When frontman Dean Wareham sings, "don't know why I can't stop smiling," he echoes the thoughts of thousands of Luna fans grateful to have the band back together after a decade apart. The beloved New York (well, now L.A.) band called it quits in 2004, but with Captured Tracks reissuing their first …
Okay, sure, this show was almost, like, a month ago, but I'm still reeling from seeing former Stereolab frontwoman Laetitia Sadier perform at the Vera Project. The influential artist spotlighted tracks from last year's Drag City solo full-length Something Shines, as well as her most recent single "…
The National's Matt Berninger and Ramona Falls' Brent Knopf have joined forces on a new LP under the name EL VY (pronounced like the plural of Elvis). They've shared the lyric video for the title track from their upcoming album Return to the Moon. The LP drops on October 30. [Pitchfork]
Beloved Bay Area band Thee Oh Sees release their sixth full-length, Mutilator Defeated At Last, on May 18th via Castle Face Records. You can stream the album in its entirety below. A press release notes that on the new one, "synths and acoustic guitars wind throughout the album like veins of gold …
With two sharp shooters like this, it's sure to be a great chat: Northwest noodler Stephen Malkmus sat down for a chat on Marc Maron's celebrated WTF podcast. The conversation covers Portland, Pavement, parenting, and Poe (as in, Edgar Allen). You can download the episode here, or subscribe on iTu…
This Saturday’s Record Store Day will be kind of like the Easter egg hunt for me and my fellow music lovers and record collecting geeks. We’ll gleefully race down the aisles in search of that colorful surprise and treat. And, this year there are plenty of goodies — rarities, long out-of-print re-is…
At some point as an art-rock outfit, a band surpasses the need to surpass themselves. The Flaming Lips have just released a pared down and grainy video for the immersive "Turning Violet" from their latest album, The Terror. Primordial vocals emerge from deep in a Turrell-esque white room before lin…
When Seattle prog-rock purveyors Merso released last year's Red World, they sought to examine what it's like to become a monster, drawing heavily from Alan Moore's iconic run of the Swamp Thing comics. Monsters can be a hard thing to define. They're not always the mythic beasts we see in literature…
Sonic Reducer host Jenn plays a mix of punk, hardcore, and other vibrant tunes to force you through spring like April showers making way for May flowers. 01. Kid Chrome - TV In My Head 02. Lemonade - Noches Blancas 03. Nachthexen - Ring Ring 04. Shopping - Straight Lines 05. Private Room - Good …
The psych- and Tropicalia-inflected rock of Boogarins is so intriguing that when their earliest recordings had been picked up by music fans all over the globe, the band hadn't even played any gigs. Only becoming a live band shortly afterwards in early 2013 hasn't prevented the Goiânia, Brazil qu…
Kanye West is crazy. Or so people like to say with a sort of flippant superiority. Only thing is, this time around on his highly awaited, hotly debated, and incessantly fiddled with latest album, The Life of Pablo, he’s saying it, too. In three separate instances on the record, he declares instabil…
The problem with cool stuff is there's always a process by which it becomes uncool. A handful of true artists perfect a craft and then an uncanny number of hackneyed copycats sample bits and pieces out of context and bastardize the whole thing to no end. This is maybe no better exemplified than wit…
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We couldn't be more excited for Seattle electronic group Beat Connection, who've seen nothing but forward, progressive growth over the six years of their existence. From the nu-house leanings of their debut EP, Surf Noir, and the massive pop thresholds of Palace Garden, the band has reached a focal…
On stage Annie Clark, or as she's known, St. Vincent, is like an alluring, otherworldly android. She skitter steps around rapidly on high stiletto heels, staring blankly and doe-eyed, smiling at odd times while tearing through guitar lines seemingly effortlessly. Much of her show seems almost chore…
There's this interview reel with Rod Serling that plays over the intro of Flight Facilities opening dance number "Two Bodies" on their debut LP, Down To Earth. Here, the famous Twilight Zone narrator reconciles the ideas of commercialism and creativity as the house beat fades in and Emma Louise sin…
Well, that was a long time coming, but I'll be damned if that could have been any better than it was. Death From Above 1979 made a great record back in 2004 - like a really great record. You're A Woman, I'm A Machine put DFA 1979 on the map like clockwork, feeding the band with plenty of live dates…
It's hard to believe that next month will be the one year anniverary of Scottish electronic band CHVRCHES releasing their first LP. At this point, it seems like the trio has been dominating indie and pop airwaves for ages. Every track on The Bones of What You Believe oozes with pristine pop majesty…
Cock & Swan members Johnny Goss and Ola Hungerford make beautiful, yet mysteriously herky-jerky music. They compose songs in a dazey space and admit that's the realm in which they like to inhabit. Along with their own music, they've recorded and helped to produce albums for many Seattle bands, …
The bouncy garage rock of PAWS brings together a pleasant combination of the innocent music one starts to play when one first joins a band and the subtle, nuanced songwriting of seasoned veterans. The Edinburgh three-piece pack in the noise – punching out songs like a heavyweight contender. And the…
