As you know by now, we at NPR Music sent out a series of questions to people in the music, arts and entertainment communities. We wanted to get a sense of people's thoughts and feelings pertaining to the last decade in music, and what their thoughts were about the future. One question we asked was: What is the one song, movement or artist that sums up the decade for you, and why? Our respondents had a variety of answers, from Kanye West to M.I.A. to Beirut. Please add your [...]
As you know by now, we at NPR Music sent out a series of questions to people in the music, arts and entertainment communities. We wanted to get a sense of people's thoughts and feelings pertaining to the last decade in music, and what their thoughts were about the future. One question we asked was: What is the one song, movement or artist that sums up the decade for you, and why? Our respondents had a variety of answers, from Kanye West to M.I.A. to Beirut. Please add your [...]
Wilco are fucking pirates The flurry of November tour announcements continues... Dinosaur Jr have just revealed the details of their sideshows for when they are here in March for Golden Plains . Thursday, March 4: Corner Hotel, Melbourne Wednesday, March 10: Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay Thursday, March 11: Metro Theatre, Sydney Friday, March 12: Perth - Rosemount Hotel, Perth Saturday, March 13: Fowlers Live, Adelaide Sunday, March 14: Moorilla, Hobart No word yet on when tickets will be going on sale. [...]
I love driving on the open road. Convertible top down. Wind blowing through my hair . . .er . . . scalp. Whatever. Wind blowing against me, chilling my skin, making me feel alive. With that in mind, I think you can agree that the antithesis of the joyful, freedom abandon of the open road, is being stuck in traffic. And I mean, bumper-to-bumper, flipping-off-the-jerk-who-just -cut-me-off, traffic. So with that thought, today in the Ripple player, I'm only spinning discs that can make anytime on the road a little more joyful and [...]
Sun drenched French girls wont relate to frozen girls from northern states but they might elate when they hear that Zdar's producing The Rapture of New York State. Whoo! Alright, lets fall apart and...forget all about my shitty attempts at rhyme... So anyways, it looks like the new Rapture album is being produced by Cassius. Or at least half of; Philippe Zdar . Zdar told Pedestrian recently, "They came to me and said, 'we loved the Phoenix album and we want to do some new music...will you be able to [...]
It's November, middle of autumn, and a time of nostalgia, especially as this year marks the end of the first decade of the 21st Century. The last ten years have been awfully good for music fans. And I didn't start properly taking an interest in music until at the earliest 2003. Shame on me. But retrospect is a good thing and its been the last few years where I've looked back at some of the best albums that I've been able to pick the ones that I have for each year. It's nothing to do with what was popular, critically [...]
Gothenburg, Sweden is responsible for this latest charge of spirited orchestral pop and oral succulence. Sambassadeur are close to releasing their album `European` through the fabulous Stockholm label Labrador , holding the roster to some of Sweden`s most interesting and diverse artists. Introducing an epic arrangement of lively strings colluding with pop-infused euro-percussion, vocally formed into The Primitives meets Sinead O`Connor over bottles of Bourgeois in a cafe basement somewhere in Northern France. "It's equal parts orchestrated pop perfection and earthy 70's folk. It sounds a bit like it's been performed barefoot under crystal [...]
Whether you want to admit it or not New Jersey bands tend to fit a particular sound for the most part, luckily The Black Hollies give the Garden State some diversity when it comes to rock n' roll. The Jersey City quaret have just released their 3rd LP Softly Towards the Light , out on Ernest Jenning Recordings and is already picking up steam. Justin Angelo Morey, singer and bassist of The Black Hollies was nice enough to answer some questions for us regarding their new record, touring and the history of the group. [...]
Rock 'n' roll and political protests have gone hand in hand since the dawn of the genre. From the Beatles' "Revolution" to Muse's The Resistance , artists have always found ways to point out society's problems and give a voice to the people being affected. Many of these songs are either a call to somewhat violent change (Rage Against The Machine) or a movement of peace ("Imagine" by John Lennon). However, U2 was one of the first groups to combine the two beliefs into an idea of aggressive pacifism. This idea culminated in the creation [...]
It's been one of those oft-mentioned rollercoaster years for indie darlings White Lies . Their epic, dark debut To Lose My Life kept the Gaga juggernaut off the number one spot in the UK in January, meaning they've very quickly become the current designated Great White Hopes (pun intended) of the British rock world.The band will be Heineken Green Spheres gigs on the 9th of December in The Academy, Dublin and the 10th of December in The Opera House, Cork with support from Neon Indian and the Kissaway Trail (Get free tickets from [...]
Looks like Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights spent part of the Halloween weekend up in Stillwater, Oklahoma, playing for the college at Oklahoma State University and, apparently, mini-Super... Continue reading "Watch: Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights Take Stillwater To The Devil's Basement" >
Story by Michael McGregor Photography by John Francis Peters It all began at Santos Party House, a tricked out Honda Civic of a venue owned by Andrew W.K. and located in the heart of the downtown bottle service scene. Though nine-dollar drinks are common, mescaline ballads are not. Mostly glitz, bass and neon, Santos isn't Ganglians' home in any sense of the word. But apparently no one told Ryan Grubbs that. "We're back… from the beyond," the leader/frontman of the Ganglians race proclaimed before launching into a relentless set of Kesey-infused MC5 jams. [...]
