Jamie Lidell: Jim
Today’s neo-soul music frequently feels racked... read more
Billy Bragg: Mr. Love & Justice
Considering the impassioned stump speeches he's been known to give... read more
Portishead: Third
In the music industry’s accelerated calculus, 10 years... read more
Lyrics Born: Everywhere At Once
If Lyrics Born’s music were a soup and you were reading the recipe, it’d be fair to assume... read more
Flight of the Conchords
They've already... read more
Matt & Kim, The Death Set, more to play Detroit's Rock City
Add another festival to your summer concert schedule: online music and culture magazine, Detour, has arranged for over 50 bands to play at four venues over a three-day weekend. They're calling it the 2008 Rock City Festival. From June 12-14, 2008 (the very same days some of you may be hanging out at some farm in Manchester, Tenn.), Detroit’s Majestic Theatre Center and the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit will be hosting national acts like Sloan, Von Bondies, Matt & Kim and VHS or Beta . Also appearing will be the Detroit-based Death Set, Terrible Twos, Child Bite, Benny Stoofy... read more
Cut Copy: In Ghost Colours
Borrowing from too many influences can be a recipe for... read more
A Replacements reunion getting closer? Maybe...
Just in time for the re-release of the band's early material, The Replacements have started dropping (more) hints about a possible reunion. According to Billboard.com, principle songwriters Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson have been kicking around the possibility of reuniting, even going as far as considering (and turning down) a possible spot at this year's Coachella. In the article, Stinson frustratingly remarks, "We actually talked about it again this year, and I think there was a consensus that, you know, maybe it wasn't the right time (to reunite), or maybe it is the right time." Wait. What? Was that a... read more
Blondie to tour this summer
Are reports of punk rock's demise greatly exaggerated? Conflicting opinions on the subject abound both on the internet and off. The recent revamping of CBGB's East Village space into a pricey designer clothing store has perhaps given additional heft to one side of the argument. Now, the iconic Debbie Harry has re-emerged with her band that sprang from that particular late '70s scene. Contrary to Harry's announcement two years ago that Blondie's tour with The Cars would be its last, the band's new trek kicks off in early June. Dates: June 5 - Baltimore, Md. @ Ram's Head Live 6... read more
Legal P2P program Grooveshark debuts web media player
Last week, Grooveshark, a peer-to-peer music file-sharing community that brokers music transactions between members, debuted a web media player version of its service, called Grooveshark Lite. The music search engine lets you play tracks while you search for others, all without signing up for an account. Think of it as a combination of sites such as Last.fm (with its social networking capabilities), Pandora and Napster/Limewire, but easier to use and entirely above-the-table. "Grooveshark Lite comes as an answer to almost all of the questions and suggestions that early users had about the original Grooveshark platform," says Jack DeYoung, a writer... read more
Islands announce tour in support of Arm's Way
As previously reported, Islands will release Arm's Way, their Anti- debut, on May 20. In support of the release, which now finds Islands keeping the record-label company of Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Man Man and more, the band has announced updated and complete dates for its forthcoming tour. Watch your back, North America: April 30 - Memphis, Tenn. @ Hi-Tone May 1 - Birmingham, Ala. @ Bottletree 22 - Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat 23 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ First Unit 24 - New York, N.Y. @ Webster Hall 25 - Boston, Mass. @ Middle East 27 - Ottawa, Ontario... read more
Brian Wilson stands up for cure on tour
Brian Wilson, number seven of Paste’s Best Living Songwriters, is no stranger to charitable works without the aid of a court mandate like many other rock stars, so it comes as no surprise he is playing a benefit gig in New York City. The former creative genius of the Beach Boys is teaming up with the non-profit Stand Up for a Cure, whose goal is to eradicate lung cancer, for a late spring show at the Hammerstein Ballroom. If getting to New York is too much trouble to catch Wilson in concert, the benefit happens in the middle of a... read more
Sea Wolf announces land-based headlining tour
An Internet search of the phrase “sea wolf” will reveal more hits about the Jack London novel than it will the band by the same name, but perhaps a sea change is imminent. Sea Wolf, whom you’ve hopefully read about by now, is headed off on its first headlining tour. The band, comprised of principal songwriter Alex Brown Church and a changing cast of other musicians, has been touring for the past year to support its debut full-length, last September’s Leaves in the River. Having already opened for Nada Surf and labelmates Silversun Pickups, Church and Co. will now have... read more
