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Flaming Lips Record a Train in Pittsburgh

Ian Gavan, Getty Images As anyone who has witnessed a Flaming Lips show can tell you, the whole thing is a balance of song and spectacle. The latter is always there -- Flaming Lips shows are likely known best for the antics involving lasers, confetti, smoke, lights and, of course, Wayne Coyne traversing the crowd in an inflatable ball. The songs, ...

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Smashing Pumpkins Open Tour in Cleveland With Urgency, Humor

Before a sold-out crowd in Cleveland's House of Blues on Tuesday night, Billy Corgan loped around the stage waiting to begin, his head down and his long body making careful movements, as if to check that everything was in place -- the show was, after all, Corgan's second with the newly formed incarnation of Smashing Pumpkins. Without a word, the ...

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Sleigh Bells Plow Through Their Catalog in Pittsburgh

If you've spent any time listening to Sleigh Bells' debut, 'Treats,' you know at least one thing about the noise pop duo: they make loud music. From the moment vocalist Alexis Krauss and guitarist/beat maker Derek Miller tore into the opening guitar jolts of 'Tell 'Em' for a sold-out crowd at Pittsburgh's Brillobox Saturday night, that notion could ...

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Interpol Tear Through New Songs in Pittsburgh

These are critical times for Interpol. After joining the ranks of turn-of-the-century bands that defined New York cool with their debut 'Turn on the Bright Lights,' Interpol became a cemented indie rock establishment with 2004's 'Antics' before releasing 'Our Love to Admire' three years later. But this is 2010, and the buzz around Interpol, ...

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Caribou Vary Up the Energy in Cleveland

Caribou, the electronic brainchild of weirdo-genius Dan Snaith, put on a musically flawless and energetic show Wednesday night at Cleveland's Grog Shop. But that still wasn't enough to get the stuffy crowd to open up and, you know, dance. Upstart Toro y Moi opened the show and proved exactly why the sort-of genre chillwave has been so ...

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Dr. Dog Makes Arena Rock Sounds in Philadelphia Warehouse

Every now and then, a show encapsulates a band so obviously in their finest moment that it's hard not to feel downright proud watching it happen. The pieces all fit together last night at Dr. Dog's homecoming show in Philadelphia at the sold-out Electric Factory -- a historic ballroom-sized venue in an old warehouse. After releasing ...

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Jarrod Gorbel Starts Over as Solo Act After the Honorary Title

Here's the trouble with naming your singer-songwriter project after something other than yourself: when you decide it's time to adopt your own moniker, it's like starting your career from scratch. After disassembling the Honorary Title in late 2009, former frontman Jarrod Gorbel began touring under his name while readying his solo debut, Devil's ...

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