Asthmatic Kitty Adds Three Titles to Library Catalog Music Series
Asthmatic Kitty Records is expanding its peculiar Library Catalog Music Series, with instrumental albums meant to soundtrack sleeplessness, memory and carpooling coming later this year.... read more
Zac Brown Band to Host Georgia Theatre Benefit Show
Zac Brown Band is looking to restore the glory of its onetime musical stomping grounds by hosting a benefit concert on Oct. 30 for Athens, Ga.’s recently decommissioned Georgia Theatre. They will be accompanied by Little Big Town, Joey + Rory, Shawn Mullins, Aslyn and Oliver Wood.... read more
Run-D.M.C. Headed to Broadway?
Run-D.M.C. may be following in the footsteps of U2 and Billy Joel. U.K.‘s The Guardian reported last week that producer Paula Wagner is in preliminary talks to create a rap opera featuring the iconic ’80s group’s back catalog.... read more
Welcome to the Naptime: Guns N' Roses Gets Remade as Lullabies
“Mr. Brownstone,” one of the many classic jams on Guns N’ Roses’ brilliant debut Appetite for Destruction, is all about being hopelessly addicted to heroin. It seems only natural, then, that the song would be featured on an album of lullabies for children, right? Right?... read more
Devendra Banhart: What Will We Be
“Please destroy me!” pleads freakfolk flagbearer Devendra Banhart on “First Song for B,” one of the many... read more
Orenda Fink: Ask the Night
Achingly beautiful melodies as a cure for the restless blues Orenda Fink’s sophomore album leaves behind the sonic experimentation of her debut LP, Invisible Ones. Ask the Night is, instead, a nod to the singer’s Southern roots in a pared-down combination of guitars, strings and banjos that harkens back to another era: “Sister” showcases a clanging piano in a Frontier saloon, and “The Garden” is driven by the mournful violin of a Victorian folk song. What results is a deliciously melancholic mixture, epitomized in “Why is the Night Sad,” which laments, “And you know that you’re not safe here, through... read more
Listen Up: Welcome to the New Folk Revival
Alela Diane Menig, the Portland-by-way-of-California singer-songwriter who released one my favorite albums of this year, To Be Still recently got a haircut... read more
Catching Up With... The Swell Season's Glen Hansard
The Irish musician and star of Once talks about Strict Joy, Anvil: The Story of Anvil and how there probably won't be another Swell Season album... read more
Catching Up With... Devendra Banhart
Today, Devendra Banhart is excited about carrot juice... read more
Wu-Tang Clan's RZA Loves Video Games, His Nerdy Kids and Roundhouse Kicks
They don’t call the RZA “the braintrust” of the Wu-Tang Clan for nothing; the gears in dude’s mind simply do not stop. And because of that, plus his obsession with martial arts, East Asian philosophy, comic books and advanced recording technology, it’s not unfair to describe him as, yes, a nerd.... read more
Listen to R.E.M.'s Live at the Olympia Album
From June 30 to July 5, 2007, R.E.M. played a series of shows in Dublin’s Olympia Theater, which was then intended as a test-run for new material that would appear on their 2008 release, Accelerate, according to NPR.... read more
Spam E-Mail or Bob Pollard Song?
Ever since solo artist and former Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard arrived in the late ’80s with GBV’s first album of note, Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia, he’s been the undisputed king of arcane titles. So arcane, in fact, that they often resemble the non-sequitur gibberish of spam e-mails that advertise replica watches and male-enhancement pills.... read more
Them Crooked Vultures Announce Debut Album Release Date
Them Crooked Vultures, at least the second heaviest supergroup to emerge in recent months (Shrinebuilder, you get the #1 slot!), is now set to release their self-titled debut album. Guess that answers our previous question.... read more
Wildbirds & Peacedrums: The Snake
Wildbirds & Peacedrums’ 2008 debut _Heartcore_ introduced an odd line-up... read more
Port O'Brien: Threadbare
Sparks fly on California band’s second album Port O’Brien’s second studio album sounds just fine coming out of computer speakers or iPod headphones, but the best way to appreciate these darkly ambient, heartily ramshackle indie-folk songs is around a campfire. Working with Earlimart’s Aaron Espinoza, the band stitch together threads of hearty Pacific Northwest indie, West Coast rock, and rustic creak-folk to create a loose, at times uneasy intimacy that allows for murky ambience as well as raucous sing-alongs.... read more
Mastodon Talks Jonah Hex Score
"We sacrificed two weeks away from home to give away an album's worth of material," bassist/singer Troy Sanders says... read more
Best of What's Next: Kurt Vile
Kurt Vile—yep, that's his birth name—has had a pretty good year... read more
Timbaland Recruites Rather Odd Crew for New Album
We’re not too cool to say it: We liked that Timbaland solo album. You know, the one with “The Way I Are” and “Apologize.” Admit it, you liked it too. The record, Timbaland Presents: Shock Value, didn’t have, you know, oodles of artistic value, but it was full of unabashed pop music with huge hooks, even bigger beats and, somehow, Elton John. But for Timbaland’s next solo venture, he seems to be stretching his luck with the “Pop stars + Timbaland = Dance songs with street cred” formula.... read more
Google to Launch One Box Music Service
Google is stepping into the ring of online music services to rival the likes of iTunes with their so far unmatched right hook—a superior search engine.... read more
Andrew Bird Announces Tour With Church Performances
Throughout 2009, Andrew Bird has brought his orchestral arrangements with notes of impressive whistling to a variety of locales, ranging from major summer festivals to high-school auditoriums. And once his Austin City Limits and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon performances air over the next week, the upcoming months will be no exception.... read more
The 20 Best Gadgets of the Decade…
The 20 Best Live Acts of the…
The 50 Best Albums of the Decade…
The 25 Best Movie Performances of the…
Download Harper Blynn's "Centrifugal Motion"
Blind Pilot - One Red Thread
B.O.B. - Put Me On
Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
David Bazan - Hard To Be
Elvis Perkins in Dearland - Stay Zombie…
