Beloved webcomic Achewood has, at long last, made the jump to print. Theon Weber talks with the comic’s creator, Chris Onstad.
Theon Weber
Posted inMusic
Death to Neuroticism
The Force-Fed Fun of Be Your Own Pet
I’m kind of scared of Be Your Own Pet, which is embarrassing because I’m too young to be scared of this band. Be Your Own Pet are a punk band from Nashville whose oldest member can’t drink, or, well, at least he’s not supposed to. I’m not either, so these are my people, but Jemina […]
Posted inMusic
Kid Music
The Open-Mouthed Adulthood of Kate Nash
Kate Nash’s favorite Roald Dahl story is George’s Marvelous Medicine, about the kid poisoning his unspeakable grandmother—about par for Dahl’s course. It’s an odd choice—particularly, it seems, for Nash, whose songs feature none of Dahl’s grisly fates, and whose lead single’s video has toothbrushes nuzzling, watches hugging, and other stop-motion displays of accessory affection. But […]
Posted inMusic
Lost in Translation
Deciphering Why?
The first single off Berkeley band Why?’s new album Alopecia is called “The Hollows.” It’s not the best song, but it may contain the best moment, which comes when Yoni Wolf’s vocals, never slow, accelerate to such a breathless pitch it’s obvious even if you’re not listening that something’s going down. Here is what’s going […]
Posted inFeature
Rock ‘n’ Roll All the Way Down to the Pit!
The Mercury‘s “Horns Up” Music Issue 2008
Posted inMusic
Bombastic, Yet Friendly
The Flaming Lips Make All the Kids Say “Yeah!”
A word heard frequently in the Flaming Lips’ new live DVD, UFOs at the Zoo, is “Yeah!” which Lips frontman Wayne Coyne urges the audience to shout loud enough to combat the destructive power of a hand grenade. I like this kind of dreamy metaphysics, and I call Coyne the morning after watching UFOs at […]
Posted inMusic
Let’s Talk About Sex
Let’s Talk About Rilo Kiley
This article is about sex, because these days, so is Rilo Kiley. If the ex-Saddle Creek band did, as they claimed on 2002’s The Execution Of All Things, go to Omaha to “exploit the booming music scene,” their new album, Under The Blacklight, is a homecoming of sorts. Jenny Lewis and company return to Los […]