Story Archive

New York, I Love You

Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

I do not, however, love New York, I Love You.

Coco Before Chanel

Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009

As its name suggests, subtitled biopic Coco Before Chanel focuses on the “rags” aspect of Chanel’s rags-to-riches story.

Julian Casablancas

Phrazes for the Young

Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009

Why you'll root for this Strokes member.

Three questions with comedian Lily Tomlin

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009

Lily Tomlin (and Ernestine) tries not to take herself too seriously, but don't tell the Academy that.

Paying off: Modern Science doesn't squander pricey trip to CMJ

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009

Even under a low basement ceiling, Modern Science's performance soared.

A comic's guide to parenting through guilt and manipulation

Vegas-bred Elizabeth Beckwith has evolved from stand-up comic to family author—and she’s not complaining

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009

"I get nostalgic for the autumns of my youth, growing up in New York City. Riding my bike past the brownstones on the way to school. And then I remember that I grew up in Las Vegas. The only things falling onto the sidewalk are exhausted hookers. And they’re a lot harder to ride your bike over.”

The Originators

The Originators EP

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009

The Originators appear to have settled into the role of surf-beaten bar band coaxing the final foamy spurts from the ska keggerator.

Karen O and the Kids

Where the Wild Things Are

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009

It’s moody stuff, subtle in its shifts, and deceptively untamed.

Paramore

Brand New Eyes

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009

Suffice to say touring with No Doubt left an impression on Paramore.

Monsters of Folk

Self-titled

Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009

They call their supergroup Monsters of Folk—“they” being Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, She & Him’s M. Ward and producer Mike Mogis - but they are more than the sum of their parts.

It Might Get Loud

Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009

The heavily hyped documentary with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, U2’s The Edge and consummate lo-fi band whore Jack White fails to rise above meandering, minimal-effort vanity project.

Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson

Break Up

Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009

The concept—moony singer-songwriter records intimate series of duets with Page 1 starlet.

The Used

Artwork

Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009

Loosely grouped around the concept of self-hatred, the 11 pop/hard-rock hybrids are as raw, dark and unpolished as the band allegedly intended. But they’re also surface-deep and uninspired.

Bill Cosby's stand-up statistics

Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009

0: Similarly legendary comics who unspool spellbinding, self-deprecating stories with such authority, originality or world-weary wisdom.

Soul Power

Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009

Power’s colorful footage follows James Brown, B.B. King, The Spinners and others on their journey from an airport Holiday Inn through a mid-flight jam to a homeland they’ve never seen.

Orderly Progression! At the Disco

Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009

On Friday night, Panic 2.0 was just another skinny-tie-and-dark-vest-clad emo-pop foursome. The exclamation point may be back, but the enthusiasm behind it has yet to return.

Two-act disco

Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009

Already locked into one-upmanship coming off their July split, the current Panic! At the Disco and ex-Panic members— founders of new band The Young Veins—both released new singles on July 28. Coincidence? Nah.

Patrick Wolf

The Bachelor

Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009

Fourteen tracks filter legend, history, sci-fi and modern personal introspection, yet all the pick-and-choosing establishes a sweepingly timeless mood.

The Vermin

The Exciting Sounds of Al Martino

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Shake well, garnish with raised middle finger, serve chilled.

Adelitas Way

Thursday, July 23, 2009

he Virgin Records debut from “local” frontman Rick DeJesus & Co. is a glammed-up, dumbed-down ode to beating the odds and living to play generic, testosterone-charged Dude Rock another day.

Levon Helm

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Electric Dirt injects serious juice into the wide-ranging collection of originals and choice covers.

Hardcore partying?

FSP (somewhat) celebrates 25th (kinda) anniversary

Thursday, July 9, 2009

FSP (somewhat) celebrates 25th (kinda) anniversary.

As Panic’s Ross and Urie part ways, we ask, what comes next?

Thursday, July 9, 2009

A few possible outcomes to the Panic! at the Disco break-up announced on July 6.

Regina Spektor

Far

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Day-to-day micro-narratives are, for Spektor, far more interesting aspects of the human condition, with the giddily off-kilter, domestic-bliss bounce of opener “The Calculation” and clap-happy “Folding Chair” serving as par for the course.

HighDro by the numbers (June 17 at the Bunkhouse)

Thursday, June 25, 2009

"I grew up in hard times. I got into reading, I got into reggae, and it completely changed what I felt. People always said, ‘Oh, you should make music.’ It wasn’t until I noticed the sad condition that I felt hip-hop was in that I really did want to start making music."

Chatting with Artie Lange

Thursday, June 25, 2009

"I had a bad cocaine problem in the ’90s. The last five years have been heroin. Opiates and booze. I think I’ve gotten to the point probably where I got with coke."

The Higher

It's Only Natural

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Vegas-based Epitaph band The Higher has chugged along as The Little Engine That Just Might for seven-plus years now.

