Most people know OK Go more for the choreographed treadmill work of their YouTube sensation video than their actual music. For the uninitiated: The L.A.-via-Chicago band build wild disco-jam pop songs that sound as if The Strokes were crammed through a Prince filter. On their latest, the drums are big, the bass slinky, and the vocals soaring. Start with “Needing/Getting”; the beat thumps and singer Damian Kulash wails, “It don’t get much dumber than trying to forget a girl when you know that you love her” before things crumble into a dub jam. “White Knuckles” is a rump-shaker with hand claps and funk riffs, and “All Is Not Lost” is indie rock ABBA—in a good way. The big, dreamy “In the Glass” is a great closer. It just needs a video.

It's a tried and true formula: the songwriter for a pioneer band spends the winter snowed in with a pile of old records and a collection of instruments and pulls together a twangy album of noisy folk. When it’s Chris Crisci from The Appleseed Cast, we’ll give it a chance. “Under” has all of the elements of a basement record, including harmonica, mandolin, and slightly offbeat vocals, as does the barren banjo instrumental “Black Hill Chapel.” Crisci sounds more confident backed by the tight strumming and tambourine beat of “Trust,” a song ripe with Pedro the Lion/David Bazan influences in which he sings, “Little one be careful/There are people out there who’ll steal your soul.” It’s old-timey advice that still stands up.

Sure, Olde City Tattoo has a street-shop vibe, but they’re really the city’s go-to guys for quality custom pieces. The shop has a staff of six artists, so you can be sure that someone will give you what you’re look ing for, whether it’s a portrait or black-and-gray piece from owner Jason Goldberg or Japanese stylings courtesy of Martin LaCasse. “This is a talented group of guys,” Goldberg says proudly. “Everyone here has been tattooing for well over 10 years so we know what we’re doing.” Indeed, the staff is a mix of formally trained artists and self-taught purists, but they’ve all come together with the shared goal of producing work they can be proud of. Make sure to take a close look at the flash that lines the walls of ...

READ MORE »

He’s done with drugs. He’s finished with booze forever (hopefully). And after selling a whopping 45 million albums, he’s stopped caring what you think about Linkin Park. Meet the rebuilt and refocused Chester Bennington and his new side project, Dead By Sunrise.

READ MORE »