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Weekly Features

Nov 19-25Issue 2.27

Columns

Ex Post Facto

Shane MacGowan and the Popes: The Snake

Produced by Dave Jordan and Shane himself, The Snake plunges us back into the Irish bard’s maelstrom of gutter vibes and lyrical tales....read more
Riot Gear!

I Get the Music

There comes a time in many bands when the members have to sit down and figure out how the pie they bake every night will be legally divvied up....read more
It Shows

Danzig, Crooked Fingers, Robyn Hitchcock and more

Sometimes life calls for seeing some deep, introspective music, and sometimes it calls for some surreal English wit, and other times it just calls for the tank top-clad glory of Danzig....read more
Lit Snippet

Joni Mitchell: Court and Spark

If you regard the period between 1971 and 1975, from Blue to Summer Lawns as a single narrative, then C&S is the unquestionable cli­max....read more

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Reviews

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan

by Jocelyn Hoppa

"there's a duality at play... while the focus is often on the beast, the beauty is not exactly chaste either"...read more

Little Joy

Little Joy

by Jessica Gentile

"nearly every song will make you want to sip girly drinks while lying in a hammock, swaying by the beach"...read more

Belle and Sebastian

Belle and Sebastian

by Steve Matteo

"reminds us just how powerful the songs alone are without full studio embellishment"...read more

Grampall Jookabox

Grampall Jookabox

by j. poet

"ranges from the cosmic to the mundane, from giddy happiness to dark paranoid delusions"...read more

Passion Pit

Passion Pit

by Angela Zimmerman

"adoring sentiments are scattered throughout the record like love-strewn rose petals"...read more

Rock Art Rock

Gene Simmons

Gene Simmons
1979, Location unknown
Photography by Joe Sia

It’s not a photograph of Gene Simmons unless he’s sticking out his enormous tongue, and that’s exactly what the Kiss bass player is doing in this stunning Joe Sia capture from 1979. The smoky red stage lights illuminating “The Demon” pair beautifully with the color of his cape (and, of course, his tongue, which was surely dripping fake blood later in the gig). Kiss was still riding a massive wave of success in 1979: the year before, the band simultaneously released four solo albums, and their follow-up, Dynasty, exceeded platinum sales levels. They stylistically stumbled a bit in the years after, but as this photo makes clear, Kiss’s glittery hard rock was a spectacle without parallel.

View the Rock Art Rock Gallery

See more Kiss photography

Daily Updates

Nov 19

Pick of the Day

Best Song Ever Wednesday

"Between the Bars" by the late Elliott Smith is more than just a drunken, sad sack song. An early cut on 1997's Either/Or, a title that's a direct reference to Kierkegaard's book of the same name featuring the philosophical exploration of the internal struggle between an aesthetic or ethical life, it's this song where the album's theme culminates. And while something massive hangs in the balance, it's Elliott's sweet, depressed voice (much like booze itself) that attempts at a little comfort. Chilling, for all the right reasons.

What Goes On

Words on longtime Minneapolis mainstay Prince and his new life in Los Angeles. (New Yorker)

Get out your calendars, Record Store Day is confirmed for 2009. (CMJ)

It's Harvard Law School professor vs. federal copyright law time. (APNews)

Rock Band fans welcome the Dead Kennedys to your home system. (Daily Swarm)

Michael Jackson may be too ill to travel to London in a court case brought against him by the son of the King of Bahrain. (Reuters)

Rumors abound that it could be quitting time for LCD Soundsystem. (Daily Swarm)

It was only a matter of time... Chinese Democracy has leaked. (Idolator)

The Boss reveals new album details, which is set to hit the streets in January. (Pitchfork)

The Clientele were recent musical guests on the insanely unique Yo Gabba Gabba kids show. (My Old Kentucky)

Will they properly reunite? Jane's Addiction plan on another intimate gig in LA. (Daily Swarm)

A "mythical" Beatles track may be released, hinted at by Sir Paul himself.  (Reuters)

The New York Dolls are set to team up with Todd Rundgren again for a new album. (Pitchfork)

Watch Will Sheff of Okkervil River sing the answers to interview questions. (Stereogum)

Our Daily Lyric

“Some people try to pick up girls
And get called assholes
This never happened to Pablo Picasso”

- The Modern Lovers, “Pablo Picasso”

Please Remember Me...

November 19, 1994

At Sony Music Studios in New York, Nirvana recorded their legendary unplugged performance for MTV.

Birthdays

November 19th:

1905: Tommy Dorsey
1938: Ray Collins (Frank Zappa)
1960: Matt Sorum (Cult/Guns N Roses)
1965: Jason Pierce (Spiritualized)
1971: Justin Chancellor (Tool)

I Turn My Camera On

If you're not yet convinced that Minor Threat was the best band ever, maybe this live video of "In My Eyes" will change your mind.