NargotTheBort’s Deviant Subculture has an astounding selection of shows to download. The taste leans slightly towards the mainstream, but it features extremely rare and vintage performances from The Jesus & Mary Chain, Beck, Duran Duran, R.E.M., The Feelies, and Talking Heads, amidst current shows from Of Montreal, The White Stripes, the Black Keys, and Mission of Burma, just to name [...]

[Read more →]

At a stop on the former Smiths frontman’s current solo tour, Morrissey berated Madonna from the stage for wearing fur:
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she made that African boy she adopted into a coat and wore him for 15 minutes, then threw it away,” he declared.
All is not so dour however at the shows, as [...]

[Read more →]

To watch the Battles feature on Vice TV go here. The host hangs out with the band, watches them eat, and checks out all their crazy equipment that makes those sweet, sweet yet mostly unrecognizable sounds.

[Read more →]

Good Christ Billy Corgan is insane:
“Here is what you must understand: Nothing has changed since 1999, except my budget. And Pro Tools. I am still the same alt-rock messiah I was. You are still my teenage flock.”
Plenty more lunacy to be had in his rambling, crazily deluded letter to fans and critics alike. (via Rolling [...]

[Read more →]

We *heart* Music has a nice little write up on the Riot Grrrls of yore. (though, as VU mentions “Let’s be clear about this, this is not a definitive guide to all things Riot Grrrl, but just some selections of music that I have and liked.”) Just a nice stroll down memory lane (with [...]

[Read more →]

Billy Corgan personally asked Paris Hilton to be photographed for his band’s “reunion” album, Zeitgeist. Her herpetic visage also adorns the UK version of the “Tarantula” single. If you happen to touch it, be sure to have some salve on hand. And more importantly, why on earth would Billy Corgan do this? Laughable grab for [...]

[Read more →]

This song is off one of my favorite 7″s of all time- the Lincoln/Hoover split on Art Monk Construction records from 1993. I can’t believe there’s a video of Lincoln on youtube. This song is fucking amazing- searing and from the gut. Technically, this is emo, but it’s the strain that was born out of [...]

[Read more →]

This October Hawthorne St. Records will issue The Life and Times’ debut long-player, Suburban Hymns, on vinyl for the first time. The CD version was originally put out back in 2005 on DC’s DeSoto. Since the release of The Magician EP last fall on Japan’s Stiff Slack Records, the band has been working on new [...]

[Read more →]

Bassist Alex James has admitted he may be deluded about Blur’s chances for a reunion.
“I think about Blur, that there is a chance we can get back together and make something really brilliant, but then I’m probably deluded as well. I think with Blur it was never really quite resolved emotionally, with Graham leaving before [...]

[Read more →]

In a move to likely capitalize on the critical accolades of The Knife’s 2006 release Silent Shout (Pitchfork’s #1 of 2006. We liked it, too.), Mute is giving Silent Shout the super-duper re-release deluxe våldtäkt and skövling treatment. 3 discs of complete Knifeness, including the album you probably already have, as well [...]

[Read more →]

To knick a phrase the NME misused with Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age is sort of a Guns N’ Roses it’s ok to like. Indie fetishists have a soft spot for Josh Homme’s muscular, psychedelic metal riffage, but so do crass Papa Roach fans. It’s a difficult line to straddle, where the wrong move [...]

[Read more →]

This is the second release in The Social Registry’s limited 7″ Social Club. Sian Alice Group’s “Nightbird” is an expansive pop experiment, interweaving ethereal vocals with a lush and layered musical backdrop. Sian Ahern’s voice is precariously poised on the edge of seductive otherworldliness and shadowy allure. The music has an amorphous vagueness to it [...]

[Read more →]

Is it time for 90’s nostalgia already? Dread. It could be worse, I guess. At least it’s not Collective Soul or something. Anyway, if you care, it’s Superdrag’s original line-up (Don Coffey Jr., John Davis, Brandon Fisher, and Tom Pappas), and the band has six shows scheduled for later this year. Tunes are up at [...]

[Read more →]

If you haven’t been watching Flight of the Conchords‘ HBO show, then you’re definitely missing out. It’s ridiculously dry, subtle, absurd, and laugh out loud funny. I just fear not enough people are watching it to keep it around. It seems a little too smart and, perhaps, too niche, even for HBO. The following song [...]

[Read more →]

According to Merlin over at trailofdead.com, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead has a summer tour plotted for Europe, kicking off in Portugal on August 5. The shows mix club dates with traditional festival stops. The band is still supporting last fall’s So Divided on Interscope.

[Read more →]

Chin Up Chin Up is playing one of those sneaky, just-announced Spoon shows on Friday the 13th at Shuba’s in Chicago. Here’s the title track off Chin Up Chin Up’s latest record on Suicide Squeeze. Smart, jangly indie rock a la local predecessors The Sea and Cake, though less polished, Chin Up Chin Up operates [...]

[Read more →]

Impossibly cool My Dad Is Dead performance from the Babylon A Go Go in Cleveland back in February of 1990. The song is off Mark Edwards’ masterpiece The Taller You Are, The Shorter You Get back when MDID used a drum machine. All the despair, cynicism, and loneliness you could ever need from one of [...]

[Read more →]

Got four days to blow in September? Even after all the summer festivals have come and gone? Well, Music Fest NW is ready make you feel silly for blowing your wad on Lollapalooza with its impressive line-up. MFNW runs across four days (September 6-9) in Portland, Oregon. Seattle’s KEXP will broadcast live from the event [...]

[Read more →]

Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill proposed to his girlfriend Jessie Baylin recently during dinner at a restaurant in New York, which is not very interesting news. But the rest of the band’s reaction is. Nathan’s younger brother, Caleb, who is also the band’s singer, is hardcore when it comes to the band’s principles and [...]

[Read more →]

A Guardian piece follows the recent shutdown of one of Britain’s retail music chains and its larger impact on the music industry’s constantly shifting business model. The good news is that specialty record shops are hopping, as collector’s vinyl, limited releases, and obscure bands still sell well; it’s the “supermarket-style” retailers that are biting the [...]

[Read more →]