At what point does a phenomenon cease being an annual 'big show' and start being regarded as a cultural staple? Granted, there is no shortage of rock n' roll festivals on the North American summer calendar but, since it launched fifteen years ago, the Vans...
Regina Spektor’s latest release is undoubtedly a testament to her limitless creativity. Her fifth full-length studio album to date, Far is an absolute thrilling 13-track voyage through the inexhaustible psyche of one of the most imaginative and versatile...
At some point in life – whether it's intentional or not – everyone begins to subscribe to British utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill's Greatest Happiness Principle. While it is true that some people find joy in the rigmarole of trivial...
Side projects are strange creatures. When you really think about it, most people pick up instruments and form bands in the first place because they have something they want to say – some sort of personal thing that they want to get out of themselves and maybe...
Before Steven Spielberg’s life became consumed with oversized battle bots and nuking fridges, he was part of a modest little enterprise known as Indiana Jones. There was without fail in every film a shot of a map with a little red line scraping across the...
I like bands who experiment, expand, who are always trying something new. My favorite artists—David Bowie, Talking Heads, King Crimson, the Beatles, the Who—did this; every album presented something new, took a step in a new direction. At the opposite...
Maybe I'm just simple, but it never occurred to me that Franz Ferdinand might have even one reggae-infused bone in its bandmembers' collective body. No really—did anyone know? The band has always (at least in my mind) been perceived as a slightly new...
San Diego's The Black Heart Procession will be releasing their new album, Six, on Oct. 6th. Their first new work since 2006's The Spell, Six returns to the naming conventions of their first three albums, but is BHP's premier effort on Temporary Residence,...
Anyone that has been following Alexisonfire over the last seven years knew it was time for the band to make some changes. The band's self-titled debut and Watch Out! established the band as the kings of Canadian screamo – there's no arguing or debating...
Andrew Bird is preparing to hit the road next week, serenading Conan O'Brien and the TV viewing public on July 7th before embarking on a summer tour that will see him supporting the likes of such indie rock stalwarts as Death Cab for Cutie and The Decemberists, as...