The Headless Woman

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Betrayal, unconditional love, decay and the disparate lots in life (and death) doled out by chance make for implicit yet meaty themes.

Palermo Shooting

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Palermo is a visually stunning meditation on living life to the fullest. It’s also refreshingly dark, brooding and a little disorienting, though nearly to the point of self-indulgence.

Winnebago Man

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Who is the man behind the madness of the viral video "Winnebago Man," and how has the clip full of four letter words affected his life?

It Came from Kuchar

Saturday, June 13, 2009

For such colorful subject matter—twin underground filmmaking legends George and Mike Kuchar—former George pupil Jennifer Kroot presents a surprisingly straightforward and nearly subdued documentary portrait.

All In: The Poker Movie

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Addiction, ethics and the law? Check? A peek inside a card factory? Naturally. Housewives in church halls? But of course.

Impolex

Saturday, June 13, 2009

There’s a lot about this trippy, reverse-reveal of a World War II period piece that’s lost in the woods.

Sea of Darkness

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Don’t mistake this for a mere movie about surfing. The twisted ode to ocean idyllism also showcases drug smuggling, foiled kidnapping, the Quiksilver company, retired pirates, Bill Murray, salvaged chinaware and trained ants.

Vegas: Based on a True Story

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Despite the title, Vegas isn’t really about Vegas. It’s about the personal yen to drink, smoke and take shortcuts, and about gullibility and addiction and obsession.

Etienne!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Ah, those nutty hipsters, what with their halting speech, their pinhole cameras and their single-minded missions to take their cancer-riddled dwarf hamsters on coastal bike tours of upstate California before they must be put to sleep.

Beautiful Darling

Friday, June 12, 2009

Beautiful Darling is gritty and original and, like its subject, “has an aura.” But it maintains distance and even pokes fun at the core dreamer.

Kasabian

West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Thursday, June 11, 2009

The third album from the endearingly sullen U.K. neo-psychedelics features co-production courtesy of Gorillaz’s Dan the Automator, a duet with actress Rosario Dawson and an overall reining-in of the band’s too-cool-for-the-dance-floor, lispy ambivalence.

Taking Back Sunday

Then Again

Thursday, June 4, 2009

The drama-plagued alt-emo breakouts’ fourth album opens with a plea disguised as a statement of declaration: “I am ready to be new again/I’m ready to hear you say who I am is quite enough.”

Marilyn Manson

The High End of Low

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Credit longtime bassist Twiggy Ramirez with stoking the creative hellfires necessary to bring Manson’s brand of full-throttle glam, industrial metal and social and political commentary to full boil.

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

Outer South

Thursday, May 21, 2009

On his 2008 self-titled “solo” album, Bright Eyes mastermind Conor Oberst (and a ragtag band of wandering indie-folk minstrels) sought out south-of-the-border trails less traveled.

Ben Folds

Ben Folds Presents: University a Cappella

Thursday, May 7, 2009

It’s an original concept, to be sure: Somewhere between a covers, tribute and greatest-hits album lies the latest endeavor by pop pianist Ben Folds.

One Pin Short

Self-Titled

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Whether or not ska is dead remains debatable, but for Vegas’ foremost feel-good septet, the question is nearly irrelevant.

‘The hardest-working kid in our business, period’

From his band to his booking, Pulsar is Vegas music’s rock

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Twenty-five minutes before his band takes the stage, Patrick Trout is still promoting the gig. Barreling out of the side entrance of the Box Office, a stack of fliers in his sizable fist, he greets the door guy, the security guard and the two sullen high-school girls gaining entry.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

It's Blitz!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Firebrand frontwoman Karen O’s coos and squeals remain as sex-soaked as ever, and not far into the ride it becomes clear that no matter what manner of “trendy” territory is explored, her vocals are the uniting, identifying glue.

Peter Doherty

Grace/Wastelands

Thursday, March 26, 2009

It’s no real surprise that the poet, painter, model and celebrated experimenter in the opioid arts would have such eclectic tastes. But that his current project would be so personal and understated, well, that’s Doherty’s latest out-and-out shocker.

Stand-up switch-ups

Thursday, March 19, 2009

The Comedy Stop wasn’t really an ideal comedy room, with its boxy shape, dark hike to the bar and lengthy rectangular tables better suited for holding church suppers aloft.

Searchlight

Until the End and After

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Yes, Searchlight is singing about zombies.

Chris Cornell

Scream

Thursday, March 19, 2009

The former grunge-god frontman of Soundgarden and more recent fourth of Audioslave kicks off his third solo album with a volley of horns, which gives way to the mumbled, hip-hop-inspired boasts of a computerized demon growling over sitar and Middle Eastern chanting.

M. Ward

Hold Time

Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009

Zooey Deschanel, the larger-eyed half of M. Ward’s high-profile indie-pop duo She & Him, appears on two of the comparatively sunnier tracks on her cohort’s sixth album.