What makes great music? Tough question, I know. So maybe it's better to ask, "Why do we listen to music?" What does music have to offer? Well, that is going to vary from person to person, but I think most people can agree that good music does something to you. It changes your mood. It takes you from point A to point B. It has the power to liberate you. It empowers. 

In order to do that, one first must...

Hesitation Marks is Nine Inch Nails' first CD in five years and, on it, Trent Reznor doesn't sound fully convinced that making it was the right move, either for himself or his audience. The very first words on the CD are "I am just a copy of a copy of a copy/ everything I say has been said before" ("Copy of A"). Why bother? he seems to be asking, “I'm just going to give you more of the same.” On...

Hey Junky,Awright, I'm onna run ta-day, so there's not gonna be any goofin' around lik ther wis las'week. In out'n done, wham-bam-inna-vein-an' yer good, here it is. I grabbed some good, good stuff fer youse dis week junky, like a new tune from Earthless (ya know – da stoner-rock band J Mascis does, like he doesn'got enough ta do awready), a new tune by XNY which's pretty fuckin' awesome, two songs thit I boosted offa Justin Wong, a repeat from...

While the release of a double album always marks a special achievement in any band's career, it also needs to be understood that some special achievements are more impressive than others. As a case in point, one listen to Meet Me At The Edge Of The World (Over The Rhine's twelfth twelfth studio album since forming in 1991, and second double album after 2003's Ohio) reveals its quality quickly and without question. Spread over two discs (one intended to represent...

At a certain point, a band just has to get real when it comes time to make a new record. 'Getting real' just means being themselves; eventually, a band comes to realize that they don't have to be a dynamic force of nature or a spectacular phenomenon, they just have to remember what got them excited about making their own music in the first place, capture it on record and give it to fans. There's no particular timeline on which...

Depending on the day, it's very easy to love and very easy to hate the side project albums that members of well-known punk bands make. On the days when the average listener loves them, they'll appreciate the deliberate departures from their established comfort zones that artists make; sometimes it's fun to listen to Chuck Ragan get all folky or hear Chris Wollard take to the mic with the Ship Thieves. It can be fun, but none of that is really...

For some records, the quality of the songs on them is only part of their lasting appeal; the historical merit of the record coming along when it did is part of the story too, as is the personality of the band as it appeared at the moment the tape rolled. That all contributes to the make-up of a classic album but, more than that, there is something intangible about the music which causes it to continue standing out years after...

Since starting his Bootleg Series twenty-two years ago, Bob Dylan has proven that there is definitely lots of material left in the vaults which is worth hearing. There are demos, for example, of material from 1961 through 2006 which give indications of the songwriter's working process, and those have proven to be fascinating – as have the live performances which were not lost to the bulk tape erasers. The different facets of the Bootleg Series have all been very illuminating,...

It may have taken ten years for the band to really loosen up and allow itself to really feel the rhythm and possibilities in its music, but Franz Ferdinand has emerged as a new and finer outfit on Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action – their fourth studio album. The difference between this and every other album in the band's catalogue is apparent right away as “Right Action” swaggers out and opens the record; while they were never strangers to...

Good day my troubled brothers and sisters!I have had an awakening! An epiphany! I have seen the error of my ways – seen the light – and wanted to share the good word with you! Life is worth living, and the singer who showed me the way was Zacardi Cortez. I included his song here today as a tribute of enlightenment – it is big and bold and beautiful, and is action-packed with strains which will certainly soothe your much...