Massy Ferugson are a four-piece twang-rock group from Seattle. The quartet have just released their second album, Hard Water, and recently finished a small tour of the Western US. Hard Water represents a stylistic maturation for the band, with improved recording quality, a more honed sound, and a generally more confident-sounding album than their debut […]
If you ever have the opportunity to go see the Japanese (by way of NYC) comic-book punk trio Peelander-Z (which is likely, considering these guys are constantly on the road), by all means do it: these guys put together the most unique and haphazard live show you’ll ever lay eyes on. I don’t know if […]
While listening to Copal’s debut album, Into the Shadow Garden, the one notion I couldn’t shake was that this band begs to be seen live. The music is free-flowing and takes its time to develop, and the dynamic between musicians is such that being confined to a recording doesn’t seem like it properly does their […]
New Mexico, formerly named The Apes of Wrath, are based in San Diego. You’d think they would be from Albuquerque or maybe Santa Fe. I dug around on their MySpace site where they explain the name change: Apes of Wrath was a four-person band that played more dance/rock, whereas New Mexico is a three-person band […]
If there’s one word you can definitely use to describe Gecko Turner’s music, it is “worldly.” The showcase of influences the Spanish-born musician brings to his newest record, Gone Down South, begins from the very first notes, and continues through the course of the entire album. The opening notes of “Truly” mash salsa horns with […]
Fistful of Mercy, the new band consisting of Dhani Harrison (George’s son), Grammy-winning pop star Ben Harper and singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur, is coming to The Showbox in Seattle November 9th. The show sold out quickly, but to compensate, I did pre-order the CD and received a signed poster! I’m still hoping more tickets are released […]
You may know Austin as the only major city in Texas that has no ordinance against women appearing topless in public. Or maybe you know it as the home of SXSW. Or perhaps as the city where Dazed and Confused was filmed. Or maybe you still can’t wrap your head around the Bush era and […]
Each month, Randomville profiles an artist that Flipswitch PR provides us. This month, we’re taking a look at Pablo Sanchez. Listening to Pablo Sanchez’s two new EPs (Release Da Freak, Sunstar) is a lot like playing first-person shooter video games. You know it’s important to stay with your team, but sometimes you just really want […]
This is the second part of Katherine Montalto’s look at some of rock and roll’s most pervasive characters, and the literature that inspired them. For part one, click here. Photo courtesy of Dawn Endico Philosophy at an Execution – The Stranger by Albert Camus The Stranger is the story of Meursault, a French colonist living […]
With maybe the exception of hair metal bands, most rock stars were big nerds before gaining the love of millions of adoring fans. It’s their weird outsider quirkiness that speaks so well to the masses. While many rock songs are written about love lost, love found or rock n’ rolling all night and partying ev-er-y […]