Best of Friday:
Steve Kiviat writes:
Tel Aviv power-rockers Monotonix are not celebrated for their albums. Just like previous efforts, last month's Steve Albini-produced Not Yet blends hookless shouting with self-indulgent guitar riffs, and the result sounds like an unsuccessful MC5-Led Zeppelin hybrid. But live, the trio compensates with pure spectacle. Singer Avi Shalev leaps into the [...]
As the leaves change their hue, the inevitable moment arrives when you slip on a fuzzy knit sweater to better bear the brisk weather sliding into summer's absence. It's a strangely pleasant time of year, but it somehow feels warmer when pitted snugly against a song acknowledging the coming chill. An autumn track ought to [...]
Hello! Underwhelmed by D.C. music of late? So is the A.V. Club D.C.'s Matthew Borlik, who has penned some New Year's resolutions for the District's music scene. The former Washington City Paper staffer and Q & Not U member writes:
From the early ’90s through the early ’00s, the nation knew a D.C. band when it [...]
UPDATE: Louis Bayard responds via e-mail: "The mistake is mine, I guess. I was shuffling around some categories, and the Smiths didn't get unshuffled, and nobody caught it." Original post below.
In his review in the Washington Post of a David Bowie biography by Marc Spitz, critic Louis Bayard discusses the Thin White Duke's influence, and [...]
The band (or, in this case, the Man): Morrissey
The Album: Years of Refusal
Observe:
[Ed. note: Here at Judging a Disc, we know we're treading on thin ice by going after the greatest, most loved punk-turned-singer-songwriter of all time (Jesus, you people love your Fucking Morrissey), but we can't let that stop us. Read on–if you dare.]
