Recently I was exposed to yet another Australian band making serious waves in the music scene, albeit sad I am reaching back into 2009 to uncover this gem called Sound Awake by the band Karnivool. The band name stems from the fact all the members were originally described as “a bunch of clowns”...

After the holidays every year there always seems to be a lull in the music scene. Whether it is little new music coming out or a lack of live performances, this time of year can be a challenge for the avid music listener. Luckily for me, I stumbled across a musical gold mine recently and am ashamed to...

Winter has a way of dragging along… a way of trapping us in her ongoing, colorless frigidity. Longing for an escape from the drabness, I have been rescued by the band The Soft Pack. The Los Angeles garage-punk rockers from San Diego issue a reminder that summer is just around the corner with their...

Every time a new year begins I find it essential to seek out new and different experiences and broaden my horizons to keep life from growing stale. Consider it an annual right of passage. This year I am looking forward to the sea change that will pour over the music scene, as it does every year, and...

The past decade of music has been scattered with various commercially-driven stunts that include the formation of “rock super groups,” none of which have received lofty praise from either critics or fellow musicians. Audioslave, Zwan, Velvet Revolver, and A Perfect Circle are the most popular of...

In the age of technology we live in, I find music has become exceedingly more accessible with the passing of each year. The real challenge is hearing a song that catches your fancy, then hoping the time and money you spend listening to the entire album is worth it. The music of Australian foursome,...

One theme is communal throughout the process of any bands successful formation: that each member got his/her start by playing in other bands before finally assembling a musical act that brings the members success. Rarely will you see artists drifting into genres unlike those in which they got their...

When you hear about the remarkable things 20-year-old kids are doing, they usually involve straight-A report cards or college sports accolades. At least that is the case here in the United States. However, a group of four 20-year-olds from southwest London known as The xx has achieved something remarkable...

New Zealand native Phillippa “Pip” Brown, the one-woman synthpop upstart and founder of Ladyhawke, is celebrating her recent US deluxe edition album release one year after breaking into the European music scene with her self-titled debut. By borrowing the band’s name from the Oscar-nominated 1985...

Being a true fan of music comes with a challenge: can you manage your expectations when weeding through the sea of decent music out there to find bands whose creativity, talent and skill mesh together with precision and substance? The Resistance, the fifth (and most commercial) studio release from the...