Review - Armonico Hewa: OOIOO

Rating: 7.4As somebody who embraced 2006's Taiga for its sheer weirdness and overwhelming spirit, I've always found OOIOO at their most OOIOO when they seem like they couldn't care less about the listener, the critics or anybody else. The band, like its frontwoman Yoshimi P-we (yes, Flaming Lips fans, that Yoshimi) always seemed to be most...

Review - Blue Record: Baroness

Rating: 8.2Due to their geographical and occasional aural similarity to Mastodon, fellow Georgian rockers Baroness may never shake the comparisons to their brother band. After all, both groups are easily classifiable as "progressive sludge," both started on the same label and both peddle similar brands of hyperliterary, lyrically inoffensive...

Where Astronauts Go to Hide

Another great interview, this time with Joshua Pederson of Minneapolis/Chicago based band Where Astronauts Go to Hide. -Where Astronauts Go to Hide, very creative name. Made me wonder...where do they actually go to hide? Where did you come up with your band name and is there some meaning behind it? The name has very little meaning, actually. I thought of it while dining at a small pizza...

The Temple Cloud Country Club

Mstoc's exclusive interview with Dean Frances-Hawksley and Andy Suttie of The Temple Cloud Country Club. The Temple Cloud Country Club, very unique name. Where did you come up with the name and is there some meaning behind it? Dean - We originally intended the band to be a kind of internet music collective, a ‘club’ of sorts. This is because there are only two of us and we live in different...

Review - Qu: Sherwood

Rating: 7.3“I am the favorite in a fight that I can’t win.”On an album loaded with catchy tracks, Sherwood’s third release Qu (out October 13th on MySpace Records), has me tapping my toes and singing under my breath while I work on reports at my desk. Vocal harmonies and distortion saturated guitar solos hook you while the jazzy drums and...

My Brothers Banned

Mstoc's first interview. Here we chat with Lyle Puente of My Brothers Banned. -My Brothers Banned, very quirky and a great play on words. Where did you come up with your band name and is there some meaning behind it? When the banned started, my brother played drums and a brother sister duo were part of the group. We laughed about naming ourselves after the sibling factor. We thought...