Jim White tours Skiperoo throughout May
Recent Artist of the Week and all-around Southern gothic artist Jim White plans to wrap up a tour in support of his latest album Transnormal Skiperoo by winding his way back home to Athens, Ga in May. The veteran musician might sound like a real-life Hazel Motes from Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood, but his live act (which even made a slight European detour earlier this year) extends far beyond the South. Dates: May 8 - Madison, Wis. @ Orpheum Stage Door 9 - Chicago, Ill. @ Old Town School Of Folk Music 11 - Toronto, Ontario @ The Legendary Horseshoe... read more
RZA brings back Bobby Digital to enjoy some Snax in July
It’s hard enough for most people to name all the members of Wu-Tang Clan, but things get even trickier when alternate monikers come into play. Wu-Tang founding member and chief producer RZA returns under his alter-ego Bobby Digital with more of his funky, futuristic, sci-fi intellect for a third album, Digi Snax, coming July 1 on Koch. The first single, up on RZA’s MySpace now, is “You Can’t Stop Me Now,” featuring Wu-Tang’s Inspectah Deck. “This album is simply fun hip-hop. It’s a perfect blend of reality, fiction, sci-fi and martial arts,” RZA told Billboard. RZA has widespread touring plans... read more
Band of the Week: Colour Revolt
Colour Revolt has hardly glutted the marketplace with material in its three-year existence, but with good reason. In addition to the fact that all of the band members are just now wrapping up their collegiate educations at Ole Miss, Colour Revolt has also kept busy playing 150 shows... read more
Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz team up for Broken Embraces
After the success of their collaboration on Volver (Paste's #6 film of 2006), Pedro Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz are once again working together, this time on a film entitled Los Abrazos Rotos ("Broken Embraces"). "To be specific: Broken Embraces is an original script and it is not inspired by any novel," Almodóvar writes on his blog. "It's inspiration comes from darkness." He goes on to explain that following the promotion of Volver, he suffered a period of persistent migraines and photophobia that left him necessarily in the dark a lot of times. "It was those moments of darkness that gave... read more
Tori Amos-inspired Comic Book Tattoo set for July release
The music and comic book worlds have converged once again to create Comic Book Tattoo, a 480-page compendium of 50 story arcs based on songs by Tori Amos. Several notable comic book artists collaborated in the four-color adaptation of Amos' discography, ranging from young illustrator Jason Levesque—who illustrated the cover, seen above (left)—to seasoned award-winning artist Ted McKeever. Neil Gaiman—author of The Sandman comic saga—wrote the introduction to Comic Book Tattoo. Also a close friend to Amos, Gaiman has often compared her to his comic book character Delirium, while Amos herself references The Sandman in several of her songs. Coming... read more
Black Crowes, Avetts, many more to play Newport Folk '08
Jimmy Buffet, the Black Crowes, the Avett Brothers and Cat Power will take center stage at the 49th annual Newport Folk Festival, organizers announced this morning. Paste editor-at-large Jay Sweet is co-producing this year’s festival, which will take place August 1-3 at Fort Adams State Park in Rhode Island. This year’s lineup is a mix of traditional folk artists and newer, more mainstream acts the festival’s organizers hope will revitalize the historic festival, which has only achieved half to two-thirds of its 10,000 person capacity to date. “For me the theme was bridging the gap,” Sweet told The Boston Globe.... read more
Roskilde returns with too many great acts for one headline
Roskilde, Denmark: heard of it? Perhaps not. Allow us to bring to light this town (which, by the way, was founded by Vikings) that annually hosts a golden nugget of sonic aggregation so great, it actually has us contemplating flying halfway around the world to see it. In a day where music festivals seem to be spawning into multitudes, Roskilde manages stay relevant while upholding a tradition that is 37 years strong. Starting with Bob Marley in 1978, Roskilde has hosted quite a few greats at their height, including the Talking Heads in 1979, U2 in 1982 and The Clash... read more
The 20 Best Gadgets of the Decade…
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies This Decade
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Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
Kim Taylor - Days Like this
B.O.B. - Put Me On
Gregory Alan Isakov - The Moon Song
Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
Anya Marina - Whatever You Like
David Bazan - Hard To Be
