Email Author CHRIS ZIEGLER

2011 Stories by CHRIS ZIEGLER

• The Smith Westerns Are to Dye For

  published May 19, 2011

  The first Smith Westerns LP (on Chicago's all-killer indie label HoZac in 2009) was a masterful example of what historians like to call... More >>

• Infantree

  published May 19, 2011

  Indie-folk foursome Infantree came from beyond the Valley—the San Fernando Valley, not the Valley of the Dolls, though they do share a... More >>

• Pickin' With the Knitters

  published May 12, 2011

  DJ Bonebrake may now be eligible for AARP—he even had the card for a year, but he never got around to using it—but the drummer for... More >>

• Krum Bums

  published May 12, 2011

  Austin’s Krum Bums do it all—snarling high-speed Filth-meets-Discharge nihilcore, raging oi!-influenced sing-alongs, Negative... More >>

• The Corin Tucker Band Play Mom Rock!

  published May 5, 2011

  A lot went into Corin Tucker's recent solo album, 1,000 Years. Like 11 prior years of growth and work with Sleater-Kinney, one of the... More >>

• New York Night Train Soul Clap & Dance-Off

  published May 5, 2011

  New York DJ/writer/globetrotting-45-collector Jonathan Toubin is a man on a mission, paratrooping into cities across the nation with a full case... More >>

• Curren$y

  published April 28, 2011

  New Orleans-raised rapper Curren$y—currently on deck with freebie-mixtape-turned-legit-album Covert Coup—is a real child of... More >>

• The Raveonettes

  published April 28, 2011

  The Raveonettes have what you might call a “thing,” or possibly an “equation,” which traditionally has made Suicide, the... More >>

• Cool Hand Luke

  published April 21, 2011

  Everybody loves that cinematic failure to communicate, but Cool Hand Luke is pretty much bursting with insights both camouflaged and right... More >>

• The Psychedelic Furs

  published April 21, 2011

  The Psychedelic Furs’ 1981 LP Talk Talk Talk reverberates to this day—somehow director John Hughes got a whole movie out of... More >>

• The Return of Punk Rock Social

  published April 14, 2011

  They’re the Meatmen and everything still sucks. Perhaps only Arizona’s amazingly disgusting Feederz could match Tesco Vee and the... More >>

• The Subhumans

  published April 14, 2011

  Every time you drive by Disneyland, think of Dick Lucas, who fronts the indestructible British punk band the Subhumans and sings with true gusto:... More >>

• Gestapo Khazi

  published April 7, 2011

  Good thing you’re from OC, where beach punk was born and persists against the depredations of a thousand Internet bands with their own same-y... More >>

• Echo Echo

  published April 7, 2011

  Echo Echo drummer Darren Carr once called his band “wuss rock”—that was when they were named after their front man Steve Carson,... More >>

• 'Pixels: The Art of iPhone Photography'

  published March 31, 2011

  The inventors of a simple iPhone tripod raised $140,000 almost instantly when they announced to the world they wanted to provide an easy way to... More >>

• The Batbombs

  published March 31, 2011

  The Batbombs do some seriously snarling scum rock on their Gutted Blues EP—Nick Cave or Lux Interior vox dripping with contempt and... More >>

• Fitz and the Tantrums: Soul Suits Them

  published March 31, 2011

  Right now, Fitz and the Tantrums' singer Michael "Fitz" Fitzpatrick is about 6 feet and change of focused enthusiasm in a very shiny suit, able... More >>

• Girl Talk Is the Best at What He Does

  published March 17, 2011

  Girl Talk's Gregg Gillis is the man for whom the phrase "all killer, no filler" was invented: someone who makes music out of the best parts of... More >>

• Great Big Things

  published March 17, 2011

  Great Big Things made their great big exit last summer at the Prospector, capping a short but bright career that culminated in their self-titled... More >>

• FYF Presents: Crystal Antlers

  published March 10, 2011

  Long Beach’s Crystal Antlers covered the same Mose Allison song as Blue Cheer on their first 7-inch—which is now trading for upward of... More >>

• The Soundtrack of Our Lives

  published March 10, 2011

  Sweden’s TSOOL—always wondered what TSOL thought about this—have ideas too big for a music industry that’s continually... More >>

• The Holloys

  published March 3, 2011

  LA’s Holloys—who say they come from a parallel dimension, but they’re a band out of time, too—are one of those groups of... More >>

• Crystal Castles

  published February 24, 2011

  Canada’s computerized post-pop band Crystal Castles started as an accident—or an experiment, depending on what you’d call it when a... More >>

• Winter Jam 2011

  published February 17, 2011

  God-king of Auto-Tune, T-Pain presents his radio-rap rangers for an event with so much bass Anaheim Public Works will patch cracks in the parking... More >>

• The Smith Westerns

  published February 10, 2011

  The Smith Westerns started out on the storied HoZac Records, home of every idiosyncratically recorded rock & roll band worth its limited-edition... More >>