Listen Up: Marissa Nadler, Where Have I Been All Your Life?
Two Saturday nights ago, the night before my birthday, I'd had two tacos and two margaritas and I was at The Earl in Atlanta with my boyfriend Joe when I decided that I was going to love Marissa Nadler forever... read more
Best of What's Next: Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band's self-titled debut twitches and writhes with capricious tempo shifts... read more
Wilco Launches Haiku Contest
Despite their plans to record new material in January, Wilco wants fans to contemplate the seven studio albums they’ve already released, in the band’s first-ever haiku contest.... read more
The Who Calls Super-Bowl Rumors "Pure Speculation"
Due an onslaught of reports that began circulating Thursday, The Who have called rumors of a Super Bowl performance “pure speculation,” in a statement released today.... read more
Animal Collective Announces Fall Be Kind EP
Animal Collective keeps on keepin’ on. Following the colorful wowing of Merriweather Post Pavilion, and the reissue of their delicate Campfire Songs, the band has announced an upcoming five-track EP, entitled Fall Be Kind, which is slated for a Nov. 23 digital release, before it hits stores on Dec. 15.... read more
Peter Gabriel Orchestral Covers Album On the Way
Peter Gabriel first LP in seven years will be something of a group project, an orchestral covers album that hosts an eclectic bunch of music hot shots performing each others’ songs. The title, Scratch My Back, plays along with the record’s tit-for-tat song swaps among artists like Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Radiohead, Randy Newman and The Kinks, according to The Guardian.... read more
Dirty Projectors Book Show With L.A. Philharmonic, Get Covered by Solange
Dirty Projectors’ idiosyncratic nature has inspired two recent developments on seemingly disparate ends of the musical spectrum: an orchestral performance and an R&B cover.... read more
Deer Tick Ready iTunes-Only EP, More Fuel for the Fire
As the story goes, Deer Tick was born when frontman John McCauley started recording songs on tape for his friends. The quartet is now bearing similar gifts five years later, as evidenced in an EP out Dec. 1.... read more
Half-Handed Cloud: Cut Me Down & Count My Rings
Song-a-minute songwriter digs into his archive, unearths some gems As a songwriter who made his name constructing grand song puzzles out of miniature interlocking pieces, John Ringhofer is the master of intricately fragmented art pop, with four full-length releases so tightly constructed that individual moments can hardly be extracted without compromising their elaborate song-suite structures. That his short-attention-span musical theater works just as well when pulled out from under the canopy of album-long arcs comes as a revelation on Cut Me Down & Count My Rings, a dazzling 46-song collection drawn from previously released EPs, compilations, cassette singles and vinyl... read more
Catching Up With... Pavement's Spiral Stairs
Sure, the recently-announced 2010 Pavement reunion has garnered all the hype... read more
Auto-Tune Developer Knocks Off Auto-Tune Knock Off
Auto-Tune is becoming an all-too-common embellishment in music and iPhone apps these days, especially for the developer behind the tricky technology that lets you keep this pitch-correction software in your pocket. Antares Audio Tech is the company responsible for the magical, giggle-inducing “I am T-Pain” app, and while they’ve spread the warbling joy to the masses, the techy troupe of nine employees are protecting their brand like it’s no one’s business, because to them, it shouldn’t be.... read more
Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum Win Big At CMA Awards
The CMA Awards often reward music’s biggest and brightest stars. The underground heroes of the genre tend to go quietly into the night unnoticed (Justin Townes Earle, where art thou?), but who ever said these award shows had to be high concept? Rather, the CMAs offer a chance for the biggest names in country music to be recognized as, yes, the biggest names in country. And the names of the winners at last night’s ceremony don’t get much bigger in the land of 10-gallon hats.... read more
Watson Twins Announce New Album, Tour
The easy-to-spot, difficult-to-distinguish Watson Twins will release their sophomore album, Talking To You, Talking To Me, on Feb. 9 via Vanguard Records.... read more
This Is It Not Quite It: Jackson Reality Show Coming to A&E
The posthumous Michael Jackson promotion train keeps on rolling, and in its next incarnation, the Jackson-hungry public will learn the troubles and travails of the Jacksons who are still around. Starting Dec. 13 at 9 p.m., cable fixture A&E will air The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty, a six-episode reality miniseries showing viewers how the King of Pop’s death has affected his family, namely his brothers Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and Marlon.... read more
Diplo Drops Hints About New M.I.A. Album
If Diplo gets his way with the next M.I.A. album, then listeners can expect “Booty Shorts” paired with “Summertime Clothes,” “The Purple Bottle” leading to getting “Wasted” and “Dope Boys” frolicking with “My Girls.”... read more
Steven Tyler Now Merely Taking Two Years Off From Aerosmith
Well, so much for that. Just days after Aerosmith started calling for a new lead singer, Steven Tyler himself showed up Tuesday night at a Joe Perry Project performance to announce that he is not leaving the band after all.... read more
Dave Rawlings Machine: A Friend of a Friend
Longtime sideman takes the lead with first solo album It’s hard to believe A Friend of a Friend is David Rawlings’ first album under his own name. For more than 12 years, the Nashville-based musician has toured, written and recorded with Gillian Welch, exploring the well-worn byways of country, bluegrass and stringband music while making the old-timey sound new. As a hired gun, he’s played sideman to artists following in Welch’s wake or creating their own: Sara Watkins, Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes, Guy Clark, Mark Knopfler and Jay Farrar, among others. So his debut as Dave Rawlings Machine is either... read more
Best of What's Next: The Shaky Hands
At the intersection of The Shins' faux-British Invasion jingle-jangle and The Allman Brothers' raggedy Southern-fried boogie... read more
Watch Death Cab for Cutie, Tween Vampires Converge on Hot Topic
According to Twilight, vampires, those sexy creatures of the night with good hair, hang out in a dark spot completely devoid of happiness: high school. But here in the real world, we know there’s a much more fitting spot for bloodsuckers to meet and buy their favorite band’s t-shirts: Hot Topic.... read more
Jay-Z Signs The Ting Tings to Roc Nation
Jay-Z’s ongoing relationship with indie rock continues to flourish after signing The Ting Tings to his Roc Nation label, according to British news sources.... read more
The 20 Best Gadgets of the Decade…
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies This Decade
The 50 Best Albums of the Decade…
The 25 Best Movie Performances of the…
The 20 Best Live Acts of the…
Kim Taylor - Days Like this
Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
Gregory Alan Isakov - The Moon Song
B.O.B. - Put Me On
Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
Elvis Perkins in Dearland - Stay Zombie…
David Bazan - Hard To Be
Anya Marina - Whatever You Like
