Features / Series: The Set List

Boasting a packed, diverse lineup of bands and musicians, Beacons Festival has something for everyone. These are the acts which have caught our eye and are sure to catch yours too... 1. Danny Brown Sunday, Loud And Quiet stage, 19:00 The Detroit rapper has hit the busiest stage of his … Read more

Horrorpunk is for life... not just for Halloween, but lets face it, a lot of these tunes were made for Halloween party fun!! Fans of the music spend their time listening to this immensely varied genres many offerings and each will have their preferred style but just know that it … Read more

It's the most wonderful time of the year! The air is crisp and the nights are drawing in, which for many of us means an increase in horror movie watching and thinking nothing of spending our hard earned cash on new spooky furnishings. The abundance of halloween decor is tempting … Read more

Twenty years is a long time – much longer than many relationships last. So it’s an accomplishment when a band can stick together through life and social changes. DeeCracks, a poppy punk band from Austria, threw a two-day festival last year and released a 28-track retrospective to mark their anniversary … Read more

Panopticon may be more widely known as a "metal" band - I use that term loosely because Panopticon is a lot more than the black metal base genre it derives from - yet founder Austin Lunn finds his inspiration from many different genres, punk and hardcore being one aspect of … Read more

In celebration of a legendary music venue, we've asked some of the staff to reminisce about the bests shows they've seen there. Here are Jon and Jenn's top five shows held at the Glass House: Jon Halperin Glass House Booker I only went two years before I found five of … Read more

The challenge of listing the definitive "best" album openers is perhaps impossible. While we're dedicated at SPB to challenging the odds and defying convention, that might be a steep request even for us. Instead, we've chosen some of our personal favorite openers from records across a variety of genres. Inevitably, … Read more

SPB's top 5 favourite Swans records (in alphabetical order) 1 Filth The first Swans full length appeared in 1983 and signified a huge shift in the post-punk landscape. The evocative artwork that speaks in deep and dirty atmospheres and Gira's ability to draw you in whilst repulsing with his soundtracks … Read more

The local Las Vegas music scene is unique in that all of the DIY musicians and songwriters are battling against the million dollar shows that happen every night at the billion-dollar casinos with hundreds of thousands of dollars of advertising budgets. It 's a David vs. Goliath situation 7 days … Read more

We asked our friends in Gloomy June to put together a guest list for us – a list of the six bands/artists they can agree on when embarking on a long drive together. Devin, Alexi, Jack and Ash run through their half-dozen favorites below, along with their standout tracks for … Read more

Sometimes you reach a point in your life when something inside of you just breaks and no matter what you do, you can't fix it. You hate your job, you hate your apartment, you hate the city you live in. I had currently reached that point in my life when … Read more

David Bowie, one could argue, is the most influential artist ever. I may get some shit for that comment, but he had done more to marry music, art, fashion, and theater into one arena than anyone before or since. His tendrils reach far into the fine arts world and everything … Read more

1 Devin Townsend – "Tall Latte" (Ziltoid, the Omniscient) Ziltoid is an impeccably funny album. Not only is the premise itself spectacularly silly (an alien destroys Earth because our coffee sucks), but Townsend peppers his humour throughout in the most subtle of ways, making the album an absolute delight to … Read more

1 Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction Admit it: you love this album just as much as everyone else. And with good reason; GNR's debut Appetite for Destruction is a pretty fucking awesome album. It's the classic 80s heavy metal album, filled from end-to-end with nothing but sweet riffs, … Read more

Sometimes the originals just don’t cut it, and sometimes someone just simply makes it better. After some consideration, we’ve come up with what we believe are the top 5 covers better than the originals. Some might cause a little upset, but it wouldn’t be much fun if we didn’t. Unfortunately, … Read more

When trying to pick out some of the most depressing songs from an artist that has been considered to be one of the most troubled songwriters in history, it can get difficult narrowing it down. Not to mention, different people will relate differently to certain songs. We present to you … Read more

5 Battles -- Mirrored (2007) Battles' sound is incredibly difficult to define. While they are firmly rooted in math rock, their incredibly unorthodox and lighthearted style of composition defy easy description. Even now, there are dozens of aspects of their music I can't find the words to properly convey. That's … Read more

It's E3 season. A time when new games get debuted and companies embarrass themselves with a dance-off to demonstrate their newest product. We thought we'd take the time to appreciate the tunes that danced their way into our hearts and our minds from some of video gaming's biggest franchises. Despite … Read more

Here at SPB we're big fans of pointing out poor cover art, but we're less good at highlighting the classics of the medium. In this new feature we're examining some of the greatest album artwork ever commited to record, and breaking it down by genre. First up: prog rock. Prepare … Read more

After early stints in the British pub rock band Brinsley Schwartz, and then with Dave Edmunds and Rockpile, Nick Lowe has maintained a long career as a solo artist, producer, and songwriter. Married to Johnny Cash’s stepdaughter Carlene for a while, Nick wrote The Beast In Me for Johnny which … Read more