Music
Essays, blog posts, playlists, and more focused broadly on music. For more playlists visit my Spotify profile.
- Chris Chu (of the Morning Benders) Interview ()
Berkeley, California’s The Morning Benders play a simplified rock sound that plays to the hearts of modern indie and pop fan alike. Having been a band for roughly a year lead singer Chris Chu harmlessly harmonizes over playfully Voxtrot-like anti-ballads with both innocence and a maturity of where exactly the band fits within the realm […]
- Nathan Willett (of Cold War Kids) Interview ()
There has been an increasingly bitter debate between members of mainstream media outlets and those who describe themselves as apart of the blogosphere concerning the relevance and necessity of both sides. Some claim that mainstream media, including much of print media, is going the way of the dinosaur in the sense that it gives a […]
- Dark Days: Blind Melon & the Darkness Take a Nose-Dive ()
I quit. Undoubtedly those two words have lead to both shame and freedom for hundreds of millions of people around the world. A little over a week ago Justin Hawkins, lead singer for English glam revivalists The Darkness, announced that he would be leaving the band that helped him reach the highest moments of his […]
- Janie Porche (of the Bound Stems) Interview ()
The Bound Stems are a Chicago-based band that bum-rushed internet outlets through a variety of contemporary grassroots promotional methods, which ultimately served to support the band through non-traditional means. Without completely excluding mainstream outlets members of the band each contributed to contacting a large number or internet outlets which resulted in a variety of high […]
- Ane Brun “Rubber & Soul ” Video ()
This is an absolutely stunning video that somehow translates the already beautiful song into a completely different light. It also features Teitur, one of Brun’s many collaborators as seen in both Ane Brun‘s Duets and A Temporary Dive albums. [This post was first published by Culture Bully.]
- R.E.M. “And I Feel Fine: Best of the IRS Years 1982-1987″ Review ()
Had you told me that R.E.M. was an established band when I first heard them I wouldn’t have really known what to make of them. They had just released the reverb-strong, grungy knock-off Monster and were fueled by airplay from their tracks “What’s the Frequency Kenneth” and “Strange Currencies.” Once my young ears began putting […]
- Mattie Safer (of the Rapture) Interview ()
The Rapture have taken the reigns as model leaders for whatever term you might apply to their scene; but whatever you do, be sure that you don’t call it dance punk. The band has taken post-punk and squeezed it through a funky electronic frosting bag, delivering it as a smooth clash that lands somewhere between […]
- Subhumans (Canada) Interview ()
Punk. It has changed from a term labeling a condensed segment of society’s outcasts to that which labels pop culture accessories and commercial music. Heralded Vancouver first wave punk icons, the Subhumans, reignite its reputation with the recent release on Alternative Tentacles, New Dark Age Parade. The album serves as the reuniting element to a […]
- Mew & Onethousand Pictures at Fine Line Music Cafe (Minneapolis, MN) ()
When approaching a show to see, not the headliner, but the undercard, so to speak, it gives you a lot of freedom to get into the music really fast. Fortunately San Diego’s Onethousand Pictures offered a short set that was well cut and stylish set that was completely on mark, helping the crowd wake up. […]
- Mastodon “Blood Mountain” Review ()
Mere weeks after its release Mastodon’s Blood Mountain is being hailed as an epic return to metal’s roots by one of the genre’s modern day pioneers. Not only accepted by the entire gamut of rock fan, but rock critic as well, Blood Mountain’s takes a break from modern prog and clashes with speed, grind and […]
- Nicolay Interview ()
Netherlands-born producer/performer Nicolay recently stepped into strange territory with the release of his recent album Here. It serves as his first solo endeavor and glides through ambient instrumentals feathered with collaboration heavy bangers. His music stands as somewhat of a high ground street opera, serving as a window into the diary of a man who […]
- The Slits “Revenge of the Killer Slits” EP Review ()
What I know of The Slits is more myth than anything, with my knowledge finding its beginning back in the time when The Trouser Press Record Guide was a key influence in my daily music purchases. Recorded in the summer of 2005, Revenge of the Killer Slits, is a seemingly full-fledged return for the girl […]
- “Dan The Automator Presents 2K7” Review ()
Ask any of my friends, I hate basketball. I don’t like watching it and am absolutely horrible at the sport. Likewise, I’m not a big fan of video games. With that being said, I should by all means hate anything having to do with 2K Sports’ NBA 2K7. Fortunately I gravitate towards hip hop based […]
- TV on the Radio “Return to Cookie Mountain” Review ()
What is most unsettling about Return to Cookie Mountain is its originality. When considering how much music is released in any given year it becomes dumbing as to how much of it is uninspired or generally lacking any real unique qualities. With that, just as the weight of this crashes down with full substantive force, […]
- Jim Noir Interview ()
Manchester-native Jim Noir’s recent solo release on Barsuk is the culmination of many great things. Ultimately what shines through however is Noir’s tremendous ability to excel while undoubtedly hiding within his music. Many examples within Tower of Love prove that Noir allows much of his lighthearted songs to take precedent over his individual talent. Jim […]