Like New Year's Eve , Halloween is another holiday that a lot of bands choose to celebrate in style. There's just something about mixing the live concert experience with all the fun and choas of Halloween that really brings out the freaks. While most bands typically play into the Halloween vibe in some way, touring bands often approach Halloween as an opportunity to really create a unique live music event. Just as we did with our New Year's Eve concert round-up , we've compiled a list of Halloween concerts that will be going on this weekend (see below [...]
The Reik is, in essence, the Web of Oaths that binds the Folk together in vor tru (our faith); as much as it is a "church", it is also a systematic tether, which binds those of our Thiud together as a tribe of inter-dependant clans and rooftrees. Normandy clings to the values and principles of retro-tribalism and takes the cultural context and tribal dynamics of our ancestors and works them into a modern expression. It is not for the timid, it is not an easy path, but it is Vor Normannitas, Our Own Normanness, and therefore worth [...]
You might have heard of the Spam Allstars if you frequent music festivals. You might have heard of them if you like to dance at bars. You might have heard of them if you're into jazz. Really, you might have heard of them if you like a primo jam blend of jazzy Latin beats and funkadelic synths. The Spam Allstars have been delivering a unique neo-tropical funk sound for over ten years, taking their hip-spiking show to the four corners of the world and [...]
OUTDOOR (ELEFANT) STAGE: COLA JET SET, THE SCHOOL, NICK GARRIE, LUCKY SOUL, BMX BANDITS, STEREO TOTAL, COOPER, TEENAGE FANCLUB INDOOR STAGE: BONNE IDEE, ZIPPER, EUX AUTRES, NORTHERN PORTRAIT, THE SMITTENS, POCKETBOOKS, DISASTERADIO, HELP STAMP OUT LONELINESS, ART BRUT CHURCH STAGE: THE UNDERSTANDING, HELENE, THE MARSHMALLOW, LE MAN AVEC LE LUNETTES, COUNTRYSIDE, HONK KONG IN THE 60s, STE MCCABE, THE PETE GREEN CORPORATE JUGGERNAUTE, GORDON MCINTYRE TRAINS: THE MANHATTAN LOVE SUICIDES, MJ HIBBETT, KING OF CATS, MOUSTACHE OF INSANITY Pioverà. E' una certezza fin dal primo sguardo, appena svegli, [...]
Everyone's favorite Hasidic Jewish reggae-rapper, Matisyahu , is touring heavy this Fall and will once again be hosting his "Festival of Light" Chanukah celebration this December. The eight-night run will include four shows each at Webster Hall and at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, with a different opening act featured each night, including: Glitch Mob, RANA, Dub Trio, John Brown's Body, Brothers Past, Kid Koala and Travis McCoy (Gym Class Heroes). You can grab a sample tune off of his latest album Light from this little widget: [...]
CHIMAIRA PREPARES TO KICK OFF FALL/WINTER TOUR WITH TRIVIUM, WHITECHAPEL AND DIRGE WITHIN GUITARIST ROB ARNOLD WEIGHS IN ON THE UPCOMING TOUR Fresh off their European headlining tour, CHIMAIRA are ready to decimate the US this fall and winter on tour with Trivium! The brutal tour also features heavy hitters Whitechapel and Dirge Within. CHIMAIRA hits the road this fall, kicking off the tour October 29 in Atlanta, GA. Guitarist Rob Arnold commented on the upcoming run with Trivium: "After an incredibly successful headlining tour of Europe, the gears are oiled and in motion, [...]
In the second half of my interview with Brakesbrakesbrakes 's singer/guitarist Eamon Hamilton and bassist Marc Beatty , they talk to me about their new live album and tell me about their "hometown" of Brighton, England. To catch up on part 1 of this interview, click here . Mary Chang, PopWreckoning : "Don't Take Me to Space (Man)" is a great song, loved it the first time I heard it on Steve Lamacq 's 6music programme. As a writer [...]
I've been a devoted collector of all the fine, fine, superfine commemorative state quarters, issued five a year for 10 years from 1999-2008, especially up through the 2005 quarters when anybody--school kids, pancake-house artists, lunatics--could still submit design proposals. From 2006 on it looks as if the Mint decided they'd had enough, because after that the only designs considered were the ones the Mint came up with themselves. No more 26 amateur designs, like Florida! (And even then, look what they ended up with.) I have written about the state quarters here [...]
WKND PLYLST!! This has nothing to do with NEW MOON!
Vampire Weekend - Cousins
‘09 Been Kind
Bobby B's Top 50 Albums Of The Decade (#25-21)
HOT CHIP TAKE another crack at IT and I’m IN
