Post-Mode and Pre-Erasure with Yaz

ILLUSTRATION by JOE MCGARRY“>
You could say that Depeche Mode’s first big single, “Just Can’t Get Enough,” was one of the first-ever Yaz songs. It was written by Yaz (known outside the U.S. as Yazoo) co-founder Vince Clarke, who would become the prince of synth-pop in Erasure but who was in Depeche [...]

Riverboat Gamblers aim high

ILLUSTRATION by LUKE MCGARRY
The Riverboat Gamblers began on the trending-legendary punker-house party circuit in Denton, Texas, where probably many a ceiling has a freshly plastered spot to mark the last time they played inside. Then as now they were Alice Cooper rawk riffs distended by a lot of Descendents lessons into potent [...]

Lost Art comes home from La La Land

PHOTO by JEFF GOULD
Rapper Lost Art might be taking the name from the way he grew up—born in Long Beach and from then on split-second stints every single city in Orange County that kept him perpetually disoriented till the age of majority. “How it affected me? Shit—I don’t [...]

Rod Argent on Mick Jagger, William Faulkner and the Mellotron

It’s inexplicable but remarkable: the Zombies are enormously popular in the Philippines. They reportedly performed to crowds of 30,000 in the ’60s and still draw 10,000 today. Keyboardist Rod Argent claims their reception was bigger than the Beatles’ trip to Manila. Maybe the Philippines knows better: [...]

Stay Fresh forever in Fullerton

ILLUSTRATION by JOE MCGARRY
When someone like Koolski—a member of the Rock Steady Crew since 1991—puts on a six-hour B-boy/B-girl dance battle at Independence Park in Fullerton, names get dropped. Actually, names drop when a Rock Steady member does anything: local fixtures like DJ Abel of the now online-only Stacks Records shop [...]

David Serby’s short story long

PHOTO by CHRIS MILLER
Just one of the many virtues of honky-tonk singer/songwriter/guitarist David Serby is his uncanny ability to turn a very personal experience into a universal truth. And while many a country you-done-me-wrong song predictably lays the blame on an ex-flame for lyin’ or cheatin’—or both—Serby understands that life really [...]

Annihilation Time, You’re Next

ILLUSTRATION by LUKE MCGARRY
Annihilation Time’s newest is real rewarding nerd feed: chum from Oxhard nardcore (impressive hand-drawn cover for Tales of the Ancient Age is Mystic down to the tits, cops and dogshit) and music from the same energetically trogged misinterpretations of older-sibling-record-collection fundamentals like Thin Lizzy (twinned guitar leads at double [...]

Doomtree does things their way

PHOTO by BO HAKALA
After seven years of being a collective/rap group/business/record label, you would think Doomtree would at least be on their third or fourth album by now, but they’re just about to release their first. Doomtree MC, producer and Rhymesayers signee P.O.S. says it’s for the best. First, when Doomtree [...]

Weird horror with Chris Isaak

ILLUSTRATION by JOE MCGARRY
Chris Isaak has made a career out of singing like Roy Orbison, looking sort of like Morrissey and acting in movies like That Thing You Do and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. His best records echo Orbison or Presley’s finest but just missed our current dark period [...]

Click your fingers applauding RTX

PHOTO by SASHA EISENMAN
RTX is 20 fully-stocked Guitar Centers descending in full flight on Roky Erickson—Sunset Strip shred-rock with camouflaged alien complexities within, led and fed by singer Jennifer Herrema, ex of Royal Trux and an unreconstructed original-source rocker to rival Hasil Adkins. (“Jennifer,” says bassist Kurt Midness, “tends to throw [...]