Hi all. This should be the last week I'm harried by the prospect of finishing a mix tape early in the evening due to Sunday-night obligations. Also, it might be one of the last mix tapes I ever post, because these things take too long to compile and quite frankly I feel like I'm wasting [...]

If anyone is keeping tabs (and I doubt that anyone is), the effect that the mid-90s DC indie scene had on me is probably pretty obvious . Artists from Simple Machines, Dischord, and Teenbeat find their way onto the monthly mixes from time to time; besides having played a significant role in my life (often literally), much of that period sounds as relevant today as it did then. Teenbeat records was one of my absolute favorites. I was borderline obsessed with their NYC-based offering, Versus, and loved exploring music pre-internets via their affordable priced [...]

Photos by Mila Matveeva Buke and Gase played a late and packed show at the Mercury Lounge two Fridays ago. Arone Dyer and Aron Sanchez slaughtered through their recently released Function Falls EP, as well as handfuls of crowd-pleasers from their full-length debut Riposte , which, since being released in 2010, was already inspiring requests by name. The Brooklyn duo does not disappoint live. If you don't know, they play modified instruments (including their own percussion) of the "buke", a baritone ukele, and [...]
Long-running indie-pop conceptualists +/- (or, if you prefer, {Plus/Minus}) released their debut album, helpfully titled Self-Titled Long-Playing Debut Album , in February 2001. They're a little late on celebrating its 10th-anniversary festivities, but they recently threw the album a little party by uploading a video of themselves doing a tight live-in-studio rendition of the album track "The Industrial Revolution." Watch it below. Read More...
Long-running indie-pop conceptualists +/- (or, if you prefer, {Plus/Minus}) released their debut album, helpfully titled Self-Titled Long-Playing Debut Album , in February 2001. They're a little late on celebrating its 10th-anniversary festivities, but they recently threw the album a little party by uploading a video of themselves doing a tight live-in-studio rendition of the album track "The Industrial Revolution." Watch it below. Read More...
Happy Leap Day, everyone! As you all know, leap day is the extra special bonus day we get every four years at the end of February, and where ( as 30 Rock shows us ) the gilled & mustachioed Leap Day William emerges from his home at the bottom of the Mariana Trench to trade children's tears for candy. It was, of course, immortalized in the Jim Carrey film Leap Dave Williams (which is showing all day today on the USA network), where uptight lawyer Dave Williams turns into the real Leap Day William (classic line: "I definitely don't [...]
Tutto quello che potrete mai desiderare di sapere sugli anni bisestili, in una comoda infografica. Aneddoti da conversazione a go go per le vostre cene dei prossimi 5 giorni. BONUS: MP3 +/- - Leap Year
Did you know that Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving more than a month before we do? Gosh, that's efficient, although since they hold it on a Monday, I wonder if they do Black Tuesday. But enough of my comical ugly Americanism for a minute; there was a point I was working towards... Oh yes! Straight outta Montreal, [...]
For the past 13 years, the Truck Festival has been the UK’s low-key alternative to conglomerates like Glastonbury, and with the United State’s own festival scene close to reaching over saturation , the American version of Truck seeks to do the same. The second installment of Truck America is being held from September 9-11 at the Big Indian campground just two-and-half-hours north of New York City, and the lineup for this year’s shindig looks quite different from most other major U.S. fests. Headlining the festivities are The [...]
GeoDanzy - Plus Minus Style: Deep Tech House
80 mins : 36 secs | 46.1 mb Kanye West "Power" ( roc-a-fella records ) My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy [ amazon ] website | myspace | facebook Childish Gambino "I'm On It" ( independent release ) Culdesac [ free download ] website | myspace | facebook Ice Cube "She Couldn't Make It On Her Own" ( lench mob [...]
Official Website MySpace Facebook Twitter One of my biggest pleasure when Fall comes a knockin' is not the slow descent into cold weather or when everything seems to be turning into the color grey when all the leaves dies out, it's the return of the CMJ Music Marathon, the last BIG music festival of the year where college music is [...]

After spotlighting Gold Motel this summer I've been eager to check out one of their shows so I made sure I was there for their early slot on Day 3 of Champaign-Urbana's Pygmalion Music Festival . The band's folsky retro chamber pop goes is abundantly fun and light-hearted on record and live even more-so. The group is led by former Hush Sound keyboardist/vocalist Greta Morgan who is an energetic, charming presence on stage, and while she takes most of the spotlight her guy backing band in matching duds (it's like an inverted Jens Lekman). The band mixed songs [...]

The last time +/- {plus/minus} updated their blog was on my birthday, Jan 3. The last time I saw some of the band members' previous outfit, Versus, live was Jan 3 some years ago. Isn't that a pointless, delightful little coincidence that absolutely no one cares about but me? On the subject of object attachment, I recently read research that has found that people-duh-attach special significance to the number of their birthday. But I would argue that there's no bias here; 3 is clearly the best number. +/- {plus/minus} just released a CD of previously [...]

By Jon Stone | @jwstone Tonight Pygmalion wraps up. It's been an interesting and eclectic festival and I've had a great time. Yesterday, that eclecticism reached its full potential as nearly every act I saw differed significantly from the last. Here's a quick recap: Colour Revolt - I got to Canopy Club last night right at the tale end of Gold Motel's set. I was sorry to miss them. Colour Revolt was great though - despite some sound difficulties; I dug their set. They do a [...]
Here are our top five bands you shouldn't miss if you still want to keep your hipster card. More like it: BRIANA'S BUZZ BLOG: Bands To Watch Bay Area bands battle for Footstock Festival THE LO DOWN: Outside Lands Festival Day 2 - Bands you need to know

wapow! Unlike most people I know, my heart stops jumping hurdles when change comes around. Sure, familiarity is a warm blanket but as soon as I spot a crumb of deja-vu in my life it's as if someone punched me in the stomach. I can't deal without jumbling up the pieces, like a chess player who knows their queen is going to die so they wipe the board onto the floor. Comfortable drives me insane; I'd sooner give my future a sucker punch rather than let it take me somewhere, just so I can assert my hand in [...]

When I started this site, one of my goals was to define what 'indie music' is. After listening to many a song from the pool of what popular culture defines as 'indie', I've come to realize that though you can't really sum up 'indie music' in terms of musical style, you can however, spot the 'indie-ness' of a certain song / band by some tell tale signs. For this week, we've got a list of indie trademarks culled from hundreds of hours of music surfing and an odd number of family and friends commenting on what the heck I've been [...]

Oh my are we getting snow here or what? Lots of it is falling, more on the way and I'm out in it all day today, ugh. So, comfort yourselves in the knowledge that you work in cozy little office cubicles or at home, you lucky little drones. I've been slaving away on a mixtape which you will soon find over on the pages of Slowcoustic , a fantastic blog by the wonderful Sandy! So, I'm exhausted and not entirely ready for all this nasty weather, but I'm still thinking of you, darlings and thank you for stopping by! [...]
Somehow it's November already. Enjoy it, fast. Matt Shogi “This Charming Man” (The Smiths) from An 8bit Tribute To The Smiths The Depreciation Guild “Butterfly Kisses” from In Her Gentle Jaws +/- “Steal The Blueprints” from Let’s Build A Fire Echo & The Bunnymen “I Think I Need It Too” from The Fountain The Action “Something To Say” from Rolled Gold [...]