At this point, there's no debating that some sounds are impossible to easily qualify. That, presumably, is why some clever critic coined the term 'Freak Folk' – it's a handy catch-all term that holds artists as far flung as Devandra Banhart,...
About twenty years ago (before Nirvana blew up), Sub Pop was a very different label from what it is now. Since grunge exploded, things have changed a lot – now, the label specializes in very clean-cut, polished and poppy mainstream indie rock typified by the...
"What would you do,” asks Wintersleep singer Paul Murphy wryly as “Experience The Jewel” peels open New Inheritors and simultaneously compels everyone within earshot to jump into the palm of his hand. “What would you do if desperation...
There's an old French proverb that reads, “It's all very well in practice, but it will never work in theory.” Of course, hearing that or reading it makes the rational mind recoil for a minute because it flies in the face of precautionary principles...
What is it about a record that makes a listener feel it? I don't mean “feel it” like it makes you want to move, I mean “feel it” like it moves you. You – a third party observer totally detached from the events that inspired the music,...
Now that the band has managed to keep a consistent schedule of releases and touring for a decade, made an international name for itself and almost singe-handedly reignited interest in Canadian rock outside of domestic borders, it's safe enough to look on Broken...
Having hit the road earlier this year in support of their latest slab of death metal epic-ness, Evisceration Plague, Cannibal Corpse grinded into San Francisco last week and, along with 1349, Skeletonwitch, and Lecherous Nocturne, turned Slim's into a sold out,...
Those that have followed Sage Francis since the emcee first appeared on ANTI– Records with A Healthy Distrust in 2005 will recognize what they're hearing from the moment “Little Houdini” opens LI(F)E – it is the end of a thematic arc. Upon...
While the river of reissues pouring out of the major label music business is only swelling with time, some records just come with a fantastic story that would keep it selling well even if it hadn't been repackaged and re-placed on new release racks; they just have...
There are few things so delicious in pop than a singer that looks like your garden variety pop tart poppet but starts fires in your mind as soon as you hear her because she clearly has no faith in the “power of pop” and so tears it apart to suit her ends...