Between MySpace streams, internet leaks and a handful of advance copies being sent to select media, U2’s No Line On the Horizon (Interscope) has already been heard by thousands if not millions of curious listeners. And despite a fairly week lead off single (“Get On Your Boots”) the rest of the album soars with modern rock superiority and is poised to become a cornerstone of its catalogue when released this Tuesday. Here’s yet another sneak peak of the song listing with a track by track breakdown of what to expect after opening the shrink wrap on the actual record or downloading the disc in its entirety: (more…)

“So you guys ready to see a really shitty movie,” asked J. Elvis Weinstein at the start of the Cinematic Titanic live event that stopped at Cleveland’s Hannah Theatre on Feb. 27 for the first of a two-night stand. On a national tour to promote a series of DVDs they’ve issued, the guys in Cinematic Titanic, the artists formerly known as Mystery Science Theater 3000, are the peanut gallery of all peanut galleries. The live performance works like this. The guys show a really trashy movie and make outlandish comments as it’s screening, adding humorous insights that qualify as the things most folks think but don’t say. So even before the starts of the night’s feature presentation, Blood of the Vampires, a low budget horror film set in Mexico with an all Philippine cast, the smart ass comments started flying.

(more…)

Punk rock enthusiasts are sure to recall The Epoxies, the Portland-bred scene stealers who were best known for 2005′s Stop The Future on Fat Wreck Chords. Though the band broke up towards the end of 2007, its fearless front woman is on her way back into the limelight via Roxy Epoxy and the Rebound. The outfit recently inked a deal with Metropolis Records and is slated for the March 10 release Band-Aids On Bullet Holes, which builds off her original act’s dynamic and adds an even more iconic twist.

(more…)

Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail was the highest grossing film over the weekend, making some 40 million dollars during what’s normally a pretty slow movie-going period. Impressive, yes. There’s no arguing with Perry’s popularity. The guy has filled a niche, making movies for and about middle class African-Americans. But Madea is simply not good movie making.

(more…)

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s inductions return to Cleveland this year (they’ve been held in New York for the past several years). To mark the occasion, the Rock Hall is hosting a contest for unsigned bands. The winner will have the chance to perform on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s Main Stage in front of hundreds of people on Saturday, April 4 as a part of the 2009 Induction Ceremony week of events.

(more…)

Jon McLaughlin at Chicago's House of Blues 2008 (Photo By Andy Argyrakis)

Sometimes a cover tune in concert can be one of the coolest moments in a show, if only for the fact that a famous artist puts an original spin on an already familiar tune. But when the quantity of covers starts stepping above one or even two, skeptics could question why an artist isn’t more confident in their own material and is instead on relying on others’ golden oldies?

Enter Jon McLaughlin, the undeniably catchy piano popper (and preppy version of Ben Folds) who’s a true talent across a pair of Island albums (Indiana and the new OK Now), but pulled no less than three remakes out of the bag at a recent House of Blues Chicago tour stop. The call and response started with a full band version of The Beatles’ “Come Together,” which wasn’t exactly as potent as the original, but a point of commonality nonetheless for any age group in the audience. (more…)

J.D. Fortune leading INXS in 2006 (Photo By Andy Argyrakis)

Not that many people remember at this point, but “Rockstar: INXS” took the world by storm a few years back in hopes of appointing a new front man to Australia’s leading alternative rockers. The winner was J.D. Fortune, a one time Elvis Presley impersonator who aptly stepped up to the microphone for the fairly solid 2005 CD Switch, even if he failed to fill in the shoes of fallen front man Michael Hutchence. (more…)

Lux Interior and the Cramps

The Dan Auerbach CD, Keep It Hid, is the first great record of 2009.  At times it sounds like a lost, late night transmission of a great 60s radio station, full of soul, rock and snakeskin boogie.  At other times Keep It Hid  has a cryptic, backwoods feel,  like those Anthology of American Folk Music recordings collected by Harry Smith.   The “old, weird America” critic Greil Marcus called it.  Auerbach’s production is full of tinny, fuzzy  feedback, buzzing and humming guitar leads , and electronically distorted vocals (ala Tom Waits) making it a thoroughly morphed and modern take on the Americana “roots” sound.

(more…)

Power poppers Fastball burst out of the major label gate a decade ago with melodic power pop smashes like “The Way,” “Fire Escape” and “Out of My Head,” all from the Grammy-nominated All the Pain That Money Can Buy (Hollywood). In the years that followed, the group made several other splashes on college and alternative rock radio, with singles like “You’re An Ocean” and “Airstream” coming from a pair of additional projects. (more…)

It’s not out til next month, but the Legacy reissue of Beth Orton’s Trailer Park is a terrific keepsake of a terrific album. Originally released in September of 1996 during the height of teen-pop mania, this album introduced Orton as an antidote of sorts. It received all sorts of well-deserved accolades, ending up on the shortlist for that year’s Mercury Prize.

(more…)