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On stage, Fishbone performs like an aged fighter backed into a corner and down on points. At the High Noon Saloon in Madison on Friday night, the band reinforced their reputation as uncompromising musical pioneers and thick-headed stalwarts even as bar-band doom stares them in the face.
After years of self-imposed exile from music-making, Jeff Mangum and his underground-rock group Neutral Milk Hotel have seen cult-like audiences grow in their absence — one that sees the group as indie-rock messiahs. Their concert in Madison on Saturday night was a second coming that proved miracles really do happen.
Let’s face facts. When most people think of the Twin Cities, images of blizzard-like conditions and bitter, breathless cold crystallize in their minds as fast as a Minnesota quick-freeze.
Rock legend Elton John gave a Vegas-honed performance Thursday night in Madison that paraded some of the greatest pop-rock songs of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s in front of America’s Dairyland. And this without any assists from Cirque du Soleil.
Like the hobbled hero from some Hollywood movie, a clearly ailing Levon Helm rallied his strength during Tuesday night’s performance to give those who gathered at a downtown Milwaukee casino an enthralling lesson in American roots music.
Long stuck in the shadow of the metal titans Queens of the Stone Age, the Eagles of Death Metal have so primed their swaggering, rock ‘n’ roll engine that no one will mistake them for a hot-rod side project again. Their recent concert in Madison, Wis., demonstrates their groove-oriented tunes can shake hips as well as preconceptions.
Besides indie-rock hipsters, there was something else that filled Chicago’s Metro on Monday night for TV on the Radio’s sold-out concert: Doubt.
Ten years after shocking his way into the pop scene, Marilyn Manson is still somehow a pre-eminent figure in music despite the number of times his career appeared to die a horrible death. His new album, “Eat Me, Drink Me,” thanks to a musical partnership, is bringing him back from the dead yet again. Continue reading
With the Arcade Fire hype machine still going strong and media and record label interest squarely fixed on spotting the next big thing from the Canadian music scene, Montreal indie-rock outfit Handsome Furs has released its debut album that seems destined to boost the anticipatory fervor. Continue reading
After spending years as the butt of jokes and releasing increasingly abstract and difficult albums, Icelandic singing maven Bjork has recorded a new disc that is more immediate than anything she’s done in a decade but maintains the avant-garde experimentation that so often made her a punch line. Continue reading
Ten years after they peaked with the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning “Tha Crossroads,” the members of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony hope to regenerate their career with a brand-new disc, “Strength & Loyalty.” To cinch this comeback, the group called in favors from a string of star guests and first-rank producers. Continue reading
In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, Soundbytes’ David Hyland examines the career of Irish music legend Van Morrison. Continue reading
Four decades after they created the template for punk rock, the ’60s combo the Stooges have reunited with frontman Iggy Pop for a brand-new album. Find out if the results are worth the wait. Continue reading
Canadian drama-rock outfit Arcade Fire have answered the lofty expectations of the indie-rock world with a new album every bit as epic as their much-loved debut. It’s a darker effort, but just as powerful. Continue reading
Industrial-rock icons Nine Inch Nails might have reclaimed much of their original fire with their last album, but the group’s new DVD captures the mechanized experience of them live but with little feeling that human artistry is involved. Continue reading
With a new album already in the can, singer-songwriter Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, decided to debut most of it at a one-off performance Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater on Thursday night. Continue reading
It wasn’t purple, but the tropical rain that soaked Prince and all of those inside Miami’s Dolphin Stadium on Sunday night was an unintended and probably unwelcome special effect for the Super Bowl Halftime show. Continue reading