Deerhoof is truly turning out to be one of the most unlikely success stories in contemporary pop music. An improbable group with nothing apparently in common starts a band, makes some of the most difficult and unclassifiable noise of the mid-nineties, and unexpectedly rises to international prominence as one of indie rock's most renowned and influential groups. How could this have happened? The story begins in 1991, as classically trained Greg Saunier, directly after graduating from conservatory, moves to San Francisco and joins goth/metal band Nitre Pit as drummer. When the two guitarists of this short-lived project depart suddenly, Saunier and bassist Rob Fisk find themselves with several booked shows and no idea what to do. Out of nec...

From Jungle to Hip Hop, Jazz to Broken Beats, Marc Mac and Dego are the nucleus of Reinforced Records, one of the godfather labels of Drum n' Bass. They started their career in a tiny Dollis Hill studio packed to the rafters with the kind of old electronic kits you'd more often see in second hand stores. It was here they made their first Jungle album ('In Rough Territory') and followed it in the early 90s with a bewildering array of artiste aliases to unleash an unstoppable avalanche of progressive Drum n' Bass into a fledgling genre crying out for innovators. From these beginnings, there has followed a rollercoaster ride, crowned by a Mercury Music Prize nomination and a MOBO award for their 4 Hero identity which produced two album...

Brett Johnson, live bass player for the hip-hop group Atmosphere, who is also a guitar player/singer/songwriter, wrote his first solo rock album entitled, Letters Post Mortem, under the moniker, Kingfield. Citing such influences as Shiner, Fugazi, Shudder To Think, and Foo Fighters, Kingfield has created a stylistically diverse record that all falls within the genre of rock, but no two songs sound alike. Letters Post Mortem began as a series of demos that Brett was writing, and self-recording, between Atmosphere tours. The songs were inspired by his battle with cancer, Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, which ended with him as the victor. He has been in remission since June 2002. Brett passed out the demo recordings to a few of his musician fr...

Questions Answered by Daley Smith You've been through extensive head-lining touring, the release of your debut album, and had your music break the Top 40. What has your reaction to all this success been? Personally my reaction is to constantly strive to do better, whilst doing one show you're thinking about the next and so on. It's kinda like "I definitely won't do that tomorrow, or tomorrow I'm gonna do that instead." Same with recording and writing, you are in constant consideration of the next destination. What brought the band together to start The Sunshine Underground, why start a band? We were all in different bands before TSU, we were at college one day and just ended up in a room togeth...

Asian Dub Foundation are 21st century MIDI warriors. Their distinctive sound is a combination of hard ragga-jungle rhythms, indo-dub basslines, searing sitar- inspired guitars and 'traditional' sounds gleaned from their parents' record collections, shot through with fast-chat conscious lyrics. 1998's album 'Rafi's Revenge' on London Records met with much critical acclaim and received a Mercury Prize nomination. By that time already considered one of Britain's most exciting live bands, this album helped to introduce them to a wider audience. ADF's forceful presence has helped to demolish many stereotypes of Asian musicians and by extension, Asian people. An acknowledgment of this came in the form of the BBC Asian Award for Music in Dec...

Elsiane is a musical project created and developed in Montreal (Canada) by Elsieanne Caplette (vocals/ keyboards) and Stephane Sotto (drums). This project came to life after Elsieanne arrived from Peru in the fall of 1999. She met Stephane on the same week of her arrival and started to build the foundation of the project. Combining both their names created "Elsiane", it's the hybrid of both individuals. Musically, the result of this combination is a deep, textured sound that defies categorization. Listeners will detect hints of electronica, classical, experimental, ambient, jazz and world music. The uniqueness of the project comes through with Elsieanne's vocals, angelic and ye...

Heartburn is caused by the reflux of acidic stomach fluids that enter the lower end of the esophagus, an ailment which a childhood friend’s mother referred to as having “hot pipes”. This is our name, our town is Nashville, Tennessee, and you are reading about us right now. We have been together for four years. Some of us are related, most of us have known each other since childhood, and all have played in multiple other bands you’ve never heard of. Two of us grew up in Alexandria, Kentucky, three of us are from Dayton, OH, and one by one we ended up in Nashville. After two self-published EP’s, our first album, The Deadly Poison, was released by Vacant Cage Records in the summer of 2005 with national distributio...

“(Brothers is) one of the emerging acoustic talents in Los Angeles... If he'd been old enough in the late 60's, he probably would’ve grabbed a few rounds with a young David Crosby or shared a smoke with Joni Mitchell after an appearance together at a local coffeehouse...” - BillboardCary Brothers almost became an overnight sensation in 2004. “Blue Eyes,” a song he’d written years earlier, was selected by writer/producer Zach Braff (Scrubs, The Last Kiss) for the soundtrack of his film Garden State. The soundtrack album won a Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album and propelled “Blue Eyes” to the top of the iTunes Folk Chart. Major labels started linin...

