David Berkeley Keeps Moving
Tucked between a cellist and a trumpeter on stage at Decatur, Ga., acoustic hotspot Eddie’s Attic, singer/songwriter David Berkeley is singing like he means it... read more
Nico Muhly: Composing from the A.D.D. Camp
Hometown: New YorkAlbum: Mothertongue For Fans Of: Björk, Steve Reich, Bang on a Can Don’t get Nico Muhly started on categories. Don’t even waste time bringing them up because the composer will ignore any suggestion that boundaries mean anything nowadays, and he’ll plow forward in his rapid-ricochet speaking style on his loves and, amusingly, his hates: “I love the idea of making an album, working within the confines of that fixed unit, which is still how I experience music,” and, “I’m in opposition to Beethoven as he’s done now. It’s like arriving at a bar at 6 p.m. and some... read more
The Little Ones: Working From the Inside
Ed Reyes can keep a secret. During his recent time spent working in the music industry—as a Maverick Records intern, executive assistant to producer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds... read more
The Whispertown 2000 Goes with the Flow
Whispertown 2000 frontwoman Morgan Nagler travels with an inflatable mattress. She used to live in a two-bedroom tent in her mother's back yard. She slept under a dining room table... read more
The Low Anthem Covers All the Bases
Tinker and Evers. Reese and Robinson. Trammel and Whitaker. All of baseball’s great double-play duos moved in a way that was almost musical. Ben Knox Miller and Jeff Prystowsky... read more
Worth The Walk: Five African Women's Journey to Hospital
A severe condition in which a hole develops between a woman’s rectum or bladder and her vagina, obstetric fistula results from obstructed labor and leads to... read more
The Tallest Man on Earth Rises Above
Toward the end of “Talkin’ New York,” the second track from Bob Dylan’s eponymous debut, the 20-year-old folksinger probed into American lives with precocious insight: “A lot of people..." read more
Wild Beasts: Between a Purr and a Roar
Hometown: Kendal, a town in England’s Lake District Album: Limbo, Panto Band Members [l-r]: Tom Fleming (bass, vocals) Benny Little (lead guitar), Hayden Thorpe (lead vocals), Chris Talbot (drums, vocals) For Fans Of: Antony and the Johnsons, falsettoBritish band Wild Beasts was originally called Fauve, a reference to a group of early-20th-century French painters (les Fauves) whose outrageous use of bold colors marked them as true avant-gardists. The band eventually translated its name to Wild Beasts “because it sounds so much more crude in English,” says singer Hayden Thorpe. Still, the avant-garde parallels remain: Wild Beasts’ debut Limbo, Panto is... read more
Takehiro Ando Gives Music a Fighting Chance
If you need advice on how to get paid for obsessing over the things you love most in the world, you might start by consulting with Japanese video-game designer Takehiro Ando... read more
Meiko Quits Her Day Job
When Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Meiko landed two songs on Grey’s Anatomy last year, her hometown of Roberta, Ga., responded with a congratulatory billboard in the middle of town... read more
High Places: Etched In Your Memory
Seventy years ago, a rakish gentleman’s come-on would’ve been to invite a lady up to ‘see his etchings.’ Today, fine-art major Robert Barber isn’t getting fresh when he utters the same phrase—he really has them... read more
Titus Andronicus Acts Out
“Yeah, we’re punk,” affirms 22-year-old Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles. But not exclusively—the band also embraces theatrical histrionics and pub-rock ramblings. “I want to play our songs as though they were punk songs,” Stickles says. “It’s the most intense..." read more
Chris Adrian: Word Doc
Chris Adrian has earned a B.A. in English from the University of Florida. He has an M.D. from Eastern Virginia Medical School. He’s earning a new degree in a pediatric hematology/oncology program in San Francisco. He’s two years from a degree from... read more
Efterklang Gets Busy
"I was like, ‘What is going on?’” jokes Rasmus Stolberg in response to the critical success of 2007’s Parades, the latest LP from his Copenhagen-based ensemble, Efterklang. As we talk, he’s hustling from car to tour bus with a borrowed cell phone... read more
Mr. Wouters' Machines
It’s easy to mistake Roel Wouters for a filmmaker. “[What I do is] more about creating a certain circumstance or a certain condition,” insists the 32-year-old Dutch artist who works under the moniker Xelor... read more
Stuart Townsend: Ain't No Power Like the Power of People
In 1999, during the winter of our discontent, a tornado hit America’s own Emerald City—Seattle—in the form of tens of thousands of protesters who stormed the streets in a successful effort to shut down a meeting of the... read more
Celso Duarte: Son of the South
Hometown: Curenavaca, MexicoAlbum: De Sur a SurFor fans of: Gipsy Kings, Adreas Vollenweider, Joanna NewsomFor Paraguayan-born, Mexican-raised harpist and violinist Celso Duarte, music is the family business. And business has never been better.... read more
Ida Maria: Out of Control
Despite growing up in Nesna—a tiny Norwegian coastal village with 1,855 people and one gas station—Ida Maria Sivertsen was never at a loss for music in the home. “What we heard on the radio was what we got..." read more
The Best of What's Next
Lists like this often end up being only superficially about the artist's work. The focus shifts instead toward triangulating which act is going to be the next to blow up (as if being the best were somehow a prerequisite for achieving blown-upness)... read more
Saša Stanišic: Magic in Motion
"There's nothing there. Just sheep and me." Saša Stanišic happily describes the Swiss setting where he's retreated to write. One can't blame him for seeking a quiet place. The war in Bosnia still rings in his ears... read more
The 20 Best Gadgets of the Decade…
The 20 Best Live Acts of the…
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies This Decade
The 25 Best Movie Performances of the…
Kim Taylor - Days Like this
Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
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
