Email Author REYAN ALI

2012 Stories by REYAN ALI

• Death-rock Pioneers 45 Grave Rise, Fall and Rise Again

  published December 20, 2012

  For Dinah Cancer, becoming the front woman of 45 Grave in 1979 represented the scratching of multiple itches. Not only did it mean a chance to... More >>

• Throw Rag Are as Sleazy, Salty and Psychotic as Ever

  published December 13, 2012

  Sean Wheeler's earliest memory of Throw Rag involves taking from the pages of the Man In Black. In late 1993, Wheeler and Dan "Scorcho" Lapham... More >>

• Pacific Air Keep Their Pop Above the Clouds—and Indie Trends

  published December 6, 2012

  For an enterprising band with a Facebook account, maximizing the value of the "Genre" category is a fast and handy way of announcing your... More >>

• Rusko's Love for Dubstep Started With a Ska Groove

  published November 8, 2012

  Before he touched any DJ equipment, Christopher Mercer wanted to make music that sounded like the Santa Barbara punk band Mad Caddies. He was a... More >>

• Municipal Waste Are the Funnest (and Most Disturbing) in All of Thrash Metal

  published November 8, 2012

  A blond, conspicuously tattooed metalhead grabs a businessman by his jacket and shoots olive-green vomit directly into his face, delivering the... More >>

• Com Truise's Sound Combines Lo-fi and Sci-fi

  published November 1, 2012

  Science-fiction films and electronic music had their first make-out session in 1956. That year marked the arrival of Forbidden Planet,... More >>

• Wise-Cracking Weedeater Mix Humor and Headbanging

  published October 11, 2012

  Before playing sets nowadays, Wilmington, North Carolina, sludge-metal trio Weedeater hit the stage to one of a handful of songs. Two of their... More >>

• The English Beat Are Still the Big Shots of 2 Tone Ska

  published September 27, 2012

  Sometime around 1978, revelation struck in Birmingham. During that period, Dave Wakeling, Andy Cox and David Steele had a nascent, nameless... More >>

• Skate-Punk Veterans Strung Out Spend Some Time With Nostalgia

  published September 27, 2012

  When asked for his thoughts on Strung Out's heyday in the 1990s, the first word Jason Cruz uses to describe the decade is "weird."... More >>

• Reel Big Fish Keep Skanking for Good Times' Sake

  published July 26, 2012

  Ah, the glories of being an American ska band in the 1990s. Back then, the third wave of the Jamaica-bred genre collided with mainstream music,... More >>

• Are the Dwarves the Punk Soundtrack to Sexual Perversion?

  published July 19, 2012

  Considering they're the most taboo of taboos, rape, incest, necrophilia and pedophilia rarely receive simultaneous play on the silver screen.... More >>

• Royal Thunder See Strength in Numbers

  published July 5, 2012

  Royal Thunder are currently dealing with a stalker. In the Atlanta band's case, the culprit isn't a human being they could press charges... More >>

• Lower Dens Robotic Rock Still Has a Human Touch

  published June 28, 2012

  Before he started working on a record called Nootropics, Lower Dens bassist Geoff Graham had never heard of the term, but you can... More >>

• Fashawn's Divine Inspiration

  published June 14, 2012

  Using the world "destiny" to describe Fashawn's trajectory toward a hip-hop career might be a bit much. He'd prefer to think of it as more of a... More >>

• Take a Whiff of YACHT's Electropop Perfume

  published June 14, 2012

  Nearly all the musicians and singers who have their own perfumes and colognes are the heavily branded, planet-sized entities you'd expect to... More >>

• Maps & Atlases chart a fantastic voyage

  published May 31, 2012

  For a band touting such a heady approach to indie rock, it's surprising Maps & Atlases began with no real plan in mind. Meeting in 2004 at... More >>

• Dinosaur Feathers Trek the Blues

  published May 17, 2012

  In 2004, Greg Sullo was a college sophomore spending a semester in the West African country of Mali, and a musician still four years away from... More >>

• Washed Out Rides the Chill Wave

  published May 3, 2012

  Washed Out might be the most perfect band name ever. In two simple words, it captures the gist of Ernest Greene's music. Bright, explosive hues... More >>

• Youth Lagoon Is the New Bon Iver

  published April 5, 2012

  If, for some reason, you've been on the lookout for a lonely sounding record by a musician from Idaho, you can call off the hunt. Youth... More >>

• Spectrals Only (Want to) Write About Love

  published March 29, 2012

  Louis Jones doesn't have much to complain about. As the 22-year-old in charge of Spectrals—another entry into the long line of... More >>

• George Thorogood Is Like the King of Beers

  published March 1, 2012

  All things considered, the premise of George Thorogood & the Destroyers' first show is pretty boring, having occurred in 1973 in a dorm room in... More >>

• Toxic Holocaust Really Mean It

  published February 23, 2012

  Joel Grind has devoted a long time—12 years, to be exact—to reminding the world we can all be exterminated by a nuclear bomb at any... More >>

• It's Casual Are Citified

  published February 9, 2012

  Listening to the title track of It's Casual's The New Los Angeles reveals a man—no, a beast—who seems absolutely... More >>

• Matt Pryor Ditches His Band

  published February 2, 2012

  There are certain musicians Matt Pryor has gone to bat for who don't seem like much of a stretch. Over various interviews, the... More >>