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Kings Go Forth – “The Outsiders Are Back”Luaka Bop-out now!4 / 5 Take Earth, Wind and Fire, add dense layers of percussion and a female lead vocal, and you might come close to Milwaukee’s retro-funk-soul outfit Kings Go Forth. With uplifting melodies and soulful harmonies, Kings brings back everything you loved about the 70s scene (shiny suits aside) on their debut release. And if you forgot what some of those things were, “You’re the One” will certainly remind you again: singable choruses, bright, danceable rhythms, lyrics that transport you straight back to back-seat first-kiss nostalgia. Our favorite, “High on Your Love,” is so pure andRead More →

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Few could predict that an indie punk group from Oklahoma City would have such an innovative presence in the music world. At 49, Wayne Coyne (center) and his quartet of space-a-delic freaks, including bassist Michael Ivins (right) and drummers Steven Drozd (left) and Kliph Scurlock, have earned a Grammy, covered Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” in its entirety, and toured relentlessly across the world. Currently on tour for their first double-album Embryonic (excluding Zaireeka, their 1997 four-album experiment), the self-deprecating Coyne delivers about the not-so-glamorous side of touring, as well as about future projects. And definitely feel free to check out theirRead More →

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Fake Problems – “Real Ghosts Caught on Tape”One Side Dummyout now!3 / 5 Pure adrenaline pop/rock is the order of the day when it comes to the Naples, FL indie outfit Fake Problems. Perhaps some of the best direct comparisons would be the bands Fun., the Gaslight Anthem (downtempo, without echo on the vocals) and perhaps Motion City Soundtrack (without the extreme sugar rush), and that does fine with us; it’s that opener, “ADT,” that pulls us in. Then why the long face? Well, (thanks for asking), it’s that Fake Problems doesn’t present particularly fresh material. Scrabbled together from a handful of catchy guitar licks,Read More →

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Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – “Before Today”4ad Records-out now!4 / 5 Nah nah naaaah naaah… so sorry, we’ve just been grooving to Ariel Pink’s latest retro-80s offering. The LA-based group mashes together all the 70s funk bass and falsetto you can take on a platter of 80s synth-pop (with just a dash of surf-music harmonies), and the result is…well, far less confusing than that sentence. Like a mad scientist shooting his creation with electricity, Ariel Pink’s album jazzes and boogies to life; if you doubt us, go ahead and check out “Round and Round,” the best thing to hit late-night driving since the invention ofRead More →