All Stories

Everything we've published, newest first.

The Mars Volta’s De-Loused in the Comatorium CD and sleeve, showing a golden head on a surgical tray, on a mottled paint-splashed surface
Reviews

Space cadets glow

The Mars Volta’s Frances the Mute is a kick to the groin of pop: salsa breaks, Flea on trumpet, and Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s frantic flailing.

By Igan D'Bayan · April 29, 2005
Sepia surrealist photograph of a writer with the head from Munch’s The Scream typing at an antique typewriter, its paper scroll spilling out and becoming a sheet covered body with bare feet
Lifestyle

Hello blankness, my old friend

The blank page as a death shroud, a caterpillar condominium at a battle of the bands, and a beauty queen on a jeepney who broke the spell.

By Igan D'Bayan · April 15, 2005
Mock Dickens book cover, “A Tale of Two Cities: London & Edinburgh”: a tentacled Victorian gentleman in a top hat stands with his cane between Big Ben and Edinburgh Castle at dusk
Edinburgh, Scotland

A gonzo tale of two cities

I spotted no severed heads on the trip, I’m glad to report. No love-struck cows, either. Edinburgh and London, with the Malabon blues again.

By Igan D'Bayan · March 26, 2004
A figure in a Santa suit with a tentacled insect face and white gloves sits in an armchair beside a small poodle dressed as an elf
Lifestyle

A post-christmas apocalypse

The wine bottles are empty and the lights have gone out. What is left is traffic, cab drivers turned weathermen, and a fatigue without a name.

By Igan D'Bayan · December 26, 2003
Illustrated wild-haired figure in all black strides across the Abbey Road zebra crossing in London, a white Beetle parked by the studio wall
London, England

London calling

A shoestring rock and roll pilgrimage through London: Denmark Street, Trident Studio, the Apple rooftop, and finally the Abbey Road crossing.

By Igan D'Bayan · December 19, 2003
Renaissance-style portrait of Christina Aguilera, Michael Stipe, the Black Eyed Peas, The Darkness and the Chemical Brothers in ruffs and velvet beneath cherubs
Edinburgh, Scotland

Catfights, jackasses and metaphysics at the 2003 MTV Europe Awards

Awards night in Edinburgh: a Christina-versus-Kelly feud, Jackass mayhem, and Michael Stipe insisting rock isn’t dead yet.

By Igan D'Bayan · November 21, 2003
Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief CD and its road-sign collage sleeve lie open on a mottled, paint-splashed surface
Reviews

The aural wallpaper to emptiness

Radiohead retreats from the electronics of Kid A back to guitars, and Thom Yorke keeps on chronicling the abyss. A Hail to the Thief review.

By Igan D'Bayan · July 11, 2003
A gaunt, mud-caked man sits in the Thinker pose on a stump, ankle-deep in black floodwater, as octopus tentacles rise around him in a derelict green-stained room
Lifestyle

Meditations on everything and nothing

Three days of rain, a motel in Malabon, a Chevy Chase moment in Boracay, and the weirdos who turn up in every season of a flooded life.

By Igan D'Bayan · June 13, 2003
The Punk Jazz: The Jaco Pastorius Anthology CD and sleeve, showing Jaco with his bass guitar, on a mottled paint-splashed surface
Reviews

Jaco Pastorius and the music of the spheres

The first career-spanning Jaco Pastorius anthology arrives, and the bassist who reinvented the instrument gets the retrospective he was owed.

By Igan D'Bayan · May 16, 2003
A Cthulhu figure sits alone in the empty seats of a dark concert hall, facing a stage of guitars, amps and drums beneath a giant Rolling Stones tongue-and-lips backdrop
Bangkok, Thailand

You Can’t Always Get What You Want (in Bangkok)

Nothing could stop me from seeing the Stones live in Bangkok, except the possibility of a dead me. Severe Anxiety over the Rolling Stones.

By Igan D'Bayan · April 20, 2003
A screaming blue infant in a superhero suit and red cape wears a pageant sash reading 2003, standing against a dark painted backdrop
Lifestyle

Let the old freaky year make way for the new freaky year

A year-end gratitude list from a man at peace with the freaks: working ears, a flushing toilet, legal beer, and readers who write back.

By Igan D'Bayan · January 8, 2003
Audioslave’s self-titled debut CD: a lone figure before the giant golden flame, jewel case open on a paint-crusted table
Reviews

Can Chris Cornell save Rock ’n’ Roll?

Audioslave will be crucified for not being Soundgarden and not being Rage. But pure, visceral rock is exactly what the scene has been missing.

By Igan D'Bayan · December 2, 2002