Chicago – Post-hardcore is not for everyone. The average fanbase lies between pre-teen through early 20s. Some brush it off as bad music, without taking the time to understand its culture. As a teacher, I can tell you that many of my students eat, sleep, and breathe every aspect post-hardcore, from the music and clothes,
Portland – Dub Thompson seems to be a band that does what it wants. Members Matt Pulos (guitar and vocals) and Evan Laffer (drums) are two nineteen year old dudes who met in their Agoura Hills high school gym class, bonded over a love of Can and Talking Heads (because we all listened to Can
New York – Reuben And The Dark is a troop of four Canadian-bred multi-instrumentalists lead by Rueben Bollock. The band released their first album, Funeral Sky, in late May, and the LP is such a successful introduction that it’s hard to believe it surfaced as a debut. Brimming with boisterous confidence, the album is a downright
San Francisco – In high school, I remember a few friends of mine and I had this crazy notion that we should start a band. We failed, of course, but I couldn’t help thinking that other people must feel the same way. The fresh-faced lads of the UK’s newest experimental posse, Glass Animals, have taken
Los Angeles —What is the meaning of life? How do we survive loneliness and loss? Why is happiness so fleeting? The human condition is a theme that artists have studied for centuries, but it is rare to find one who can successfully explore existence in a way that is elegantly simple and profound — Redvers
Chicago – I said it before, and I’ll say it again: 2014 is the year of The Orwells! Soon everyone and their mom will know who they are thanks to their sophomore album Disgraceland, with a plethora of influences from 90s rock to flower folk. Disgraceland is “new old school” and will no doubt expose another generation of kids
Portland – Last March Parquet Courts cheekily posted a list on their blog that catalogued the myriad references to them as “slackers” in the press. Fifty-two entries in all, the quotes range from endearing (“the sort of bed-headed slackers you’d meet at a 90’s college party”) to paradoxical (“Brown and Savage might be slackers by
San Francisco – Not every day is a good day. Sometimes, there are unpleasant experiences that can gnaw at us, like being late in line at the post office or persistent nausea on the bus. Though they are often quite temporary, these mild instances of discomfort can feel like the world is ending. Yet these
Chicago – The story goes like this: Nathan Quiroga and Benjamin Verdoes were both looking for something more. More than what their bands – Mad Rads and Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Bands – could provide. More depth. More growth. More of a challenge. So these Seattle musicians challenged each other and collaborated for three long
Nashville – On his first ever solo album, Folk Singer, Vol. 1, Willie Watson plays ten recycled tunes. They are stripped down and vulnerable, naked as the day they were born. He’s reviving the roots from which the modern folk movement has blossomed. At a time when traditional instruments and music have morphed beyond recognition (e.g.,