Tagged: musiclinks

I can't even pretend to offer a comprehensive list anymore. When I was a newspaper music critic, I tried to keep up with most everything. But life gets in the way, and these days I find myself much less willing to give things a chance. Hook me immediately or be ...

As I have read through Howard Sounes' excellent Bob Dylan biography, Down the Highway, I have found myself compelled to listen to and explore all facets of Dylan's catalog. Easy enough (and pleasant enough) to do with the canon, and certainly so with his more recent work, but what about ...

I've always admired Tim Finn's music, usually more than I've actually wanted to listen to it. Loved his work with Split Enz, thought his contributions to Crowded House gave the band a needed shot of variety at the right time, and his work with Neil in the Finn Brothers is ...

Talking with a friend about the new Jayhawks album, Mockingbird Time, we lamented that while it sounded good - and certainly like a Jayhawks record should - the songs weren't memorable. It has surface appeal, but it lacked the depth that would make either of us pull it off the ...

It long has been fashionable among rock snobs to declare that R.E.M.'s period of relevance ended somewhere around 19872s Document; a charitable few give the band a few more years, declaring it was Bill Berry's departure in 1996. Anyone who compares the five albums the band made after his exit with ...

well... as you may have noticed I haven't been on here in a long time,... I genuinely don't really know or have ever known how many people read my website... so hello all 6 of you, that I know from when I was 19. hi again. hmmm.. ok let's start with this.. I haven't completely given up. I just have been traveling for work and working to travel... that I really haven't been able to put anything up here. and it's also been nice not to [...]

A few music items that caught my eye. 1. Seattle's The Head & The Heart released one of my favorite records last year and now that they're signed with Sub Pop it seems like they're getting to do things like make music videos. Here's the latest for the stellar album opener, "Cats and Dogs." Seems like it's an abbreviated version from the album track, but it's still quite nice. My bad, I always forget that the transition from "Cats and Dogs" into "Coeur D'Alene" [...]

So this all started innocently enough. Most every day I post a "song of the day" on Blip.fm, and broadcast it to Twitter and Facebook. A couple of weeks ago, I posted a great live version of Matthew Ryan's "Guilty," the lead track on his first album. I wrote this: "SOTD: ...

The previous meeting of these two camps was billed as a fight: Antipop vs. Matthew Shipp. Perhaps that was a statement about the times, though by that point jazz and hip hop already had met, circled each other warily and eventually shaken hands. Or, more likely, it was marketing; check ...

listening to the 25th anniversary reissue of R.E.M.'s Lifes Rich Pageant didn't spark the kind of nostalgia I perhaps expected, and if I think about it, that's not a surprise. Nostalgia comes from remembering the past. But with Lifes Rich Pageant, I've never allowed it to gather dust, to fall out ...

CONTEST: I have two copies of Everyone Loves You When You're Dead to give away. To enter, leave a comment with the name of your favorite rock writer or favorite profile of an artist, and let us know why. I'll draw two names at random on July 8. Before reading Everyone ...

R. Stevie Moore, who has recorded and released a reported 400 albums on his own and through very small, boutique labels, had never toured before the current schedule of dates that took him across the U.S. this summer. Knowing little more than Moore's name and that he was a quirky artist ...

It's funny; the term "singer-songwriter" is casually tossed around to indicate a certain sound, as if a guy singing his own songs sounds just like another doing the same thing. I've been guilty as much as anyone, falling back on the shorthand when searching for a way to describe something. ...

Having driven four hours to see them last time, undertaking a one-hour jaunt to catch the Baseball Project was a no-brainer. That first show was so good, it still ranks among my favorite shows two years later. Last night, the Baseball Project added another show to that list. Improbable as it ...

hey guys.. a fun little contest from our friends over at SNAGOLA . look at the picture below (click to make bigger).. PUNK_MUSIC_QUIZ tell me the records featured below and whomever has the most correct by 06/10 wins. Easy, right? prizes: 1st prize: a limited edition skate deck designed for the 2011 Warped Tour 2nd prizes: 5 Snagola t-shirts thanks to Snagola, go over to their site now HERE or add them on FB HERE . email [...]

Back when we were dating, I wooed my wife with occasional mixtapes (yes, I'm that old). On an early one, I included (perhaps even began with) Freedy Johnston's "Two Lovers Stop." I did so because it's a great song, a driving little pop number that was among the most accessible ...

hey all.. just a quick posting about some things I like before I head to my trip.. some links to my new favorite record: and check out the new This Will Destroy You song below: 07 Black Dunes by GirlieAction I am going to Lima / Macchu Picchu in ten days. whoa. thanks.

• GirlieAction - Black Dunes

OK, so good intentions and all that. I had planned to offer a daily blow-by-blow of the Mission Creek Festival, and here it is a week after it got done, and I've yet to make good on the promise. Here's what happened: life got in the way. The busiest week ...

With Guided by Voices as the top-billed act, you know it's a lock that I'm going to be all over the Mission Creek Festival. Starting tonight and running through next Monday, the festival brings dozens of music acts and authors to town for eight big nights of rockin' and reading. In ...

hey guys... the handsome guys over at Lovitt have two new great records coming out. check them out below.. then go see them live. New Records: Des Ark – Don't Rock The Boat, Sink The Fucker 8 Songs Pygmy Lush – Old Friends and 2 Song 7" (both on Lovitt) 12 Songs 2 Song 7" check out a song below http://soundcloud.com/communio n5/yellow-hall/s-RPvfA Tour Dates: March 4 – Baltimore, MD at Charm City March [...]