featured interview:
Russian Circles are young men hailing from Chicago, Illinois. You may know them from our previous interviews and live reviews, as we here at The Red Alert are big fans of their music. Their instrumental music is powerful, extensive and has evolved significantly from their first full-length album [2006's Enter] to their newly released record, Station. Prior to their show at the Echoplex in Echo Park, CA, the guys were kind enough to sit down with me and chat about, well, everything... More
latest interviews:
from the archives:
A conversation with Sam Beam
October 2005: In his two EPs this year—Woman King and the recently released collaboration with Calexico, In the Reins—Sam Beam has shown no interest in settling into a comfortable routine or stock Iron & Wine sound. Drawing from sources near and far, Beam continues to expand the possibilities of his future catalog, leaving his many imitators scrambling to keep up. Hanging out at home prior to a jaunt out west with Calexico, the affable songwriter and Southern man chats about the merits of EPs and film schools, fields some questions about specific influences on his songs, and gives Hollywood just a glimmer a hope... More
featured review:
Make Some Quiet
(Badman)
There must be something about growing up in a cold, barren place filled with lingonberries and inexpensive furniture that makes one want to start a dance group, or wear matching suits. This is the land that has birthed The Bell, a hard-working threesome that make the listener have flashbacks of The Cure and Interpol, intermingled together like meatballs and herring on your proverbial brain plate... More
latest album reviews:
The Midnight Organ Fight
I-Empire
Eulogies
live in los angeles:
(Avalon - April 2, 2008)
Both men have gotten a little bit rough around the edges, but they are still transfixing - and, as you could clearly see from the raging party and cloud of smoke that was going on backstage, their days of partying are still clearly far from being finished... More
latest live reviews:
out in the world:
HOWARD ZINN ON THE
AMERICAN EMPIRE:
With an assist from narrator Viggo Mortensen and artist Mike Konopacki, Howard Zinn reflects on his own experience at war and how he came to the realization that America was pursuing a new empire in the modern world.
BOXER BEATS BROWNBACK OVER POPE PUCKER-UP:
While hardly conveying the sort of rock star appeal that his predecessor enjoyed (in happier times for the Church), Pope Benedict was well-received; among his excited welcoming committee was failed presidential candidate Sam Brownback, who tried to pass a congressional greeting that none-too-covertly praised the Pope for his anti-choice stance. Most politicians wouldn't touch this issue, lest they be accused of being anti-Pope, but Barbara Boxer put her foot down and blocked the pitiful partisan ploy.
SPEAKING OF THE CHURCH...:
What's the difference between the Catholic Church and a misogynistic, child abuse-sanctioning "cult" religion? No, that's not a setup for a joke - it's a real question worth answering.
dunce's corner:
Have a seat, Ron Paul. And joining him here should be his confoundingly large legion of allegedly liberal supporters, whose understandable disillusionment with politics at large seems to have led them to mistake "speaking occasional truth to power" for "being right about lots of things." Paul, of course, has spun the recent revelations (more like reminders, really) in the New Republic with a dance routine just this side of absurd; those newsletters that went out under his name for all those years, the ones with all the crazy and underhanded and hateful shit in them? Yeah, he didn't write 'em - didn't have anything to do with them, in fact! The fact is that GOP has sunk to such lows that Paul was able to gain traction simply by taking the majority opinion on the war, having his air time limited to prevent the airing of some of his, uh, lesser viewpoints. That shouldn't be good enough - not for any of us. He's played a valuable role in shaping the national debate, but when you peek behind the curtain, there's a lot not to like about Ron Paul.