Questions Answered by Joseph Jurewicz. "Monument" has been playing in the background of my life since June, how did that song reach creation? Did it just come out of a jam session? That song was written as a bassline by DJ [Boudreau] (bass), actually as part of some 5 part thing he hopes to one day finish. I am not quite sure if all the junk the rest of us added on top of it was what he originally intended, but it is probably our most requested song at shows. We play it a lot, it ís super fun to make all that noise. So how did Dirty on Purpose begin? How did everyone meet? Why start a band? George [Wilson] (guitar) and I started the band because we had found a place to play. We figured it would be a was...

All Questions Answered by Sam Endicott What did you guys want to be when you were growing up? Astronaut. So how did The Bravery begin? How did everyone meet? Why start a band? John and I went to college together, Mike and Michael went to college together. We met through an add in the paper. Anthony was friends of a mutual friend in the NY band Bishop Allen. John and I both grew up on punk rock, but then we moved to NY and started going to underground dance clubs and hearing this great indie-electronic music. It was like techno for people who liked rock. So we thought, how cool would it be if we took those kind of sounds and beats and combined it with a garage-y, live rock band. What i...

The last time !!! released any music was two years ago, when we heard them doing strange things to Stephen Merritt’s morose indie staple ‘Take Ecstasy With Me’, in the process turning it into a eight-minute long acid house classic that divebombed out of club speakers worldwide. It was easily one of the best singles of 2005, but now this dancefloor-destroying Pan-American eight-piece have taken their trademark dance-funk sound off into previously unimaginable new territories. The ten tracks on their third album, ‘Myth Takes’, are more dense, layered and groovy than ever before – it’s !!! to the power of !!!, a cut’n’paste pop art sound-splash built from lupine post-punk bass patterns, spaghetti western guitars, African p...

"We're a gang of pirate gypsy crackhead smart-mouthed snot-nosed rock & roll misfits," snaps Chase, lead singer for The Heart Attacks, Atlanta's eminent scuzz rock quintet. Confident, energetic and downright bonkers, the men behind the Lars (Rancid, Bastards) Frederiksen-produced Hellbound And Heartless have already put their lives on the line for rock & roll glory. But more on that shortly. Sounding like the bastard child of Stiv Bators out in front of the Dead Damned Sham Band, the crazed abandon of The Heart Attacks - also counting lead guitarist Tuk, rhythm guitarist Dave, bassist Paulie, and drummer Brad - have converted attendees into disciples at sweaty shows from Boston to Florida in 2005 and 2006. In fact, it was this swagger an...

With seven band members feeding into the mix The Hero Cycle create a joyously large, textured sound coupled with complex arrangements to produce a feel that is at once spontaneous and measured. The band possess that magic combination of sound and song, pooling all the ingredients of shoegaze rock and indie pop and distilling them into undeniably catchy and driving tunes. The Hero Cycle are, without doubt, one of the bands to watch in 2007. The Hero Cycle began in the Green Mountains of Vermont in 2005, combining the varied talents of drummer John Gorman, synthist Tom Kelly, and guitarists Mike Prall and Frank Smecker (ex-Drowningman and ex-Escapist). Soon after, the band quickly grew, including fellow Burlington residents Hannah Wall (Ma...

So They Say: David Schroeder- vocals, guitar Joseph Hamilton- vocals, guitar Justin Hanson- drums Nick Walters- guitar Joe Hoermann- bass It’s been said that when you’re growing up in the mid-west, your options are limited. For the band members of So They Say, growing up in St. Louis Missouri proved this theory to be true. With nothing to really occupy their time, the members of So They Say decided to devote themselves to the one thing they loved the most- making music. Their passion is paying off, as So They Say’s first full length Antidote For Irony will be released March 7th on Fearless Records. Produced by Matt Squire (Panic! At the Disco, the Receiving End of Sirens) Antidote for Irony is an intensely sel...

2005 For the second time LAI goes to Australia starting the year with the amazing Sydney festival. Follow by tours in USA, Mexico & south America. The upcoming Release of "Super Pop Venezuela" the 5 th newest Album promises a journey into Venezuelan pop and alternative music from 60s 70s and 80s all with Los amigos invisibles authentic musical style with the help of Dimitri from paris superb taste and production skills. LAI performs at the "Jimmy Kimmel" show (ABC networks) and does LATV's SHADOWS new show that gives the viewer a behind the scenes from the artist lifestyle through a normal day on their lives. In September LAI is nominated for the GRAMMY'S 2004 LAI keeps touring USA , UK and Mexico with the success from Venezuela...

