Archive by Author

RIP Special Agent Seagate

6 Sep

Life is filled with stress and many of life’s most stressful moments are a result of the loss of loved ones – the loss of a spouse, the loss of a parent, the loss of a child, the loss of Continue reading

Animal Collective – Centipede Hz

6 Sep

Review originally posted on Pop’stache

Animal Collective has clown shoes to fill following 2009’s stellar Merriweather Post Pavilion on their ninth proper album, Centipede Hz.  The Collective: Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) and Geologist (Brian Weitz) are rejoined by fourth founding member Deakin Continue reading

Bloc Party – Four

22 Aug

Bloc Party was one of the most celebrated bands to emerge in the 2000s post-punk resurgence. Their stellar 2005 debut, Silent Alarm, slated them as one of the brightest newcomers to the indie music scene. What happened then? Continue reading

Happy Birthday, SHH!

19 Aug

I can hardly believe it, but the Self-Hating Hipster has been up and running for a year now. It seems like just last week Continue reading

Baumgarten – Love Rock Revolution: K Records and the Rise of Independent Music

16 Aug

Love Rock Revolution: K Records and the Rise of Independent Music by Mark Baumgarten (2012)

Some Velvet Sidewalk’s Al Larsen coined the term “love rock” in his music manifesto: “When Sonic Youth do ‘Kool Thing’ they are love rock.  Or when Beat Happening trade roles, singer to guitarist to drummer.  When Nation of Ulysses makes an absolute sincere mess or when the Melvins Continue reading

Purity Ring – Shrines

14 Aug

Purity Ring is the Montreal-based duo of Megan James and Corin Roddick. Since forming in 2010 they released four singles prior to their debut, Shrines. The first, “Ungirthed,” garnered them some deserved attention in early 2011 while Purity Ring was still a relative internet unknown Continue reading

Real Estate at Mass MoCA (8/9/2012)

10 Aug

Real Estate played to a near full house last night at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, familiar to the New England art world as Mass MoCA. The museum’s Hunter Center is a sparse yet intimate venue Continue reading

Glacial – On Jones Beach

8 Aug

Glacial is an impressively eclectic trio: Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo on guitar, The Necks’ Tony Buck on drums and Highland Bagpipes’ contributor David Watson on, well, bagpipes.  The fact that this album is one 48-minute track, it’s an instrumental and bagpipes are involved might immediately sound like a kitschy experiment Continue reading

RIP Bill Doss

2 Aug

Yesterday Bill Doss passed away at the age of 43.  Doss was a co-founder of The Elephant Six Recording Company which championed the American neo-psychedelic resurgence in bands like The Apples in Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, Of Montreal and Doss’ own band, The Olivia Tremor Control.  Doss is mourned Continue reading

An Interview with Sharon Van Etten: The Self-Hating Hipster’s Heart Melts a Bit

1 Aug

About four weeks ago I learned that National Public Radio darling Sharon Van Etten was going to be playing at The Egg in Albany.  That same night I discovered that she was opening for Conor Oberst and tickets were already sold out, an epic bummer as her newest album, Tramp, is Continue reading