Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, 'Beat the Devil's Tattoo' (Abstract Dragon/Vagrant)
Six albums in, BRMC still seemingly pick their songwriting styles by throwing darts at a rock'n'roll genre chart. Tattoo offers deeply committed re-creations of bleary balladry ("Long Way Down"), stoned Americana ("The Toll"), distorto-pop ("Bad Blood"), and spacey trips into wah-wah oblivion (the ten-minute "Half-State").
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How She Became... Little Boots
Welcome to the weekly SPIN.com feature "Name That Band!" in which we get the inside stories behind the mysterious monikers of some of our favorite artists. (See past episodes of Name That Band! here.)
This week: UK charmer Little Boots, who'll be hitting Coachella on her current U.S. tour.
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Download: Year Long Disaster's "Cyclone"
Consisting of guitarist-singer Daniel Davies (the son of Kinks guitarist Dave Davies), bassist Richie Mullins, and Third Eye Blind drummer Brad Hargreaves, City of Angels trio Year Long Disaster blasts raunchy Sunset Strip boogie -- with a touch of Zeppelinesque bombast -- all over their new Black Magic: All Mysteries Revealed.
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How They Became... Biffy Clyro
Welcome to the new weekly SPIN.com feature "Name That Band!" in which we get the inside stories behind the mysterious monikers of some of our favorite artists. (See past episodes of Name That Band! here.)
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Frightened Rabbit, 'The Winter of Mixed Drinks' (FatCat)
On the rousing "Swim Until You Can't See Land," the best song on this determinedly downcast Scottish quintet's third studio effort (dramatically produced by Peter Katis of Interpol renown), singer Scott Hutchison tells of wading out to sea while a scornful woman throws stones at his back.
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Q&A: Slash Goes Solo
Even though his road-doggin' ex-bandmate Axl Rose has been hogging the headlines since Chinese Democracy finally saw the light of day a year-and-a-half ago, former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash has been busy too -- on April 6, the top-hatted six-stringer will release his




