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
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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
Eamonn – Roger Waters at Fenway Park and Why I Don’t Like Live Music
2 Aug
I am a bit ashamed to say this, especially on this site, which is so thoughtful about its musical content, but the truth is I don’t enjoy going to see live music.
For me listening to music is a private endeavor. 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
Sharon Van Etten and Conor Oberst at The Egg (7/25/12)
26 Jul
Shortly after 8 o’clock last night Sharon Van Etten took the stage accompanied by Heather Woods Broderick in the Swyer Theatre at The Egg. She wore a simple but very flattering black dress and shyly said “Um, hello” into the microphone before slinging her bright red electric (yes, electric) guitar over her shoulder. Continue reading
Frank Ocean – channel ORANGE
24 JulThe long awaite
d solo effort from the silky-voiced Frank Ocean was big enough. Add to the fever his announcement/note/whatever it was that Frank once loved (like, love loved) another man changed this from a record release, to a seismic shift in macho hip-hop culture, not to mention giving his crew, Odd Future, a new air of legitimacy and complexity in the face of all their blatant gay-bashing.
Somehow, lost in all of this, was the record. Ocean’s first release “Novacaine” left many wanting more, including Jay-Z and Kanye West. Ocean would be tapped to sing the refrain on both “Made it in America,” and “No Church in the Wild” on the duo’s epic collaboration Watch the Throne. He would release two more singles, “Swim Good” and “Thinkin’ Bout You,” the latter being the lead track to his major label debut, Channel Orange. Continue reading
the self-hating hipster 