Email Author Reyan Ali

2011 Stories by Reyan Ali

• Pictureplane: Show Preview

  published December 28, 2011

  As Pictureplane, DJ Travis Egedy serves a most unusual purpose: He makes house music for punk and indie rock crowds. The Denver resident... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Six Signs of Metallica's Pervasive Influence on Pop Culture

  published Dec 07, 2011

  See more of our Metallica Week coverage: Metallica Kicks off Its 30th Anniversary Week with Notable Guests, Rare Songs, and Lots of Talking Sad But True: How the Black Album Both Made and Ruined M... More >>

• The Weakerthans Bring All Their Albums to the Live Stage

  published November 30, 2011

  Staying abreast of contemporary music is an exhausting and nearly futile enterprise. Too many bands exist, as do too many songs, too many... More >>

• Crooked Fingers: Show Preview

  published November 23, 2011

  Archers of Loaf played its first show in 13 years last January, but the indie-punk abstractionists' heralded return hasn't caused Eric Bachmann... More >>

• Kyuss Lives!: Show Preview

  published November 16, 2011

  Kyuss existed for only five years, but the reputation it cultivated in that time was enough to fuel the creation of Kyuss Lives!, a... More >>

• Austra: Show Preview

  published November 9, 2011

  Austra chanteuse Katie Stelmanis possesses an unusual talent. As her band produces crisp, reserved, minimalist electro-pop, made with... More >>

• Beavis and Butt-Head Return Tonight. Here Are Six of Their Greatest Musical Insights

  published Oct 27, 2011

  The world-at-large is bound to associate a few things with Beavis and Butt-Head: the '90s, a ballsier MTV, low-grade animation, juvenile delinquency, crude sex talk, and two idiots who loved fire, cap... More >>

• The Soviettes: Show Preview

  published August 31, 2011

  Minneapolis is a bountiful locale for punk rock, supplying the world with the likes of the Replacements, Dillinger Four, Off with Their Heads,... More >>

• Unknown Mortal Orchestra: Show Preview

  published July 27, 2011

  The M.O. at Fat Possum Records sure has changed over the years. Early on, the Mississippi label focused on aged, venerable, black bluesmen like... More >>

• Earth: Show Preview

  published July 20, 2011

  The aging, instrumental-wielding overlords in Earth have much in common with their namesake. Despite using its 1993 debut, Earth 2:... More >>

• Fake Your Own Death: Show Preview

  published July 13, 2011

  If you've ever been curious how local indie rock four-piece Fake Your Own Death got its name, visit its Facebook page and hear "Mouth to... More >>

• Maus Haus: Show Preview

  published July 6, 2011

  It's always a gamble for a young band to embrace a sense of weirdness. Balance the elements and you've got a product with a lot of personality;... More >>

• After "Portlandia", Washed Out Trades Sampling for Songwriting

  published July 6, 2011

  Washed Out might be the most perfect band name ever conceived: It captures the gist of Ernest Greene's music in two simple words. Bright,... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Young Widows Talk About Recording in a Funeral Home, and Why Experimentation is Necessary

  published Jun 09, 2011

  An unusual recording environment helps add mystique and character to a record. Nine Inch Nails made The Downward Spiral in the Beverly Hills house where the Sharon Tate murders happened. Bon Iver fan... More >>

• Young Widows: Show Preview

  published June 8, 2011

  Young Widows laid down their third LP, In and Out of Youth and Lightness, in the still-in-use Ratterman Funeral Home in the band's... More >>

• Shabazz Palaces Lets Its Hip-Hop Do the Talking

  published June 8, 2011

  If there's one thing we're supposed to know about Shabazz Palaces, it's that we're not supposed to know shit. In the two years since recordings... More >>

• Sister Crayon: Show Preview

  published June 1, 2011

  The story of how Sacramento's Sister Crayon got its name is as splendidly mysterious as the band's sound itself. Back in the days when... More >>

• Architecture in Helsinki Finds a Lean New Sound

  published June 1, 2011

  Restrained isn't a word typically applicable to Architecture in Helsinki. The group has taken quite the opposite approach for most of its... More >>

• Stiff Little Fingers: Show Preview

  published May 25, 2011

  There aren't many great punk bands still active who can say they were around for the genre's early days, but Stiff Little Fingers... More >>

• O.G. Punks

  published May 25, 2011

  There aren't many great punk bands still active who can say they were around for the genre's early days, but Stiff... More >>

• Peanut Butter Wolf: Show Preview

  published May 18, 2011

  If Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?: Old-School Hip-Hop Edition ever materializes, Peanut Butter Wolf (aka Chris Manak) will be the... More >>

• Lazerbeak Is King of the Lavabangers

  published May 4, 2011

  Thank your favorite deity for Aaron Mader's deficiencies. If the teenaged, head-over-heels-for-hip-hop Mader hadn't sucked at dancing, hadn't... More >>

• Crystal Stilts: Show Preview

  published May 4, 2011

  Imagine a hazy '60s-reminiscent garage-pop track anchored in a droning organ and a jangly guitar melody — a song that could comfortably... More >>

• Battles: Show Preview

  published April 27, 2011

  Identifying one band as "[insert noun here]" on "[acid/weed/some other narcotic]" is an ancient cliché of music journalism, but once in... More >>

• Always Wired

  published April 13, 2011

  Perpetually armed with a wily mouth and artfully spare riffs, Wire has a rep as one of postpunk's... More >>