene. Envy On... Read More ...

(photo credit: Jonathan Weiner) Crawling up from the underground in the early ’90s, Nirvana and the entire grunge movement shoved their unusually soiled flannels in the mainstream’s face. Though Green Day were still bouncing around in crappy vans, loading their own gear and playing the DIY punk-club circuit, it was a palpably energized time for music subcultures far and wide. Grunge was ... Re

Every year, a slew of up-and-comers follow the Vans Warped Tour in hopes of expanding their fan base and taking themselves to the next level (and hopefully snagging a spot on the tour in the future!). This is their story: the barnacle bands... Read More ...

The Chiodos reunion has become one of our community’s most anticipated events. The members still aren’t sure how far their reformation will go, but given their by-any-means-necessary wherewithal toward their music, everyone is expecting big things. In the b... Read More ...

“I think it was probably one of the best-sounding songs we’ve ever created, considering the circumstances,” recalls Chiodos keyboardist Bradley Bell of the much-debated, much-loved “missing” Chiodos song, “Thermacare.” “We just did a demo of it that wa ...

On the third day, AP said, “Let there be music videos.” And so there was, and they were good. Check out our top 10 music videos from the first half of the year below. You can also check out our top albums here and our top songs here and be sure to stick around the rest of the week to see our top live shows and most anticipated albums. This list... Read More ... Read More ...

Continuing our mid-year report, today we’re bringing you 10 songs the AP editors have lodged in their cranium. Be sure to check out our favorite albums so far here and stick around the rest of the week to see what’s blown us away for videos, live shows and our most anticipated. These lis... Read More ... Read More ...

Musicians constantly injure themselves while going haywire onstage, but we’re here today to celebrate those who soldiered through the pain and persevered. Whether they broke bones and finished the show or retooled their instrument to fit their injury without stopping a tour, we’d like to salute the following seven rockers for showing some serious dedication to their craft. Matthew ...

Whether you’re aware of it or not, the work of LARRY LIVERMORE has likely had an impact on your musical tastes. Livermore founded Lookout! Records in Berkeley, California, in 1987, issuing early albums from Green Day, Operation Ivy, Rancid and a bevy of others, documenting one of the most exciting eras in the history of punk. Live... Read More ...

SYSTEM OF A DOWN are touring this fall (with Deftones as support) and understandably, plenty of people are curious about when the semi-newly reactivated political/genre-bending juggernaut will release new music. Take a look at the schedule of SERJ TANKIAN, though... Read More ...

When you're young and involved in a job that consumes your life, it's pretty damn hard to have the foresight and understanding that it won't last forever. I myself have fallen victim to wide eyes and naive thoughts many times, but sometimes you just know when it is time to try something different. As simple ...

While the average AltPress.com reader may not be old enough to remember the burgeoning metal scene that existed in California's Bay Area in the early 80s, chances are good some of your favorite bands do--countless contemporary metal acts count bands like Metallica and Slayer among their influences, and even if they don't, plenty of them grew up listening to it (Looking in your direction, Gerard

Record Store Day celebrates independent culture every late April, encouraging music fans to drive past the big box department stores and malls in favor of their local record dispensary, a vital component to any town's cultural makeup. But with the list of RSD exclusives swelling each year, sifting through it to find the good stuff can be overwhelming. Th... Read More ...