I’m with Big Stereo, it tugs slightly at the strings of youth, but isn’t quite there. I do like her voice, though.

[Read more →]

Unsurprising, really. Interpol has always seemingly positioned itself as a band that strived to appeal to those who appreciate the finer things. Slick threads, slick shoes, etc. Even though its musical roots adhere to a post-punk thread, its ideals never seemed married to the underground in any real way. 

[Read more →]

Oh, this is maddening. The woman who killed three Chicago musicians, including Silkworm’s Michael Dahlquist, is being released from prison after serving less than half of her eight-year sentence. According to the Chicago Tribune [via Pitchfork], this is how she’s getting off so easy:
“Sliwinski’s time in prison was reduced by a sentencing law [...]

[Read more →]

I DVR’d Jimmy Kimmel Live last night hoping to catch Foals, but the preceding show ran over, which, of course, effed my chances. I was less than thrilled as I fast-forwarded through Kimmel’s blathering only to confirm my fear that, indeed, there would be no Foals for me. So, it was with great pleasure I [...]

[Read more →]

Good Walkmen interview over at Brooklynvegan. I haven’t had a chance to absorb the band’s latest, You & Me, fully quite yet, but they’re one of my favorite bands. I’m not sure why it took me so long to order the record; I’ve just been slow to buy music this year.  But even with [...]

[Read more →]

This poster by Martin Dominguez charts each instrument second by second in Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” Man, designers are all over this song lately.

[Read more →]

NYT profile on MBV post-ATP.

“Loveless” was difficult and expensive to make. Its songs are filled with emotional turmoil and enveloped in otherworldly sounds that had Mr. Shields recording in studio after studio, perpetually dissatisfied. The album’s cost has been estimated at £250,000, about $458,000, which helped to bankrupt its independent record label, Creation. “It [...]

[Read more →]

Based on plans by big box shithouses like Best Buy to begin stocking vinyl anachronistically, MVD entertainment has a few vinyl releases on deck, featuring new and rare music by Devo, GG Allin, The Dwarves, and Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics. The vinyl resurgence is making money for many of those labels whose [...]

[Read more →]

Chuck Bass is hands-down the best reason to indulge in the farcical drama of Gossip Girl, so it’s intriguing to discover that the man behind those flash threads is a burgeoning rocker. And English to boot. Really? Ed Westwick’s band, The Filthy Youth, predates Gossip Girl, so you can’t completely slag him off for [...]

[Read more →]

Josh Ferris, author of one of last year’s finest novels, Then We Came to the End, recalls his days as a student news reporter when he had the opportunity to interview David Foster Wallace for the Daily Iowan.
Excerpt:
Some recollections from my interview: he shared his office with another teacher; he drove a beat-to-hell Volkswagen; [...]

[Read more →]

Sir Ben Kingsley STOMPS into the shoes of Minor Threat’s Ian MacKaye from Mean Magazine on Vimeo.

Not sure what to make of this video tribute to punk legends Minor Threat by Mean Magazine. Sir Ben Kingsley stars as Ian MacKaye. Well, at the very least, he’s got the haircut down pat. [via punknews]

[Read more →]

From one of the best albums of 2007.

[Read more →]

Blur guitarist Graham Coxon has responded to erstwhile bandleader Damon Albarn’s premature claim that “Blur is over.” Who knows what the fuck is going on in these guys’ heads, but it’s interesting to see Graham actually defensive about Blur’s future. That’s progress.  It’s probably just a pissing contest with Damon, but if it leads [...]

[Read more →]

What are a few country boys to do? Following their defining release, 2007’s Introducing: Emotionalism, Concord N.C.’s The Avett Brothers have enjoyed what most burgeoning bands would consider one hell of a year: National TV appearances, sold out shows in mid-sized venues across the U.S., a mention on Perez Hilton, and a move to [...]

[Read more →]

There’s a whole line of them. WTF?! I’m so perplexed by this sort of thing. I mean, time was I loved Stephin Merritt as much as the next vaguely gay indiepop twee/twugster, but I’d be hard pressed to buy, let alone wear, shoes inspired by the man I once put on the [...]

[Read more →]

[Read more →]

Wow.  New iPod, new “flavour of the month.”  Out with the Canadian chick and in with the Brooklyn Twee.  (not that I’m complaining.)

[Read more →]

I was expecting this cover of Kim Carnes’ 1981 #1 hit “Bettie Davis’ Eyes” to be beyond awful, but Leighton Meester a/k/a Blair Waldorf of Gossip Girl can actually sing. And pretty damn well. With decent phrasing and everything. The music is sort of cheesy electro faddish, but Meester’s vocals save it. Apparently, she’s working [...]

[Read more →]

This new song from The Sea & Cake is pretty damn catchy. I’ve kinda lost track of them over the years. I loved the first couple albums and liked each subsequent one less, but this definitely makes me want to check out Car Alarm.

[Read more →]

Since her relatively low-maintenance days as bassist and lead singer of Velocity Girl, Bridget Cross has mapped out an impressive life trajectory, as this Juneau Empire article details. If you’re old enough, you may know her best as bassist and some-time singer for Unrest, the pioneers of the D.C. indie rock scene from the [...]

[Read more →]