Photo by DAN LONG Bad Books, the collaborative side project of singer-songwriter Kevin Devine and Manchester Orchestra frontman Andy Hull, has been resurrected after a seven-year hiatus. Their second album, 2012’s II, by far the most popular of their repertoire, weaves fictional narratives that swerve from punchy alt-rock to sentimental folk tunes, each chorus more catchy than the last. Their latest album, III, is as minimal as the title suggests, a bare bones ensemble of acoustic guitars and keys. The lyrics are more solemn, the background noise muted to spotlight each singer’s distinct voice. Onstage at Union Transfer last night, […]
BEING THERE: Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival @ MassMOCA
Photo by JOANN LOVIGLIO EDITOR’S NOTE: Heading up to Solid Sound Festival (aka Wilco-Con) tomorrow — throwing this up to get in the mood. FYI, that immaculate recording of Wilco’s set at 2017’s Solid Sound that I link to below is full-on Band of Tweedy godhead, if you’re into that kind of thing. “A few years ago timed slowed down, we got a diagnosis [wife Sue Miller was diagnosed with Lymphoma] that derailed things so we played songs to each other, me and [my son] Spencer, to speed up the time. Killing time without hurting anyone else. That’s what [the […]
STROKE OF GENIUS: Q&A W/ Scott McCaughey
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Few people in this life have seen Scott McCaughey’s eyes. He’s been wearing black Ray Bans non-stop 24-7 — presumably even when he sleeps and showers — since at least the late ‘80s. Dude’s got a right. If rock n’ roll is 99% sweat equity (and one percent drugs), and it is, Scott’s a rawk star. He’s got about six or seven bands he’s playing in simultaneously at any given point in time — most of them have Peter Buck in them and the ones that don’t have Wilco in them. Paul Westerberg of The Replacements called […]
BEING THERE: Kristin Hersh @ Boot & Saddle
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Kristin Hersh rocked Boot & Saddle so hard on Monday night that you could almost guess the shampoo brand of the short middle-aged woman at the front of the crowd enthusiastically thrashing her stylized white coiffure. Hersh pounded her clenched fist against the body of her green Fender while drummer Rob Ahlers and bassist Fred Abong negotiated an intro, her eyes narrowed in a thousand-yard stare into the abyss at the back of the room as she delivered a verse’s gritty vocals, and then broke for a middle-eight with a chillingly disaffected gaze over her scorching […]
HOWE GELB: The Influence Of Non-Influence
Howe Gelb + ME (Mitch Esperanza) play @ Old Swedes Church Wednesday June 26th. Howe Gelb has released something like 60 albums of gloriously shambling, sunbaked Americana, high desert mysticism and accidental grace. All of them should be heard before you die. His latest is Gathered, which includes collaborations with M. Ward, Anna Karina, and Pieta Brown. From the sound of it, this is his self-penned bio: One takes issuance with band bios. They often read as if the writer is trying to sell you on something. These days, bands are brands and the bio regards them as product instead […]
I Went To Father John Misty’s House And All I Got Was Stoned…And This 7,156 Word Magnum Opus
Illustration by RACHEL WADA EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third and final installment of my 2013 MAGNET cover story. Part 1 is HERE. Part 2 is HERE. Misty Mountain Hop If Father John Misty’s life was a Hollywood movie, it would be a metaphysical jail-break thriller about a wrongly convicted man escaping the prison of belief thanks to the liberating power of rock ‘n’ roll and psychedelic drugs. MAGNET goes to the mountain to help write the script. BY JONATHAN VALANIA III In Seattle, Tillman befriended Damien Jurado, whose CDs, with their Christian subtext, had gotten past the gatekeepers at […]
BEING THERE: Perry Farrell @ World Cafe Live
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Since his days fronting Jane’s Addiction, Perry Farrell has convened several other projects, including alt-rockers Porno For Pyros, concept-electronica crew Satellite Party and, now, his eponymous Kind Heaven Orchestra — a self-proclaimed “solo project” that reads more as supergroup collective. For their debut, Farrell tapped industry heavyweight Tony Visctonti — known for his work with Iggy and Bowie and T. Rex — to produce a record featuring the likes of Matt Chamberlain (of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden), Tommy Lee (of Mötley Crüe, and Pamela Anderson), the Foo Fighter’s Taylor Hawkins, plus George Harrison’s kid, the guitarist […]
I Went To Father John Misty’s House And All I Got Was Stoned…And This 7,156 Word Magnum Opus
Illustration by RACHEL WADA EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second installment of my 2013 MAGNET cover story. Part 1 is HERE. Misty Mountain Hop If Father John Misty’s life was a Hollywood movie, it would be a metaphysical jail-break thriller about a wrongly convicted man escaping the prison of belief thanks to the liberating power of rock ‘n’ roll and psychedelic drugs. MAGNET goes to the mountain to help write the script. BY JONATHAN VALANIA II Joshua Michael Tillman is largely estranged from his family. He has contact with his parents about once a year, if at all, and it’s […]
I Went To Father John Misty’s House And All I Got Was Stoned…And This 7,156 Word Magnum Opus
Illustration by RACHEL WADA Misty Mountain Hop If Father John Misty’s life was a Hollywood movie, it would be a metaphysical jail-break thriller about a wrongly convicted man escaping the prison of belief thanks to the liberating power of rock ‘n’ roll and psychedelic drugs. MAGNET goes to the mountain to help write the script. BY JONATHAN VALANIA I Father John Misty lives in a red-clay adobe pueblo on top of a low mountain in Echo Park. Good luck trying to find it without GPS and a helicopter. Down below the cloud line, the hazy glittering grid of Greater Los […]
COME AS YOU ARE: Every Nirvana Song Ranked
Artwork by DIRTY LOLA NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Like Elvis, the Beatles, and Easy Rider before them, Nirvana instantly inverted the status quo. They flipped the axis on what mainstream and alternative meant, usurping the likes of Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks, and Guns N’ Roses at the top of the charts. Seemingly overnight, the music industry was suddenly chasing down the likes of Royal Trux, Steel Pole Bath Tub, and the Jesus Lizard so as to hand them suitcases of cash. For a few years, corporate rock had to pretend to be college rock. Fashion laughably wrapped itself in flannel and […]
JOY DIVISION: I Remember Nothing
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the release of the acclaimed Joy Division album Unknown Pleasures. The album was the “sound of the future” when it was released in 1979, and sounds as relevant, urgent and “from the future” here and now, as it did then. One of the most pivotal albums ever recorded, Unknown Pleasures has influenced countless creative minds over the years and continues to be an instructive legacy that sees no end – a seemingly endless vision of Joy Division as truth and myth, as well as the continuing legacy being created by the band they […]
INCOMING: The Marshall Plan
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following story originally published in the pages of the Philadelphia Weekly back in May of 2002 on the eve of a celebration of Sun Ra Arkestra director Marshall Allen’s 79th birthday at the sadly-now-defunct Tritone nightclub. We are re-posting it here today in advance of the Arkestra’s performance at Union Transfer on Thursday June 13th in celebration of bandleader Marshall Allen’s 95th birthday, presented by Ars Nova Workshop. BY JONATHAN VALANIA When the 15-piece Sun Ra Arkestra takes to the bandstand at [Union Transfer on Thursday] they will be playing in honor of bandleader Marshall Allen’s birth […]
LAURA JANE GRACE: The Hotel Song
From Laura Jane Grace & The Devouring Mothers‘ 2018 debut Bought To Rot (Bloodshot). RELATED: ABOUT A GIRL: My Q&A W/ Laura Jane Grace