Music
▼ Interview
Jiving Jazz with Jeff Hamilton
Tight fills, swinging jams and impeccable style—if you’re familiar with names like Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson or Monty Alexander, chances are that you’ve heard Jeff Hamilton’s playing. Professional musicianship is Hamilton’s style—his passion for the instrument has helped bring drumming to where it is today. … read more
Death Magic: HEALTH Finds The Perfect Prescription
Taking a page from some of music’s most self-effacing artists, such as Kevin Shields and Trent Reznor, HEALTH possess numberless albums that were scrapped due to their creative perfection complex. The Los Angeles noise-rock act HEALTH stood on the edge of oblivion and took six years to architect a near-perfect follow-up to 2009’s Get Color, Death Magic.
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H2O: Still Faster Than the World
New York hardcore youth crew skate punks H2O once released an album called Go! From this album, the slogan “H2O Go!” became a reprising statement of the band itself. H2O have been active since 1995 and, according to bassist Adam Blake, they “may have slowed down a bit, but damn it, we are trying to keep up!” … read more
Sunn O))): Seekers of Light
From its inception, Anderson says, Sunn O))) jettisoned traditional instrumentation, song structure and any musical conventions designed to evoke a specific reaction or entertain an audience. “We create music spontaneously and naturally and never bend to any outside pressure or public expectations,” he says. … read more
Graveyard: You Can’t Invent Music Again
Innocence & Decadence is Graveyard’s fourth studio album and undoubtedly their tightest and most focused effort to date. The album features myriad tenacious bass rhythms redolent of Priestess circa 2006, layered with subtle references to proto-rock bands of the ’60s such as Blue Cheer. … read more
Wrekmeister Harmonies
“Night of Your Ascension,” the title track from Wrekmeister Harmonies’ most recent album (released Nov. 13 on Thrill Jockey Records), quietly opens with delicate, reverb-drenched female vocals singing atop droning keys. Over the course of the 32-minute track, Wrekmeister Harmonies gradually take the listener from these gentle and pastoral sounds into a full-on pummeling metal onslaught to close out the track. … read more
Soft Limbs: “Playing Shows Is Dangerous”
By retaining a sense of DIY that hearkens back to the music scene in the Pacific Northwest circa the late ’80s and early ’90s, Soft Limbs manage to seamlessly thread together melodies rich with eclectic instruments such as the vibraphone while incorporating calculated synths, looks and bossa nova–inspired percussion. … read more
Parkway Drive: Winston McCall on Ire, Tour and New Horizons
The staying power of Parkway Drive is as eminent as ever. Keeping pace with their voracious touring schedule, lead singer Winston McCall managed to find some time to answer a few questions on how the band feels about where they are now and what the next 10 years hold for Parkway Drive. … read more
Night of the Living Dead Bod
Dead Bod capture a moment of punk history defined in L.A. between 1978 and 1983 and bring it back to light for the contemporary listener. It should not a surprise, then, that such a stunning delivery can only come from some of Salt Lake’s finest musicians. … read more
Non Serviam: Rotting Christ
With 30 years in existence as Rotting Christ, this band’s name has coursed the lips of metalheads all over the world—an accomplishment that any metal band would love to boast. Sakis Tolis and drummer/brother Themis Tolis formed the band in Athens, Greece, in 1985 under the name Black Church but changed their name to Rotting