Mars Volta Preview New Tracks From "The Bedlam in Goliath" in New York

January 15, 1:07 PM ET

| By David Fricke

"This is dedicated to all the people who want us to keep making the first two albums over and over again," singer-lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala snapped at the audience... | More »

Critic's Picks: David Fricke's Favorite '07 Albums That Didn't Make the RS Top 50

December 18, 6:51 PM ET

| By David Fricke

1. Patti Smith, Twelve (Columbia) A consummate covers artist from the beginning, Patti Smith emotionally and musically reexamines classic songs by fellow electric poet... | More »

Led Zeppelin Reunite: The Full Report From David Fricke

December 11, 9:17 AM ET

| By David Fricke

For the second encore of their first full concert in twenty-seven years, at London's O2 arena last night, Led Zeppelin tore into "Rock and Roll," from their untit... | More »

Fricke's Picks: Robyn Hitchcock, The Sadies,13th Floor Elevators

December 5, 11:07 AM ET

| By David Fricke

A Box of Hitchcock "He came bursting out of nowhere/Like a sphere into the sky/And he cast his light on everything": Those lines from "The Man Who Invented Himself," t... | More »

Fricke's Picks: The Octopus Project, "Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs 1913-1938" and Roy Wood

November 22, 7:00 AM ET

| By David Fricke

Happy Machine Music Machines don't make music — people do. And going by the bright action-packed gurgle, bam and squeak of their third album, the Octopus Projec... | More »

Fricke's Picks: Porcupine Tree, the Future Kings of England and the Raspberries

November 7, 1:46 PM ET

| By David Fricke

Porcupine Tree — the long-running British progressive-rock band founded and commanded by singer-guitarist-composer Steven Wilson — are rare in their field: obsesse... | More »

Fricke's Picks: Blue Cheer, Fionn Regan and the Eric Clapton "Strange Brew" Book

October 24, 6:02 PM ET

| By David Fricke

Extreme Heaven "Blue Cheer — run for your lives!" That is how Steve Allen introduced the holocaust-fuzz trio when it performed on his TV talk show in 1968 through a ... | More »

Fricke's Picks: Cosimo Matassa, Husker Du's Greg Norton and Hawkwind

October 9, 12:59 PM ET

| By David Fricke

Engineering New Orleans Born in a city where music and food are not just staples but religions, the legendary New Orleans engineer Cosimo Matassa founded his first stu... | More »

Fricke's Picks: Wooden Shjips, Tulsa and Your 33 Black Angels

September 25, 1:41 PM ET

| By David Fricke

Day-Glo Drone Rock Guitarist-singer Ripley Johnson of San Francisco's Wooden Shjips told me, after a show in March, that his original idea was a group of "nonmusi... | More »

Fricke's Picks: Blackfire, Pearl Jam and Eyvind Kang

September 11, 11:56 AM ET

| By David Fricke

Native American Punks Blackfire are a punk-rock family — brothers Klee and Clayson Benally and their sister Jeneda, on guitar, drums and bass, respectively — with ... | More »

Fricke's Picks: Parallel Guitar Universes, British Folk Hero, and Revenge

August 23, 2:09 PM ET

| By David Fricke

Parallel Guitar Universes There was a wide world of guitars at Eric Clapton's Crossroads festival in Chicago in July-- but not the whole wide world. Altitude (Thi... | More »

Fricke's Picks: Maximum Cool, Modern Jug-Band Music and As Strange as 1969 Ever Got

August 17, 4:13 PM ET

| By David Fricke

Maximum Cool The title of the 1984 debut album by the British group Prefab Sprout, Swoon, was an ingenious deception, accurately describing the misty-morning blush of ... | More »