Email Author Travis Ritter

2006 Stories by Travis Ritter

• Damien Jurado

  published October 19, 2006

  For over a decade, Seattle-based singer-songwriter Damien Jurado has flown under the radar as this generation's Nick Drake. Jurado has a hushed,... More >>

• Alexisonfire

  published October 19, 2006

  St. Catharines, Ontario-based Alexisonfire epitomizes the annoying new breed of punk rockers. Check their new album, Crisis. There's brash,... More >>

• Planes Mistaken For Stars

  published October 12, 2006

  Though Planes Mistaken For Stars have been associated with the screamo movement since the quartet's inception in 1997, on the band's latest... More >>

• Favourite Sons

  published October 5, 2006

  Favourite Sons is the musical vehicle of Ken Griffin, an Irish-born vocalist who fronted the sorely overlooked dream-pop band Rollerskate Skinny... More >>

• Headlights

  published October 5, 2006

  On Headlights' debut full-length, Kill Them With Kindness, there is no shortage of layered instrumentation, which is why it's surprising to... More >>

• Tool

  published September 7, 2006

  Record labels treat most bands like sweatshop workers, pushing them to produce, produce, produce. Tool has been an exception. Having released only... More >>

• Beating the Traffic

  published August 3, 2006

  "There are hundreds of thousands of immigrants each year that are trafficked and end up being held against their will as captive slaves," says... More >>

• Bring the Noise

  published August 3, 2006

  We're proud that Houston rap is enjoying its place in the national mainstream. But the Gulf Coast heavy metal scene is unfortunately still seeded... More >>

• Roses on Your Grave

  published August 3, 2006

  "Rock Is Dead" is a trademark song from the Houston-based gloom-glam-punk band Dead Roses. Are they implying rock music no longer has a... More >>

• Mark Farina

  published July 27, 2006

  For more than a decade, San Francisco DJ Mark Farina has been a prominent figure on the house scene. Of course, this shouldn't be surprising,... More >>

• Metal Warriors

  published July 27, 2006

  Springfield, Massachusetts's Shadows Fall is a rarity among metal bands, one that executes hard, fast and dangerous music and gets... More >>

• The Black Heart Procession, with The Castanets and Devics

  published July 20, 2006

  The San Diego–based band The Black Heart Procession began as a side project of Three Mile Pilot guitarist/vocalist Pall Jenkins and pianist Tobia... More >>

• King Crimson's Heir

  published July 20, 2006

  Genesis, Yes and King Crimson are perhaps the best-known progressive rock bands of the 20th century, but who is still kicking out the tech-jams in... More >>

• Get Screwed

  published July 20, 2006

  The top players of the Houston hip-hop game, including Bun B, Mike Jones and Slim Thug, have more than just their hometown and genre of music in... More >>

• These Are the Breaks

  published July 13, 2006

  Movies such as Beat Street and Breakin' put breakdancing in the spotlight in the '80s. But the art has evolved in the last 20 years,... More >>

• What's on God's iPod?

  published July 13, 2006

  No one knows contemporary Christian rock and pop better than KSBJ 89.3 FM. And you can get your fill of godly tunes at today's KSBJ 24th... More >>

• The Beat Goes On

  published July 13, 2006

  Everywhere in the world besides the U.S., ska-revivalists The English Beat are referred to as simply The Beat. The Birmingham, England... More >>

• Albino Riddim

  published July 13, 2006

  Most legendary Jamaican musicians — see Bob Marley and Peter Tosh — have been dark-skinned, dreadlocked Rastafarians. But... More >>

• Dave's the 1

  published July 6, 2006

  What's the word on Chromeo, the Montreal/New York duo that'll headline today's Starbucks Mixed Media Music Series at the Museum of Fine... More >>

• Here Comes the Sun

  published July 6, 2006

  At the hip restaurant-bar Gravitas, DJ Sun is turning up the heat with his new Thursday-night weekly, Skyline at Sidebar. The gig launched... More >>

• Big Show

  published July 6, 2006

  Big City Rock is appropriately named, considering the band is from a big city (Los Angeles) and it plays rock music. The quintet's... More >>

• Panic at the Warehouse

  published July 6, 2006

  Soon after the late-2001 anthrax scare put an already paranoid America into panic mode, the legendary New York metal band Anthrax issued a... More >>

• Pop Goes the Dead

  published July 6, 2006

  It seems unlikely that a jazzy, avant-garde rock band would ever dabble in pop. But then, Seattle trio The Dead Science isn't your... More >>

• Magik Markers, with Lambsbread and Rusted Shut

  published June 29, 2006

  The key to Magik Markers' success is geography. Hailing from Hartford, Connecticut, the trio calls to mind the current noise scene of nearby... More >>

• Something's Fishy

  published June 29, 2006

  Scott Huber — better known as the local left-field rhymer Babelfishh — pushes a brand of quirky, lo-fi indie hip-hop that's... More >>