Live From SXSW: Rhett Miller (Full Set)
Watch Rhett Miller's entire performance at the Sennheiser & Paste Present the Stages on Sixth. read more
Found in: Featured VideosSeeking a Friend for the End of the World
Have you ever been watching the latest Hollywood rom-com and wished a giant asteroid would just come crashing down, obliterating every doe-eyed, cuter-than-thou stereotype in a fiery cataclysm? Well, though that’s not exactly what happens in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, writer/director Lorene Scafaria does use the doomsday scenario as a jumping-off point for her feature debut.... read more
Found in: Movies, ReviewsKat Edmonson: Way Down Low
The delicately effortless quality of Kat Edmonson’s voice makes her sophomore album, Way Down Low, what could be considered easy listening, but its romantic, vintage sound warrants closer attention. Hints of Billie Holiday and a jazzier Feist make Edmonson’s songs feel familiar. From the more classic jazz-club piano in “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times” to the Latin-influenced acoustic guitar and percussion in “What Else Can I Do,” Edmonson’s album has a degree of diversity, even with her classic voice staying true to its wistful style. The duet with Lyle Lovett on “Long Way Home” provides a nostalgic vocal... read more
Found in: ArticlesGrace Potter & the Nocturnals: The Lion The Beast The Beat
It must be frustrating to be Grace Potter. So much talent, such a fierce band, the kind of charisma that can’t be taught, exuding sex and wallop with every turn—and yet, the superstardom she seems test-tubed for has eluded the Vermont-born songwriter who can rock as hard as anyone, yet exhale a ballad with knee-buckling vulnerability. Whatever the missing factor is—songs? connection between the high-gloss image and blues-steeped music? a coherent format to break out of?—it remains elusive. The Lion The Beast The Beat is flecked with the sweat of ambition, that make-it-or-break-it, too-tight grip on what needs to happen... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsPatti Smith: Banga
Ancient pathways, Nubian vows, bridges of magpies, whispering saints and rusty bikes piloted by writers in tattered coats are only a few of the often overwhelming array of images that Patti Smith uses to help illuminate the 12 new songs on Banga, her first CD since Trampin’ came out in 2004. On what is certainly her best album in many, many years Smith reminds her listeners that—along with Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen—she is one of the few artists working in the popular music arena who has a literary sensibility that draws from a well of culture that goes far... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsThe Smashing Pumpkins: Oceania
There’s a long-running joke about seeing a beloved band, maybe one you’ve followed since your childhood, and hearing the worst phrase that the frontman could utter: “We’re going to play a few songs from our new album.”... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsFAWN: Coastlines
Debut albums can be many things. They can be an ocean of different sounds and genres with a fledgling band caught in its vastness. They can be the first step to something bigger and better. They can be a one-hit wonder’s high point or a budding artist’s low point. They can be memorable—and forgettable. For FAWN, an indie pop-rock band from Detroit, Mich., Coastlines feels like an internal tug-o-war, an album that aspires to more than it achieves. There are brief moments, an unexpected breakdown or a glowing vocal harmony, where aspirations turn reality but are quickly drowned in a... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsGlen Hansard: Rhythm and Repose
Rhythm and Repose could have been Glen Hansard’s Nebraska—a collection of stripped down acoustic songs that shed the layers and memories of bands of yore—but the Irish troubadour didn’t really channel his inner Bruce Springsteen at all. Instead of locking himself in a room with a four-track tape recorder (or so the story went), Hansard stayed close to his previous musical muses and stylistic choices, leaving his debut solo effort feeling like a continuation of prior efforts, rather than a foray into new material.... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsHow to Piss in Public by Gavin McInnes
In the last few years, hipster hating has become a popular sport. There is no shortage of spite published, in print and on the World Wide Web, about vintage-clothed, ironic-toned youth. As Amanda Marcotte at The XX Factor blog says, “… the term ‘hipster’ has become a signal to people that it’s safe to engage in the all-American sport of arguing that we don’t need no stinkin’ culture, and that arty-farty people are elitist scum.” Gavin McInnes, creator of Vice magazine and the hipster movement’s alleged maker, at once owns up to being its source and leaves it in the... read more
Found in: Books, ReviewsMetric: Synthetica
Metric haven’t had the easiest time earning respect. First they operated in the towering shadow of epic Canadian mega-band Broken Social Scene, who just so happened to release one of the finest indie-rock albums of all-time with 2002’s You Forgot it in People. But the further Metric have distanced themselves from the genre, swelling gradually into all-out arena-pop territory (and peaking in commercial viability with 2009’s Fantasies), they’ve been increasingly pegged as streamlined sell-outs. It’s unfair to criticize Metric for “going pop,” since, well, they have every right to record whatever kind of music they want. The problem is that... read more
Found in: Music, Reviews
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