Theme Park Experience

Sad news to pass along about Lance Hahn, vocalist/guitarist for J Church . He passed away over the weekend. Here's a post on PunkNews.org with more information. Kyle posted the following bulletin on MySpace: Hey everyone, Word is rapidly spreading through the grapevine that Lance Hahn, founder and frontman of the beloved J Church, passed away today after a long illness. As a fan and friendly acquaintance of Lance's for 15 years, I'm crushed. J Church is one of my favorite bands, and their music occupies more space on my iPod than anyone else's--it should considering they released 10,549,420 albums. Snd On Snd was truly honored to release a split 7" with J Church this year. While we're helping plan a memorial/benefit show, we want to help NOW. So, 100% of the proceeds from any order of our split will go to Lance's memorial fund. Send $6 (postage paid) via PayPal to Info@CMYKyle.com . You can also donate $$ directly at vulcanvideo.com . Please help! We'...

(Note: A regular feature for Punk Planet reviewers was a Reviewer Spotlight. The record had to be at least five years old, could be on a major label or indie, and could only be spotlighted once. With Punk Planet shutting its doors earlier this year, I figured I should preserve some more of my contributions by reposting clips on this blog. Enjoy!) from Punk Planet #68 Ash, Nu-Clear Sounds The Fair Warning / Ignorance is Bliss of their career, Ash’s Nu-Clear Sounds stands apart from their other records. The band’s pop-punk-by-way-of-grunge-upbringing took on a dirty lo-fi sound for their third LP, but Nu-Clear Sounds is still very worthwhile. Rockers (“Jesus Says,” “Wild Surf,” “Projects,” “Fortune Teller”) give way to pretty ballads (“Folk Song,” “I’m Gonna Fall”) while also boasting pure raunch (“Numbskull,” “Death Trip 21”), but it works. When the record was released stateside on DreamWorks (while the label also had Elliott Smith, Creeper Lagoon and Rollins Band on its roster), ...

Pretty much every one of the thirteen bands featured in Our Band Could Be Your Life deserves a full book devoted to them. The entire career of the few that never signed with a major label are well covered, but for the bands that did, I argue there's way more to tell. Not to make light of Azerrad's focus on the bands' independent label days; rather, certain bands' stories go in some interesting directions post-major labeldom. If I were to narrow down the list, it would be Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and the Replacements. Sonic Youth's career was documented in Alec Foege's Confusion is Next , a book originally published in 1994. I've always thought there should be an update to Sonic Youth's story since a lot has happened since publication. But I strongly felt there was a need for books on the band formerly known as Dinosaur and the band often known as the Mats. Well, sometimes wishes get granted and proper books come together. Jim Walsh, a friend and fellow ...

I recently paid a visit to the new location of a Deep Ellum staple, the Door . Taking over the building where the Gypsy Tea Room once was, things weren't that much different, which was fine by me. I will say though: a few weeks before going to this show, I saw the rubble of the old Door location and kind of felt like Ben Kenobi when Alderaan was zapped in Star Wars . Nobody was killed in this case, but it felt like a lot of memories had been reduced down to almost nothing. And that is, for a lack of a better term, draining. The old Door was the place where I saw the Get Up Kids attract a crowd that was double the venue's capacity. When I interviewed various members of the band for POST , they still remembered that show (especially the heat in the room). This was the venue where I saw Braid on their reunion tour and interviewed half of the band for my book. These are just some of my memories of the place as I saw plenty of great shows between 1999 and 2007. Now, as mentioned in ...

Last week, an extensive entry about the future of the music industry appeared on the New York Times ' Freakonomics blog. A college professor, an author, a music producer and two label owners chimed in with their opinions for a refreshing and very well-done piece. One quote by author Fredric Dannen really touched a nerve with me though. And I don't mean this in a negative way. Rather, it was the realization about a trend whenever there is a new, major advance in technology: . . . consumers of recorded music will always embrace the format that provides the greatest convenience. No other factor — certainly not high fidelity — will move consumers substantially to change their listening and buying habits. Amazing how this simple explanation explains the popularity of the eight-track, the four-track cassette, the Walkman, the MiniDisc, and the iPod. It even explains the popularity of the CD, but there's something I've never understood with those that, even after all these ye...

Word spread last Friday afternoon about an apparently bad interview with Sigur Ros on NPR's The Bryant Park Project . Prefaced that the interviewer still loves the band's music, he went on to write this: . . . the band showed up promptly at 11am (EDT) and commenced to give what is possibly the worst interview in the history of electronic media. Seriously. It was that bad. Right away, I'm thinking this is not going to be good. Didn't matter how bad the interview actually went; the claim about being "possibly the worst interview in the history of electronic media" rubs me the wrong way. It's just like whenever someone says anything is the "worst ever." Meaning, an exaggeration that makes something seem the worst of the worst when there has been way worse in our society's long and rich history. Besides, anytime a claim like this is made, there is usually a counter claim that this wasn't so bad after all. (I still stand behind the fact that ...

. . . because this blog is three years old today. Regular posting returns next week.