Pearl Jam Unveils Tracklist for Documentary Via Scavenger Hunt

In commemoration of their upcoming documentary _Twenty_, directed by Cameron Crowe, alternative rock quintet Pearl Jam presented its fans with an online scavenger hunt, the purpose of which was to reveal the tracks for the accompanying soundtrack one by one.  read more

Texts, Tweets and Rock ’n’ Roll: How Social Media Saved the Sunset Strip

Tonight, The Roxy hosts the second annual Zombie Prom...  read more

Tape Delay: After Years in the Musical Margins, Cassettes are Back

The humble cassette is alive and well...  read more

Sheryl Crow: My First...

Growing up in the bootheel of Missouri, Sheryl Crow would make the trip down to Memphis about twice a year with her family, usually to see Santa Claus or buy school clothes...  read more

Listening to My Life: The Other White House

One byproduct of having a teenage mother is that I got to know a generation I might not have otherwise...  read more

Appliance Rock: Rhythm, Distortion and Pyrex Bowls

Before Iggy Pop became a bare-chested rock icon, he was just another guy with leathery skin and a collection of strange instruments...  read more

Baffled Once More: Thomas Frank Resurrects Journal of Pop and Politics

I meet Thomas Frank at a chain coffee shop in the Washington, D.C. suburbs...  read more

Paste's Summer Festival 2010 Guide

Sasquatch! 2010 kicks off tomorrow in Wahington state’s unbelievably beautiful Gorge, an so too does the summer festival season kick off. Check out our guide to the best summer music festivals below, as well as a few, fun extras....  read more

Paste's Summer Festival Guide 2010: Reduce, Reuse, Rock 'n' Roll

Most major festivals have found a way for people to support music and the environment at the same time. Last year, Austin City Limits gave away a Honda Insight hybrid. Pitchfork recycled a whopping 46 percent of festival-generated waste, and this year organizers want to exceed 50 percent—initiatives include biodiesel-powered generators and a recycling store where people can swap their trash for swag. “We’ve researched different companies that do good work in the carbon offset market," says fest publicist Jessica Linker, "ones that make sure people are able to see where their money is going.” Meanwhile, Lollapalooza-goers can stock up...  read more

Paste's Summer Festival Guide 2010: Kids' Corner

Music festivals can be surprisingly kid-friendly: Most offer free admission or discounted tickets for tykes while some boast extensive games, bands and other G-rated activities for the little ones. At Bonnaroo’s Kidz Jam, children can express themselves with recycling art projects and kids instruments; meanwhile, tots at Kidzapalooza will be sufficiently rocked by bands like Lunch Money and Care Bears on Fire, while sporting new hairdooz and tattooz. For the more pragmatic parent, ACL offers Tag-a-Kid, giving children numbered wrist bands in case they lose mom and dad in a mosh pit....  read more

Paste's Summer Festival Guide 2010: Lilith 2.0

After an 11-year hiatus, the traveling ladies of Lilith return with an impressive lineup: Living legends Emmylou Harris and Loretta Lynn will perform alongside a diverse cast of artists such as Cat Power, Metric, Erykah Badu, Kate Nash, Tegan and Sara, Janelle Monáe, and festival co-founder Sarah McLachlan. A huge list (36 dates, so far) of shows/cities have been announced for Lilith 2010, with a portion of proceeds going to charity....  read more

Paste's Summer Festival Guide 2010: Festival Food That Doesn't Suck

Man cannot survive on Pronto Pups alone. You’re at a festival, you’ve gotta eat—but what? Everyone knows the usual options: mini-pizzas, fried meat on sticks, overpriced beer. Still, a few fests offer more than the outdoor equivalent of a mall food court. The champ here is Pitchfork (Chicago, July 16-18), which features a bevy of stands from area restaurants, including Southern-food favorites Robinson’s Ribs and Wishbone, veteran German sausage specialists Berghoff, Thai powerhouse Star of Siam, and vegan fare from Chicago Diner. In Seattle, Bumbershoot (Sept. 5-7) has a number of quality stands. Make sure to hit Bringer Farms’ Giant...  read more

Paste's Summer Festival Guide 2010: How to Not Die at a Festival

The medical tent may not seem like the hotspot at any music festival, but it’s there for a reason: These events are all fun and games until somebody gets hurt—or worse. In eight years of Bonnaroo, there have been seven deaths; a 39-year-old man died of a heart attack last year at Lollapalooza; and in 2000, at Denmark’s Roskilde Festival, eight fans were crushed to death in a stampede. Some of these episodes were more preventable than others. (One of the Bonnaroo deaths reportedly came when a man hopped a fence, walked onto an interstate and was struck by Ricky...  read more

Listening to My Life: Lost in the Shuffle

For most of my music-consuming life, my collection has had an imposing physical component. I crammed huge racks of CDs into tiny dorm rooms and slightly less-cramped apartments. I scoured furniture stores for storage units that had shelves more than 12 inches deep. And I agonized over what to cull when I needed space for less essential items, like clothing or food. Visiting friends would always comment on the sheer bulk of music in my living space, as though they’d stopped by just to gawk at the alphabetically and chronologically organized spectacle....  read more

Randy Newman Burns On

In honor of Newman's 18th and 19th Academy Award nominations...  read more

The Super-Impossible Brain-Busting Trip-Hop Quiz

In 2008, Portishead—one of pop music’s great sleeping giants—awoke from hibernation to deliver its first studio album in 11 years. Then late last year, snarling rapper Tricky reissued his 1995 classic Maxinquaye. February’s release of Heligoland, Massive Attack’s first new album in seven years, completes the unlikely resurgence of trip-hop—a genre that blew up in the early ’90s and almost instantly vanished, only to inch its way back into the public consciousness nearly 20 years later. Centered in the British harbor town of Bristol and revolving around these three artists, trip-hop was known for cinematic soundscapes, paranoid moods, scratchy rapping...  read more

Kate Nash: In the Studio

"I wanted to be inspired by women," Nash says. "I wanted to mix The Supremes and Bikini Kill..."  read more

Best of What's Next: Carrie Preston: Blood, Sweat and Twang

Hometown: Macon, Ga. Film/Show: That Evening Sun, True Blood For Fans Of: Amy Adams, William Gay, vampires Hollywood is littered with young starlets who come out of nowhere, land a big role and suddenly get their images splayed across gossip pages and men’s magazines. But Carrie Preston’s ascent has been slow and steady. The 42-year-old has made the most of every role—first bit parts in films like Transamerica and The Stepford Wives, then guest spots on TV shows like Arrested Development and Sex and the City and, more recently, as Arlene Fowler on HBO’s vampire drama True Blood....  read more

The Master's Sputum: Unfinished Nabokov Novel Now Open to Examination

In 1962, prodded by an interviewer to share a glimpse of a first draft, novelist Vladimir Nabokov replied, “Only ambitious non-entities and hearty mediocrities exhibit their rough drafts. It is like passing around samples of one’s sputum.” Now, more than 30 years after his death, we have an opportunity—against Nabokov’s expressed wishes—to examine such a sample....  read more

Go Your Own Way: Norah Jones and The Swell Season Recover From Broken Hearts

Is The Fall a breakup record? “I think in a lot of ways it is, and in a lot of ways it isn’t,” says Norah Jones of the follow-up to 2007’s Not Too Late. Her split that year with longtime boyfriend Lee Alexander made the gossip pages, despite her silence on the subject. She has no intention of sharing her thoughts on the matter today, either, though she’s generous with the fries accompanying her hefty veggie burger at the East Village restaurant where we’ve met. “Will you have some?” she asks. “I won’t eat them all.”...  read more