-Arson Anthem is-Philip H. Anselmo (Pantera, Down, Superjoint Ritual)Mike IX Williams (EyeHateGod, Outlaw Order)III (Assjack, Superjoint Ritual)Collin YeoWith the current roster of supposed "extreme" or "underground" bands repetitively dishing out modern metal regurgitation, something had to give; enter Arson Anthem. Basking in the telepathic glow of filthy, vicious 80's-era punk and hardcore, and yearning for a spark, this improper outfit has finally ignited said spark. Fueled by stale vodka and non-filters, they've finally wrecked into a bare-bones, distorted, bastard vacuum.After losing everything in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Mike...

Instrumentation Paul Lahey (voice/guitar), Calvin Brown (guitar), Andrew McMullen (drums), Malcolm McKitrick (bass). Biography "Leviride perform some really beautiful music. Beautiful in that they can come across as a wonderful mix of The Clash and AC Newman if that was at all possible." -- ChartAttack.com LEVIRIDE is synonymous with short, sweet rock epics. With a sound that varies from a hint of aggressive, melodic punk to gorgeous, lush guitar rock, Leviride kicks out its' own brand of anthemic indie rock. Founded in 2001 by singer-guitarist Paul Lahey and drummer Andrew McMullen, the band also features lead guitarist Calvin Brown, and bassist Malcolm McKitrick. On the band's critically acclaimed full-length 2004 CD, "Nothi...

Some classic recordings are premeditated, but in certain rare instances, when an artist has something else entirely in mind, art barges through the studio door and takes over, bending the artist to its will. That’s what happened to Son Volt/Uncle Tupelo auteur Jay Farrar and his friend, Varnaline founder Anders Parker, who met up at Farrar’s St. Louis studio in the autumn of 2004 with the intention of recording a Son Volt album, with multi-instrumentalist Anders Parker sitting in. Although that project got postponed, another one willed its way into existence in the space of five days, and was thoughtfully captured on two-inch tape by the principals. “It turned into something neither of us anticipated,” Parker readily acknowledges. ...

Remember the first punk band you fell in love with? Can you recall how liberating it was to sing along to words you believed in and what it was like to share a sense of community with complete strangers? Yes, before punk rock was co-opted by major labels, six-figure marketing campaigns, and corporate sponsors, all of us could probably name one band be it Black Flag or Operation Ivy who were responsible for getting us into this punk rock in the first place. For the past seven years, Strike Anywhere have kept that spirit alive for the latest generation of non-complacent youths and Dead FM is their masterpiece. Formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1999, the band’s current and only lineup singer Thomas Barnett, guitarists Matt ...

Taken from www.myspace.com/abigailwashburn + press release  Abigail Washburn never set out to be a songwriter or a recording artist. So when she found herself on stage in a smoke filled Beijing club playing her banjo and singing old time Appalachian mountain music in Chinese to a packed house, she was as surprised as anyone. “During my Freshman year at Colorado College, I joined a summer program trip to China,” Washburn recalled. “It had a profound effect on me. I discovered a Chinese culture that was so deep and ancient; it changed my perspective on America.” On her return to the States, Washburn began to explore American culture, a journ...

Having emerged from the hard rock/metal scene of Sweden, BLINDSIDE's first two releases in the U.S. Blindside and A Thought Crushed My Mind- established the band as blistering rock powerhouse that combines both introspective lyrics with an intense, yet melodic sound. These two albums, along with relentless touring, catapulted the band into the hard rock mainstream.Blindside - Christian Lindskog, guitarist Simon Grenehed, drummer Marcus Dahlstrom and bassist Tomas Naslund - was born a decade ago in the suburbs of Stockholm. When they formed the band in their late teensÑinspired by American metal and grunge and the then-burgeoning alt-rock music scene at homeÑthey weren’t very accomplished musicians, to say t...

Sufjan Stevens was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in the chilly upper reaches of the Lower Peninsula. A self-taught musician, the young Sufjan pounded out elaborate Mozartian sonatas on a toy Casio, and by college became proficient on the oboe, recorder, banjo, guitar, vibraphone, bass, drums, piano, and other instruments too numerous to mention. Somewhere along the line he also started to sing, though at the time his friends didn't encourage it. He bought a 4-track tape cassette recorder and painstakingly composed 90-minute concept albums for The Nine Planets, The 12 Apostles, and The Four Humors. He read William Blake, William Wordsworth, and William Faulkner. At that time, in college, the world loomed large and daunting, and Sufj...

Tom Waits, according to the esteemed American critic Robert Hilburn, is “clearly one of the most important figures of the modern pop era”. Such sentiments are not mere hyperbole; in a career that now spans four decades and over 20 albums, Tom Waits has long since emerged as an extraordinary innovative force, a singular voice whose music remains determinedly – and even gloriously - well beyond the trivial fads and fashions of popular culture. Waits’ latest release, the 3CD set Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards adds further weight to that stellar reputation. Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards is a wide-ranging collection of 54 songs - including 30 new recordings – equaling over three hours of ...

