Please enjoy this thought provoking review of Bad Religion’s The Empire Strikes First CD, by Eric J. Iannelli by clicking this link: In Perspective: America Needs More Religion.
CD Review: You’re Gonna Ruin Everything by The Maroons
Artist: The Maroons
Album: You’re Gonna Ruin Everything
Release Date: March 5, 2002
Label: In Music We Trust
The Pacific Northwest is the unrivaled breeding ground for the great plague upon pop music known as “indie rock”: the most un-melodic, uninteresting, unenergetic music this side of death. Yawn city. But The Maroons are a whole new animal in the indie rock zoo, in that they seem to be highly familiar with Mid-70’s rock (Sweet, T-Rex, The Kinks), the essence of which permeates their sophomore album, You’re Gonna Ruin Everything. Guitarist Jim Talstra’s Brian May-inspired guitar licks on “Can You Feel?” are spot on, while Mike Clark’s Three Dog Night-inspired keyboards (on the clever “Dance Floor Flirt,” for example) leave plenty of hook residue in their wake. Add a lead singer, John Moen, who sounds like the gay reincarnation of Marc Bolan, and you’ve got a bunch of tunes that would be at home on the soundtrack to Velvet Goldmine. If the Posies wrote a rock opera about the life of a Guided By Voices fan, You’re Gonna Ruin Everything might be the result.
Official Website: http://inmusicwetrustrecords.com/themaroons.html
This article was originally written for Rolling Stone’s Online Magazine. Though Rolling Stone remains in print and online, this article is no longer a part of their archive and has been added to the content base of The Worley Gig for our readers’ enjoyment.
Vincent Cecolini, Head Writer, VH1 Classic
Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic has complained that there are more working music journalists that there are working musicians. Although I’m a music journalist, I have to admit that the fucker is right. These days, it’s hard for even talented writers to stand out, but Gail Worley has done just that and so much more. What is the special something, the magic, the gift that sets Gail apart? Just ask Ministry’s Al Jourgensen, former Alice Cooper drummer Neal Smith, former Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin or any of the thousands of the artists that Gail has interviewed (or rather, who have “encountered” Gail), many of whom have now become friendly with our fearless scribe. But here’s the thing: each of these artists will give you a different answer! That Gail evokes so many different responses is exactly her charm. Not only is Gail a gifted writer, but I have never met a journalist as passionate about music as she is. A dying breed, Gail Worley is a treasure.
What is that Bucket Doing on his Head?
Art By Robot Bobrox (Image Source)
A Rad Guest Post By Sir Millard Mulch
Buckethead’s fans think he is a unique, underground artist with pure intentions. This is not true. Buckethead is a strategic advertisement for himself.
It has nothing to do with his music and everything to do with his visual appearance — the same scam as every other Rock Star. He’s an accidental genius phenomenon of masterful marketing tricks; on a higher level than any mersh band on the radio could conceive of. After all, if he didn’t have a BUCKET ON HIS HEAD and a weird mask, no one would give a fuck what he did.
Continue reading What is that Bucket Doing on his Head?
CD Review: Perfumed Letter by Bill Mallonee
Artist: Bill Mallonee
Album: Perfumed Letter
Release Date: August 26, 2003
Label: Paste Records
Singer/songwriter Bill Mallonee’s roots rest in the Athens, GA soil that nurtured college radio pioneers REM and underground stalwarts, Let’s Active. After releasing a dozen impressive albums with his country–folk rock project, Vigilantes of Love, Mallonee explores a classic pop sound — Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles (“She’s So Liquid) meets The Monkees (“Extraordinary Girl”) — while staying true to his love of heady, introspective lyricism on his excellent solo debut, Perfumed Letter.
Mallonee strikes his best balance of wistful and whimsical on the deceptively uplifting post-breakup song, “Your Bright Future.” Floating on a Foo Fighters-inspired melody, Mallonee keenly addresses lost hope and its subsequent resignation in the lyrics, “There’s a little piece of you I may never see again/There’s a bigger piece of me that’s simply vanishing.” With Perfumed Letter, Mallonee steps off from the Bob Dylan/Neil Young amalgam of VOL to find peers among Beck, The Eels and Mercury Rev.
Official Website: http://www.billmalloneemusic.com/
This article was originally written for Rolling Stone’s Online Magazine. Though Rolling Stone remains in print and online, this article is no longer a part of their archive and has been added to the content base of The Worley Gig for our readers’ enjoyment.