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, Sufjan Stevens and CocoRosie; one listen to those artists reveals that none of them really has anything in common with the others, it's just convenient to stick them all in the same spot. Falling into the generic 'give it...

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 likes of Flight Of The Conchords – but there was a time when the label was very much a working class outfit that helped bands like Soundgarden, The Fluid, Green River, Screaming Trees and 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 called on you?” It's a simple but effective question and, immediately after asking, Murphy and Wintersleep launch into a snaking, doleful and beguiling mid-tempo rocker that listeners will just be able to feel in them from balls to bones. With strings added...

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 and deductive reasoning but there are instances, like learning of and hearing Avi Buffalo's self-titled debut LP, when anyone looking or listening can see and hear that it's true. A few things that those uninitiated to...

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, separated from the creative process that shaped the songs and with no direct personal connection to the individuals performing – have the ability to take in the music and find a personal connection...

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 Social Scene as an established brand unto itself. That being the case, it's also safe to ask how it happened that the group came into its position at the top of the Canadian New Rock heap. It's...

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, beer-soaked, metal-infused sweat box. Evidence is provided with the following grip of pictures. Cannibal Corpse photo gallery from Slim's – 5/5/10 After wrapping up the current leg of their tour this weekend in Florida, Cannibal Corpse will head over...

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 first appearance in 2005, A Healthy Distrust was a work of anger; that anger was impossible to miss in songs like “The Buzz Kill,” “Gunz Yo,” “Ground Control,” “Escape Artist” and lines like, “Once a man, twice a...

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 an enduring appeal. Judas Priest's British Steel is that kind of record; over the last couple of years, the members of Judas Priest have begun to re-examine the record at length – last...

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 and make it her own. Those are the sorts of moments that tend to make critics feel a little funny in the pants and (as was the case...