Nirvana: Live at Reading
In an age where Twitter feeds, YouTube footage and Brooklyn Vegan-esque blogs guarantee over-documentation of any concert mere moments after the lights go up... read more
Catching Up With... Tegan Quin
When Tegan and Sara Quin speak of devotion, they do not speak of its most traditional sense. read more
Flight of the Conchords May Not Return for Third Season
Emmy nominated Flight of the Conchords co-star Jemaine Clement has been frank lately in discussing the New Zealand duo’s future with the show, telling Reuters “it very likely might not” return for a third season due to its strenuous work demands.... read more
New Leonard Cohen Biography Coming in December
You know you’ve made it big when there are two official biographies written about you. So congrats, Leonard Cohen, welcome to the big boy’s club. The second Cohen biography, called Hallelujah: A New Biography and to be released on Dec. 1, will chronicle both Cohen’s origins as a singer-songwriter and his recent resurgence as a sort-of indie godfather.... read more
Beatles Albums Come Together on Special USB Drive, Out in December
Four decades of rock ‘n’ roll greatness, and it’ll all be the size of your thumb. That’s the thought behind Beatles in Stereo, the first legal degital version of The Beatles’ catalog to be released. Containing all 14 albums and 13 mini-documentaries, the release will come in the form of a USB thumb drive shaped appropriately like an apple.... read more
Beastie Boys, Beck, Santigold Remix Norah Jones
Among other collaborators, Norah Jones managed to enlist musicians who worked with Beck for her fourth studio release, The Fall. But as she revealed recently, she had originally wanted the Record Club composer himself to oversee the album.... read more
Alec Ounsworth: Mo Beauty
A hauntingly gorgeous contradiction in terms On his first solo effort, the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah frontman continues his enthusiastic experiments with strange sound combinations. He’s pensive these days—mellow and introverted—and his self-questioning lyrics are matched with a fittingly eerie sound. The album is well conceived with articulate themes running throughout, as when Ounsworth laments the fall of New Orleans in “Holy, Holy, Holy Moses” and then later channels the city’s brass-laden funeral marches into the dirt-smudged “Idiots in the Rain.” Ounsworth’s resounding use of strings, horns, piano and percussion appears and disappears at unexpected moments with beautifully unsettling... read more
Holopaw: Oh, Glory. Oh, Wilderness.
Soft-spoken indie band rocks out on excellent third album On their first two albums, Holopaw ruffled hushed folk with synths and loops. Nestled in almost-sterile arrangements, John Orth’s flutey voice defined fragility, as circular arpeggios turned like quiet screws. Their new album, thankfully, still sounds like Holopaw. It’s just that now, Orth’s voice is often buffeted by bright bursting chords, and leads glinting with pretty little errors. Standard but effective strings and horns sub in for electronics. The result is an album that’s vigorously lily-livered, with hardly a dull moment to be found. Orth’s lyrics are holistic and tender; rich... read more
Best of What's Next: Nurses
It’s an amusingly incongruous sight to see the makers of such delicate music hauling around in such a brawny boat... read more
Sufjan Stevens Calls 50 States Project "Such a Joke"
At the time, it seemed impossibly ambitious: Write an album for all 50 states, each capturing both the obvious glories and flaws, but also the hidden idiosyncrasies of its chosen bit of America. Sufjan Stevens’ first attempt was a gorgeously lush, whispered look at a state most often cast in a harsh, mechanic light: Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lake State. Next up was another midwestern state, Illinois. With beautiful anthems like “Chicago” and “Jacksonville,” the album shot Stevens to the top of the indie heap, a folk singer as ambitious as he was introspective.... read more
Until the Light Takes Us to Explore Norway's Black-Metal Scene
Even with big marquee names like Kjetil Haraldstad, Kristoffer Rygg and Varg Vikernes on board, it’s unlikely Until the Light Takes Us will overshadow too many of this winter’s blockbuster movies. And in terms of cultural relevance, that’s a damn shame. The documentary, which will see the very limited light of day this winter, tells the story of how Norway’s burgeoning black-metal scene exploded into European consciousness with misunderstood violence, Satanism, arson and, yes, corpsepaint.... read more
Yeasayer Releases Single From New Album
With its first single “2080,” Yeasayer only hinted a bit at intergalactic tendencies. However, with synth whispers and delicate electric-guitar arpeggios, the band’s starry-eyed introduction is immediately grounded by a rather realistic sentiment: “We can pickle the pain into blue ribbon winners at county contests.”... read more
Los Campesinos! Set Release Date for New Album, Announce Tour
Former Paste Band of the Week Los Campesinos! plan to introduce a new sound, singer and subject matter with next year’s release of their third studio album.... read more
The King Khan & BBQ Show: Invisible Girl
More skuzzy garage rock from increasingly visible pair Before he donned his gold lamé hot pants and played wild shows like the unholy offspring of Little Richard and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, King Khan made a pair of loose, lewd, lo-fi albums with fellow Montreal ex-pat and former bandmate BBQ—a.k.a. Mark Sultan. Three years after their lip-smacking What’s for Dinner?, the duo re-teams for another set of R&B-inflected, ’60s-influenced garage rock with its juvenile-delinquent charms and dirty minds intact.... read more
Rickie Lee Jones: Balm in Gilead
Wild girl returns with headphone album “It’s hard to be older and poor, I don’t dig it that much anymore,” Rickie Lee Jones sings on “Wild Girl,” the opening track of her 13th album. Although she’s in character, it’s odd to hear her sing that line; 30 years into an unpredictable career, she still sounds like the wild girl she once was. The largely self-produced Balm in Gilead plies a folksy yet soulful jazz-country sound that showcases both her inimitable voice—with its playful meter and peculiar grain—and her studio prowess.... read more
Best of What's Next: Kristina Train
The soulful saunter of Kristina Train's debut Spilt Milk hints at her roots in Savannah... read more
Watch Elizabeth & The Catapult Stitch Pincushions, Play Acoustically
Although pincushions normally come a’plenty at Etsy, the site is serving something extra special with today’s batch: the presence of Elizabeth Ziman, lead singer of Elizabeth & The Catapult.... read more
Watch Phish Cover Exile on Main Street
Everyone loves to dress up on Halloween (Especially, as we witnessed this weekend, as Max from Where the Wild Things Are), but Phish have long taken it a bit further. In fact, the Vermont jammers dress up their Halloween show as an entirely different band. In years past they’ve taken on Dark Side of the Moon, Quadrophenia and The White Album. This Halloween, at their very own Festival 8 at Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., Phish played The Rolling Stones classic Exile on Main Street.... read more
Neil Young Reveals Dreamin' Man Tracklist, Bumps Release Date
If his behemoth, 10-disc Archives set was any indication, Neil Young’s made a lot of music in his day. And he wants you to have it. All of it.... read more
Various Artists: Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy
Stipe, Yorke and The National headline benefit for ex-Miracle Legion frontman All-star tributes are too rarely bestowed upon those most in need of recognition. Mark Mulcahy’s long overdue moment in the sun is a bittersweet one, as Ciao My Shining Star adapts the veteran singer/songwriter’s outstanding back catalog largely into a poignant memorial to his wife, Melissa, who died tragically last year.... read more
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