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REYAN ALI

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Gimme danger

The resurrected Murder City Devils keep it crazy
By the time this story makes print, yet another seven bazillion bands will be sporting logos involving a skull.

By: REYAN ALI | July 06, 2010

The sweet escape

Twin Sister lay their shimmering dreamscapes bare
When writers discuss Twin Sister's music, the word "dreamy" invariably pops up. It's not just a regurgitated cliché.

By: REYAN ALI | July 05, 2010

Wolf Parade | Expo 86

Sub Pop (2010)
Wolf Parade kick-start their third album by getting right into rambling poetics.

By: REYAN ALI | July 01, 2010

Against Me! | White Crosses

Sire (2010)
For a while, Against Me! were the most impassioned band on the planet.

By: REYAN ALI | June 26, 2010

Semi Precious Weapons celebrate partying and poverty
After a few tours, any rock act worth its decibels should be able to name a couple of its wilder shows with little effort, but Justin Tranter’s pick for most memorable Semi Precious Weapons concert sounds especially libertine.

By: REYAN ALI | June 28, 2010

Gravity and grace

Mono’s tender post-rock gets even bigger
Like most post-rock bands worth their “post-rock” tag, Mono — who come to the Middle East this Friday — just can’t help sounding immense.

By: REYAN ALI | May 25, 2010

Li(f)e story

Sage Francis gets by with a lot of help from his friends
Should nothing change over the next couple of months, July will mark one year since Providence’s Sage Francis — who comes to the Middle East this Wednesday — has written or recorded a single verse.

By: REYAN ALI | May 07, 2010

Male Bonding | Nothing Hurts

Sub Pop (2010)
The ’90s generated lots of terrific pop culture — Sandman comics, Pulp Fiction, decent Mortal Kombat games, etc. — but quiz Male Bonding on their favorite product of the decade and, if they’re telling it straight, the London trio are bound to pick American indie rock.

By: REYAN ALI | April 27, 2010

Strange brew

Abe Vigoda are smart enough to stay weird
Abe Vigoda (the band) celebrated the 89th birthday of Abe Vigoda (the man) by staying up till 5 am.

By: REYAN ALI | April 02, 2010

Crime In Stereo | I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone

Bridge Nine (2010)
Crime in Stereo are fighting to grow out of hardcore.

By: REYAN ALI | March 09, 2010

Arty crashers

Fucked Up live to conquer the improbable
Fucked Up's career is a game of dares they're winning. Over the past few years, the Toronto band have trashed a bathroom on an MTV broadcast, played a 12-hour set in a NYC boutique, reeled in random notables like David Cross, Bob Mould, and Nelly Furtado for Christmas charity singles, landed their vocalist Pink Eyes appearances on Fox News, and won the 2009 Polaris Music Prize.

By: REYAN ALI | February 17, 2010

Royal pain

The ugly truths of the Dutchess & the Duke
Jesse Lortz is always ready to lay something heavy on you. As the primary architect and male half of Seattle indie-folk troubadours the Dutchess & the Duke (who come to T.T. the Bear's Place this Sunday), he spent their 2008 debut, She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke , contemplating loneliness, disgust, and death.

By: REYAN ALI | January 05, 2010

Three on the floor

Friendly Fires find life after hardcore
Their homonymous debut album in tow, Friendly Fires made news last July when they were shortlisted for the 2009 Mercury Prize, the English-music-industry accolade that brings with it £20,000 to one native artist or group.

By: REYAN ALI | December 01, 2009

Bio beware

Elvis Perkins clears up his cloudy ballads
Elvis Perkins has got a backstory on him.

By: REYAN ALI | November 24, 2009

Epics in minutes

Sian Alice Group make a lot from a little (of everything)
Rupert Clervaux has made a game out of reading how people dissect his band's sound. As a multi-instrumentalist in the London collective Sian Alice Group (who come to the Middle East on Monday), he hears the whole spectrum of genres.

By: REYAN ALI | October 13, 2009

Major laser

Naked Raygun assess their legacy
Of Naked Raygun's many conquests, perhaps their greatest was impressing Steve Albini. In a 1992 Maximumrocknroll interview, Albini — the sharp-tongued musician/producer who, among other things, once dismissed Nirvana as "R.E.M. with a fuzzbox" and the Pixies as "blandly entertaining college rock" — offered a rare public endorsement.

By: REYAN ALI | August 31, 2009

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