As the singer/songwriter of the now-defunct Catherine Wheel, Rob Dickinson presided over one of the most chameleonlike bands of the Nineties — exploring everything from shoegazer to grunge-pop to Radioheadesque prog over the course of the band’s five proper studio albums. Sadly, his first official solo effort, Fresh Wine for…

When asked in early 2003, a few short months after the release of his band’s debut album, where he thought he’d be in five years, Steve Bays was convinced he’d find himself in one of two positions: Either his band, Hot Hot Heat, would sound totally different and its fans…

As an outfit worshipping at the altar of British rock, Nothing Rhymes with Orange may not have had to put up much of a fight to win the devotion of South Florida’s famished Anglophiles. Fortunately local renown and lack of competition hasn’t dulled its ambitions. Five years after solidifying its…

When Billy Corgan’s first post-Smashing Pumpkins project, Zwan, suffered an abrupt and ugly public breakup in the fall of 2003, most presumed a solo album from the notoriously prolific and egocentric alt-rock pioneer was inevitable. Not one to buck expectations, Corgan has released The Future Embrace a little more than…

It’s no secret that in Los Angeles, celebrity is an obsession. It also happens to be serious business, for the city is perpetually flooded with aspiring actors and musicians waiting tables and working various odd jobs while hoping to land a role or find a discerning A&R man. But for…

If Franz Ferdinand is the Oasis of the current dance-punk movement, churning out effortlessly populist singles; and Bloc Party is the Blur responsible for the genre’s artier, more sophisticated studio creations; then Maxïmo Park has emerged as the present-day equivalent of Pulp supplying a much-needed bridge between unbridled hedonism and…

Much like Weezer did in the U.S., Ash found success in Britain by plumbing the depths of the geek psyche. On its fourth album, Ash has replaced an endearingly awkward obsession with Star Wars mythology and Jackie Chan films with a possibly geekier obsession with the leather-clad dark ages of…