Awright Junky, Yeahyeahyeah, I know whatcher thinkin'. My bag o' SWAG is a little lighta dis week right? Yeah, I heardja, but ya know what? What I missed out in quantity, I made up for in quality – le's get inta da SWAG Report. Once agin dis week, I...
Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, has entered into a historic new record deal with American legend and innovator Willie Nelson. The deal marks a label homecoming for Nelson, who, from 1975-1993, cut a phenomenal string of top-selling...
It’s difficult to judge Lana Del Rey’s record without addressing the media hype that has surrounded her for the past six months. If you haven't heard, just type her name into Google; you’ll find blogger backlash about her image change, a highly...
If there’s a canon of musicians who craft music driven by experimentations in sound – Dirty Projectors, Animal Collective, Tune-Yards – it would only make sense to add Gotye to that list. Gotye (pronounced “gore-ti-yeah,” or...
It has never been analyzed too deeply before, but the fact is that all of the great collaborative rock bands and albums start out as loose, fun affairs which only become serious later – after the players who came together to contribute to the project discovered...
As has been the case every other time Leonard Cohen has released a new album since 1969, the first question which really begs asking when one examines Old Ideas is how much rhetoric inspired it, how much rhetoric was required to produce it, how much wry wit has been...
Now about eighteen years after bands like Green Day, NOFX and Rancid broke through into the mainstream, punk rock has changed in some most peculiar ways. After the great renaissance happened in 1994, it didn't take long for other young, hopeful bands to formalize...
It might not sound like it should make sense initially, but sometimes the flaws in a record's presentation can actually enrich the experience of hearing it. Believe me when I say that such an inference is only that – an inference – and not not an...
My understanding of Snow Patrol is perhaps best summed up by a scene from the mediocre comedy Hall Pass. Owen Wilson, whose character is free to cheat on his wife, visits a coffee shop to hit on a sexy barista. He complements the music, which she explains is Snow...
I missed the first song of Real Estate’s show – and it was awkward. I gauged time badly and arrived approximately ten minutes into the band's set and quickly made my way to the front to appreciate the second half of “Municipality.” When I...