John Darnielle is a man of many interests. As the creative force behind indie mainstay the Mountain Goats, Darnielle has used his music to explore Continue Reading
Music Dose
ABBA's 'Super Trouper' at 40
Just what was the secret sauce that made the string of ABBA albums, from Arrival (1976) through to The Visitors (1981), so uniquely satisfying? Even Continue Reading
'Long Hot Summers' Is a Lavish, Long-Overdue Boxed Set from the Style Council
In 1982, Paul Weller committed what many fans considered an unforgivable sin. The Jam, the influential mod pop-punk trio he’d led as singer, guitarist, and Continue Reading
Ane Brun's 'After the Great Storm' Features Some of Her Best Songs
Seventeen years have passed since Ane Brun delivered her critically acclaimed debut album Spending Time with Morgan. On her latest outing, After the Great Storm, Continue Reading
Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll (excerpt)
Excerpt of Chapter Five from Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll by Maureen Mahon reprinted with permission by Duke University Press Continue Reading
Jefferson Starship Soar Again with 'Mother of the Sun'
This year has been a dark time for rock ‘n’ roll, with the coronavirus pandemic sidelining the live music industry. But rock music has long Continue Reading
Matthew Murphy's Post-Wombats Project Sounds a Lot Like the Wombats (And It's a Good Thing)
“I think self-depreciation is important in music; there is such an art to saying something really serious in a humorous way. I think Jarvis Cocker Continue Reading
The Return of the Rentals After Six Years Away
Matt Sharp, frontman, songwriter, and only permanent member of the Rentals, doesn’t release music very often. Q36 is the band’s fourth album over 25 years Continue Reading
John Hollenbeck Completes a Trilogy with 'Songs You Like a Lot'
In 2013 and 2015, drummer/composer/arranger John Hollenbeck released Songs I Like a Lot and Songs We Like a Lot, collaborations with the Frankfurt Radio Big Continue Reading
Johnny Nash Refused to Remember His Place
Of all the versions of “I Can See Clearly Now” that have been circulating since Johnny Nash died on 6 October, my favorite is the Continue Reading
Horrors in the Closet: Horrifying Heteronormative Scapegoating
Our previous installment of Dread Reckoning, “Horrors in the Closet: A Closet Full of Monsters” describes how, within the context of horror culture, the construction Continue Reading
Is Carl Neville's 'Eminent Domain' Worth the Effort?
“The baby, assailed by eyes, ears, nose, skin, and entrails at once, feels it all as one great blooming, buzzing confusion.” —William James, The Principles Continue Reading
Is Carl Neville's 'Eminent Domain' Worth the Effort?
“The baby, assailed by eyes, ears, nose, skin, and entrails at once, feels it all as one great blooming, buzzing confusion.” —William James, The Principles Continue Reading
In the Tempest's Eye: An Interview with Surfer Blood
“All the pressure you never applied / Can’t be asleep at the wheel / But something had already died / And something had lost its Continue Reading
The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s: 80-61
80. Drive-By Truckers – Decoration Day [New West] Decoration Day came on the heels of 2001’s Southern Rock Opera, a loose concept album about growing up in Continue Reading
The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s: 100-81
100. Nickel Creek – Why Should the Fire Die? [Sugar Hill] Why Should the Fire Die? is both the title of Nickel Creek’s best 2000’s record and Continue Reading
Jazz Composer Maria Schneider Takes on the "Data Lords" in Song
Schneider, the Composer Schneider’s status as a highly acclaimed jazz composer has few true parallels in creative music. Unlike the huge majority of jazz composers—Duke Continue Reading
'Wildflowers & All the Rest' Is Tom Petty's Masterpiece
Sometime between the home recording of “Crawling Back to You” on Wildflowers & All the Rest and the version that ended up on Wildflowers itself, Continue Reading
Horrors in the Closet: A Closet Full of Monsters
If anything, horror is about transgressing boundaries and norms. If you think about it, monsters are creatures that challenge biological, physical, social, and even moral Continue Reading
Artemis Is the Latest Jazz Supergroup
You can find million-and-one words in the music press about “supergroups”—the thrills and spills that occur when hotshots from different bands get together to create Continue Reading