- Unknown Limelight: Menomena ()
When considering how much music is produced each year its funny when something from your past is reintroduced to you in an entirely different light. It is my belief that I stumbled into Menomena through my “Epitonic phase”…that being when I was completely enthralled with downloading free & legal music while at the same time […]
- Fairly Unblack Metal Alert: Cradle of Filth ()
It’s been years since the truest of black metal fan had given up the belief that the far too polished sounds of Cradle of Filth belonged in their world. Despite the corpse paint*, long hair and punishing rhythms Cradle of Filth reside in a sort of metal grey area, far from the mainstream and ever […]
- Chris Cunningham: Video Retrospective ()
With his recent buzzworthy video for The Horror’s “Sheena Is A Parasite” Chris Cunningham proves once again to make something stunning out of something mediocre. Nothing against The Horrors, I mean, being on the cover of NME is fairly cool and all, but the single really doesn’t offer much. It made me think of which […]
- Duane Andrews “Caravan” Review ()
Acclaimed East-Coast folk instrumentalist Duane Andrews’ recent offering, Caravan, represents a shift towards further defining himself as a tangibly diverse musician. Throughout there are flirtations with ragtime, a variety of waltzes and boggy jazz lullabies, all proving Andrews to be either a glutton for genre-defying mood shifts or simply a wonderful musician. Caravan looks at […]
- Busk or Bust: Rodrigo y Gabriela ()
Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero, a pair of guitar masters, have played to a vast company of dynamic fans whose typical favorites range from that of metal to bossa nova, all of which helped them take top position on the Irish music charts earlier this year. Sounds strange? Yes. Brilliant music? Absolutely. What is absolutely […]
- Neoclassical Roots: Daniel Heffner ()
Daniel Heffner is a unique musician whose style sounds something like a busker playing to an upwardly mobile house of philharmonic-going spectators is exactly that. Heffner, who built his craft from a young age, has in fact played as an opener for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra; but don’t let that sway you, his roots are […]
- Patience Hodgson (of the Grates) Interview ()
Building a lively reputation for the band in its native Australia, The Grates found great success including nods from Australia’s national radio station Triple J and the Australian Recording Industry Awards (ARIA). The band is completing the North American leg of its current tour which corresponds with its album’s recent release in the States. Singer, […]
- InCureable: Roger O’Donnell ()
One time member of such bands as The Psychedelic Furs, Thompson Twins, Berlin and The Cure, Roger O’Donnell branches out further into abstract electronic with his solo debut The Truth In Me. It seems strange that after so many years through so many musical opportunities, O’Donnell now views that his truth is in fact unspoken […]
- Domestic Credibility: Asobi Seksu ()
There’s a point where it becomes hard to keep up with much of what is considered credible music, domestically, let alone that of music worldwide. In this situation I find myself greatly appreciative of an email introducing me to Asobi Seksu. Though it be through the form of a remix, by Cassettes Wont Listen, the […]
- Me First and the Gimme Gimmes “Love Their Country” ()
How many times can a cover band reinvent itself? In the case of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes the answer would be infinity, duh. The band pulls me in because the Gimmes always, always play music that is genuinely fun to listen to. I saw them play a brief set in 2001 and, without […]
- dj BC Interview ()
Reviving underground eminence with his recent ragtime/hip hop set, Wu Orleans, Boston based bootlegger Bob Cronin, aka dj BC, takes a tip from his past releases and once again changes the ever shifting view on what is possible within the confines of mash-ups. Cronin established himself within the mainstream with his release of The Beastles […]
- Nothing Like The Jesus Lizard: Rye Coalition ()
Rye Coalition fire hard rock with enough flare to put any comparisons to the likes of The Jesus Lizard far from…no, actually, Rye Coalition resemble the harder sounds encompassed by The Jesus Lizard, only if The Jesus Lizard had Vince Neil’s cousin singing against the backdrop of modern day glamless glam-rock. They’re powerful without being […]
- Steven Slingeneyer (of Soulwax) Interview ()
Soulwax has taken many shapes and forms over the years, varying between an electrolush club hopping dance troop to mash-up forerunners to chic post new-wave rockers. Nite Versions proves to be somewhat of a return to the basic Soulwax sound, before the 2 Many DJs side project took over, before band members came and went, […]
- The Black Keys “Magic Potion” Review ()
Just what happens that when a band, so powerful and marketable, takes advantage of a sound that many are using and penetrates modern pop music with it, its many contemporaries are often forgotten? In the case of The White Stripes and The Black Keys though, it is the contemporaries that deliver absolutely striking music that […]
- What Made Milwaukee Famous “Trying To Never Catch Up” Review ()
How much do I love you? That’s such a silly question, my love for you is unconditional. Well, I mean, I love you, but sometimes you really stretch my emotions and make me fear seeing you again. “It’s not no much the way you hurt me, it’s more like the way you make me want […]