Man, this new Meat Puppets album Dusty Notes is the best thing they’ve done since Up On The Sun! The original line-up — which reportedly hasn’t played together since 1995 — plays Underground Arts Friday May 10th.
INCOMING: Zep Doc Expected To Get The Led Out
Now in post-production, the as yet untitled Led Zeppelin documentary, directed by Bernard MacMahon, celebrates the world’s best-selling rock band on their fiftieth anniversary. The documentary traces the journeys of the four members through the music scene of the 1960s, their meeting in the summer of 1968 for a rehearsal that will change the future of rock, and culminates in 1970 when their second album knocks The Beatles off the top of the charts and they become the number one band in the world. With brand new interviews of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones, as well […]
YIM & YANG: An Email Q&A With MMJ’s Jim James
BY JONATHAN VALANIA The Kentucky hair farmers of My Morning Jacket may look like 38 Special, but they sound like the reefer-mad angels that sit on Neil Young’s shoulder on a good night, cranking out sweaty, fist-pumping, three hour hoedowns of indie-centric southern-fried beard-rock. Fronted by the irrepressible Jim James — fuzzy-faced, Buddha-bellied, rocking a cape and a Cousin It haircut, whirling about the stage dervishly with a towel over his head — MMJ has cranked out seven stylistically varied albums in 18 years, slathering bruising he-man riffage and bombastic beats with ethereal harmonies, sounding like Lynyrd Skynyrd if […]
ROBERT JOHNSON: Me And The Devil Blues
Robert Johnson was born on this day, May 8th, 1911 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. PREVIOUSLY: We’ve all heard the mythic tale of Robert Johnson’s Faustian bargain with the Devil, struck at the crossroads under a Delta moon. Let’s imagine for a moment that it’s a different night at that Mississippi crossroads. On this night, the devil is busy with other things, perhaps plotting the eventual rise of Slayer or meeting with the Republicans. And Johnson, well, he’s long since given the Devil his due, probably having second thoughts as to whether unlimited pussy, corn liquor and a little plantation-rock stardom was […]
REVIEW: Vampire Weekend’s Father Of The Bride
BY CHARLIE C. Father of the Bride, Vampire Weekend’s first album in six years, is a double album with 18 tracks spanning 58 minutes. An album of this length is uncharted territory for a band whose three previous LPs all ranged from 10-12 songs and as a result were uniformly consistent and never overstayed their welcome. Although this album is far looser than their previous works, especially considering the vast eclecticism of their back catalog, rarely does it drag on or remind you of its hour-long running time. Vampire Weekend is notable for their wide array of influences, their first […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Duke Of Earle
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally published in the March 2013 issue of MAGNET. We are publishing the complete interview online for the first time on the occasion of Steve Earle & The Dukes performing at Ardmore Music Hall on Monday. DRUG STORE COWBOY BY JONATHAN VALANIA Steve Earle’s been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, poet, a protest singer, a playwright, a pacifist, a pawn and a king, he’s been up and down and over and out and the most persuasive anti-drug ad on two feet. But mostly he’s been one of the greatest living American songwriters. Still is. During […]
BEING THERE: Hologram Zappa In Collingswood
Photo by EVAN HUNDELT On top of being a master of moustache, musical composition, and satire, Frank Zappa is undisputedly one of the greatest guitarists of all time. He released 62 albums over the course of his career, and 50 more have been posthumously released by the Zappa Family Trust. Somehow, out of the 112 albums, no two are alike – his spectrum of styles encompasses amorphous improvisational shredding, free jazz, comedy rock, prog rock, orchestrated toy-like noise, and an array of uncategorizable whackery. Since the passing of Frank’s widow, Gail Zappa, their eldest son, Ahmet, has been the controversial […]
The Second Coming Of The Nat Turner Rebellion
BY SEAN HECK The Nat Turner Rebellion was a circa late ‘60s/early ‘70s Philadelphia funk-soul quartet who took their name from the infamous slave uprising led by the titular Nat Turner in 1831. Which was a very bold move in a time of pronounced racial strife for a band that trafficked in Black Power themes in addition to the de rigueur hippie musings and love song tropes that were typical of their late ‘60s soul contemporaries. The Nat Turner Rebellion’s debut LP was cut at the legendary Sigma Sound Studios and set for release in 1972 on the Philly Groove […]
Win Tix To See Patti Smith @ The Met Philly
From the Phawker archives, we present this ode to the high priestess of punk written by Amy Z. Quinn, circa 2007, to mark Patti Smith’s induction into the Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame: “She’s hardly the most famous performer to ever come out of Jersey — The Boss and The Chairman Of The Board still hold those titles — but without a doubt, Patti Smith, the High Poetess of Punk, remains the greatest communicator of the kind of nameless electric angst that drives Kids In Search Of Something to head north on the Jersey Turnpike and never look […]
BEING THERE: Sunn O))) @ Underground Arts
Photo by ERIC ASHLEIGH The dark lords of the drone metal Sith, Sunn O))) consists of guitarists Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson, a pair of spooky black druid robes, and lots and lots of smoke. Trafficking in tectonically slow strumming and seismic sludge tones, Sunn O))) create one of the most unique musical spectacles of our time. They’ve collaborated with other spectacles over the years, such as Boris, Ulver, Nurse With Wound, and even Mayhem’s Atilla, and have just released their latest album, Life Metal, for Record Store Day, recorded by legendary recording engineer Steve Albini. Their next album, Pyroclasts, […]
TAME IMPALA: Elephant
They play The Mann on August 23rd. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 AM HERE.
BEING THERE: Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets @ The Met
Photos by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Sooner or later all British men turn into Michael Caine and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason is a very British man. But, judging by his masterful helmsmanship of Saucerful Of Secrets at The Met Philly Saturday night, the 75-year-old Mason’s chops remain undiminished by the passage of a half century-plus since Floyd’s inception. Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets is, for those not in the know, the titular drummer from Pink Floyd joined by some Floyd org alums, plus the guitarist from Spandau Ballet (don’t ask), performing songs from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn — […]
BEING THERE: Spiritualized @ The Fillmore
Photo by JUSTINE PATRICK OAKES If Brian Wilson had been a ’90s alt-rocker, he might’ve been something like Jason Pierce. He’s a man who turns catchy melodies into pulsating mantras, and layers them to create prismatic sonic mandalas. Spiritualized is a glowing comet on its blissful journey through the heavens, with Pierce at the center of its orbit. Or maybe it’s a diffuse nebula formed from the remnants of Spacemen 3’s supernova, and Pierce leads his continuously shifting Spiritualized crew on a voyage through shimmering interstellar vistas, while we folks back on Planet Earth get to watch their transmissions from, […]