All Authors >

FRANKLIN SOULTS

Latest Articles

Wussy

Left for Dead | Shake It
Wussy’s 2005 debut, Funeral Dress (also Shake It), was loved wherever it was reviewed, but it wasn’t reviewed much.

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | November 27, 2007

Bands of Gypsy

Gogol Bordello and Balkan Beat Box
The explosion of neo-Gypsy-hybrid music started, you might say, with a cleverly worded flyer spied years ago by Eugene Hütz.

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | September 25, 2007

Outer limits

The return of Apples in Stereo
Sooner or later, most of us come to need at least some support in the mental world as well as the physical.

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | September 12, 2007

Gabel, Gabel, hey!

Against Me!’s new wave of political punk
New Wave ’s opening title track makes as much of its referential moniker as the Clash did of the phrase “London Calling.”

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | August 31, 2007

New kids on the rock

The Click Five struggle with the new world disorder
Back on June 20, three tour buses were lined up like impregnable traveling fortresses behind the House of Blues in Cleveland.

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | June 29, 2007

Floating on

Modest Mouse survive their own shipwreck
Like so many indie-rockers raised in the shadow of Northwestern clouds Isaac Brock knows a thing or two about gray skies.

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | April 10, 2007

Elixir of youth

Fountains of Wayne push their expiration date
After 11 seesaw years in the pop music marketplace, Fountains of Wayne return on a fourth studio album as an unparalleled American pop-rock phenomenon.

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | March 27, 2007

K-OS

Atlantis: Hymns for Disco | Virgin
In American hip-hop, nice guys don’t just finish last — they’re lucky to leave the starting gate.

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | February 20, 2007

The Shins tend to a growing fan base
The Shins’ third album, Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop), is as good as any rational mortal should expect an indie-pop album to be in the winter of 2007. The Shins, "Phantom Limb" (mp3)

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | February 06, 2007

Vietnam

Vietnam | Kemado
“We just wanted a name that had power,” says co-founder Michael Gerner in Rolling Stone.

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | January 29, 2007

Willie Nelson

Songbird | Lost Highway
At a secure 73, Willie Nelson’s not about to change to please a hot young alt-country buck, his taut touring band, or the sizeable audience of hipsters they might bring along with them.

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | November 28, 2006

Veruca Salt

IV | Sympathy for the Record Industry
If the alt-rock/grunge revival has to begin — and it does, sooner or later — both simple justice and looping irony would be served if it began here.

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | November 20, 2006

The Hold Steady

Boys And Girls In America | Vagrant
Like many of America’s smartest rock bands — from Fountains of Wayne to the Drive-By Truckers — this Minneapolis-to-Brooklyn quintet are an anomaly. The Hold Steady, "Killer Parties Remix"

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | November 13, 2006

JeknowwotI’msayin?

Lady Sovereign sets her sights on the US
“People have this kind of problem with me,” says Lady Sovereign over the phone from her London home. “They think they know me, and they don’t know me — and it’s dis gustin ’.” Lady Sovereign, "Gatheration" (mp3)

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | October 20, 2006

No success like failure

The Roots and OutKast step into the future
The wild, idle guessing game over the Roots’ Game Theory and OutKast’s Idlewild is finished.

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | October 03, 2006

Chris Knight

Enough Rope | Emergent/92E
Chris Knight began writing this album aiming for a hit on country radio, the only mass arena left for his blend of 1970s-’80s rock, folk, and country.

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | September 26, 2006

Young, gifted, and blonde

Christina Aguilera stripped down to basics
What starts as a tribute to ‘Aretha and Miles’ ends as a far more loving tribute to Christina Aguilera’s first and greatest inspiration, Christina Aguilera.

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | September 06, 2006

Jurassic 5

Feedback | Interscope
Major-label “positive” rappers like this decade-old crew have defended the old school like schoolmarms upholding the five principles of hip-hop as if they were as much fun as the three R’s. Jurassic 5, "Work It Out" feat. Dave Matthews Band (Quicktime)

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | August 21, 2006

Oh brother, where alt thou?

A popular cult genre searches for its lost highway
In the summer of 1995, Grant Alden was documenting “the tail end of the grunge years” as managing editor of a Seattle music weekly, the Rocket . Alejandro Escovedo, "Broken Bottle" (mp3 via MySpace) Drive-By Truckers, "Feb. 14" (mp3 via MySpace)

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | August 02, 2006

Dr. Octagon

The Return of Dr. Octagon | OCD International
How much fun can a CD be that opens with images of environmental collapse punctuated by the plaintive chorus “Trees are dyin’ ”? Dr. Octagon, 'Aliens' Promo video Dr. Octagon, “A Gorilla Driving A Pick-Up Truck” - Kid Loco (Banana Loco Remix) (mp3)

By: FRANKLIN SOULTS | July 24, 2006

1 | 2 | next >

Live from St. Paul: real-time updates at thePhoenix.com/Election2008

More: DNC 2008