Tagged: renipapananias

I have to admit: I knew very little about Kaki King before I heard about this project. I knew that she was a classical guitar virtuoso, that one of my best friends in this entire world is mildly obsessed with her and, vaguely, I'm pretty sure I knew about her sexual proclivities, which is neither here nor there. However, when PopWreckoning's very own Reni Papananias told me that she was working on a piece for Kaki's Guitar Art project, I was forced to do my homework... mostly because Reni and I are [...]

The City and Colour show at the Bowery Ballroom on January 13th confirmed for me what I have been thinking for a while now: Canada rules. I even considered keeping my review of the show brief. " Dallas Green is my God," which pretty much sums it up, but then I thought you deserved a little more because I really want you to check this guy out, if you haven't already. As you may know, the Bowery Ballroom is a small, dark cave of a venue, which suited City and Colour, the side project of Dallas Green [...]

I have many fond memories of the last time I was in Greece. It may have been 12 years ago, but I can still smell the crusty sea salt and cigarettes on my grandfather's denim shirt. I can still feel the dry, hot, heat warm my body as I took a siesta on the cool marble floor of my aunt's apartment, and unfortunately I can still hear the candied disco-pop soundtrack that I lived by that summer, bouncing off the stucco rose-wrapped walls of the home my father knew as a child. At 18, I [...]

The November 11, 2008 release of Secrets are Sinister marks the end of a bittersweet three-year hiatus for Brooklyn's own Longwave and the beginning of a somewhat new start for the band. In a phone interview from the road in Portland, Oregon, lead singer Steve Schiltz , answered my questions about life on the road, the making of Secrets are Sinister , and the one thing every fan needs to know about this band. Toying with mainstream success for sometime now, working with mega-producers Dave Friedman and [...]

As a relatively new fan of the Brazilian electro-pop quintet CSS , I had few expectations for what kind of a live show they might put on. I mean, I've been to enough shows by now and lived in New York for long enough that well, how crazy could a bunch of art school rockers really get? Well, you can imagine my surprise by what turned out to be a riotous, naked, drunken, eccentric electro-party punk circus from outer space that bounced hard enough that the rickety wooden floors of Webster Hall felt as if they just might buckle [...]

Printed in various incarnations in almost every article written on the fledgling band and self-professed on the band's official MySpace page, the making of Little Joy and their self-titled debut is headed toward folklore status. What appears to be the product of good friends, good times and good fortune, Little Joy feels as effortless and charmed as its conception. The story goes something like this: Once upon a time there was a Portuguese music festival in Lisbon where Fabrizio Moretti was playing with his other little band, The Strokes . Rodrigo Amarante , [...]

Ok, admit it. Hands in the air where I can see them. I'm not afraid to say it. "Hi, my name is Reni, and I'm here because I like pop music." As much as I dig being a dark horse and rocking out to weighty Scandinavian metal, I'd be fibbing if I didn't concede here. You know who else isn't afraid to admit it? Jersey native Val Emmich . That's who. He's throwing his hands up too, and makes no excuses for his music. In fact, he makes a pretty darn good argument for the sake of all things [...]

Honestly, I am kicking myself that it took me so long to sit down and listen to this fantastic album. Why did I wait so long, you ask? A little bit of life getting in the way, and a little bit of unfounded assumption, I had never heard of Joseph Arthur or the Lonely Astronauts for that matter. When I finally tackled this one on an Amtrak train on my way up to Montreal for the weekend, I hung my head in shame, as the latest effort from this prolific artist is worth more than the [...]

Let there be no mistake, this Brooklyn band has come into their own on their fourth full-length studio release, Secrets are Sinister . While the lineup and label representation may have shifted over the years, original members Steve Shiltz and Shannon Ferguson have continued to experiment with the band's sound and identity. On their latest effort, Longwave has once again enlisted the talents of Peter Katis ( Interpol , The National , Spoon ), among other big time producers, to create an ambitious, self-assured and prodigious album, and without [...]

The latest effort from Emilíana Torrini distinguishes itself from fellow Icelandic contemporaries by presenting straightforward folk-pop pleasures. With seven albums under her belt, most notably 1999's Love in the Time of Science , produced by Roland Orzabal from Tears for Fears , a song on The Lord of the Rings soundtrack, collaborations with Kylie Minogue , Thievery Corporation , and Paul Oakenfold , as well as several Icelandic Music Award nominations to her credit, Torrini is no freshman in this business, yet she remains relatively unknown in the U.S. [...]

• Emiliana Torrini - MeAndArmini_edit