" Fools like us could live like kings..." ("Get Steady") Jonny Lives! lush & dirty, glossy & gritty Lower East Side sound blares with an urgency that'll push you out of the way if you don't move with it. "The East Village of NYC is our muse. People are up to no good every night; there's a copious amount of debauchery going on, and it's all inspiration for our music." That's Jonny Dubowsky, namesake and leader of Jonny Lives!. Hailing from the same scene that championed The Strokes, the Mooney Suzuki, Fountains of Wayne, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jonny Lives! takes cues from the Brit-pop, rhythm 'n blues, and LES punk scenes of the 60's and 70's and updates it with unbridled, anthemic rock.. Road-testing in t...

Isobel Campbell releases what she describes as a “low-key” acoustic album entitled Milkwhite Sheets on November 6th on V2. This follows the critically acclaimed Nationwide Mercury Prize short-listed “Ballad Of The Broken Seas” which she recorded with US singer Mark Lanegan. “Mark and I were interviewed together recently, in anticipation of the Mercury Awards, and he was asked what drew him to collaborate with me,” remembers Isobel Campbell, of Lanegan, “He said that there’s a darkness to my songs that he loves. The music I love has always had to have an ‘edge’. If something’s slick and bland, I’m not interested.” That darkness profoundly haunted Ballad…, a menace conjured by the contrast ...

A Million Billion is an indie / electronica solo-project-turned-band from Brooklyn, New York. It is led by Ryan Smith, a well-established musician within the US indie community, collaborating with Fiery Furnaces on the Stars Like Fleas project, and touring as keyboardist with super-group The Silent League (featuring members of Interpol and Mercury Rev). He has also worked as a remixer for Public Enemy and Bloc Party. Ryan Smith began to realise his own solo material in 2005 under the 'A Million Billion' name, with the 'Today We Love You' album and 'Filthy Schoolgilrs' EP. February 2006 saw the addition of Michael Fadem, Jon Natchez, Kevin Thaxton and Gene Parkhis to the line-up, and a UK debut with the 'Volcano Season' single on EXERCISE...

Warning: Anyone who feels the need or desire to pigeonhole the music style of the groups they listen to may have their brains explode after listening to Moros Eros. This much is known: The music on their debut album, I Saw The Devil Last Night and Now the Sun Shines Bright, simultaneously rocks the gut as it dazzles the intellect. After that, you’re on your own.“It’s basically a themed album, but not a concept album,” explains singer/guitarist Zach Tipton. “It’s like Grimm’s Fairy Tales; they are all kinda dark, but they each have very different stories. I want you to get the feeling that every song on o...

It's been a hectic year and a half for Jason Torbert. At the beginning of 2005 he was recording random sounds and exotic noises into his computer just for fun. In 2006 those sounds have turned into a San Diego Music Award nomination, a hit song, two trips to England, a friendship with a former member of The Cure and a brand new album called Swallowed by the Machines. In its short lifetime, Goddamn Electric Bill has already taken a long journey. Goddamn Electric Bill is Torbert's one-man band, a propulsive blend of quirky electronic and post-rock influences that resulted in his debut full-length, Swallowed by the Machines, earlier this year. The project was never particularly meant to be anything more than a bedroom musical hobby for T...

The poetically pungent Joseph Arthur kindly agrees to let us into his Morrissey influenced mind set and takes us on a journey of discovery.  His brand of quirky Akron, Ohio born beat box and laid back guitar indie has caught the attention of a wide ranging audience inclusive of Keanu Reeves. Arthur shows himself to be articulate honest and endearing, both on and off stage. Dave:   Your latest single ‘even Tho’ is quite sombre and reflective. This is borne out in the cover presentation, as it is in a DVD style package and contains reviews of your past offerings in the sleeve, including the wistful ‘Redemptions Son’ album. Are you in a thoughtful mood and does this mean that you might...

The PoPo have already been credited with inventing the "post-hip hop" genre, and are indeed the style's premier band. That's quite a feat considering "The PoPo" is the group's debut release. Based out of Philly, PA, USA, EARTH, their sound is a complex interpretation of popular music in the context of a corrosive, post-modern future. The 4 members of the group: Pops Ghostly, Fullscreen, Blue Bishi, and Hamstar, fuse together lo-fi punk, hip hop, and world music to create a dramatic sonic landscape suffused with myth, mysticism, and mystery. Their self-titled debut can best be described as a "lo-fi epic;" Like a grungy fairytale conceived for a modern audience. Written and recorded by the group in their basement, (aka "The Zombie Cave") t...