Entries Tagged as 'feature'

Playing Pretend with Microphones, Mountains, and Death

October 14th, 2008

Phil Elverum is a recorder of unorthodox sounds. An analog archivist. A singer of strange, dark, and heart-wrenchingly beautiful songs about the simplest fundamentals: water, air, space, mountains. He hails from the boondocks of the upper Northwest in a small town called Anacortes in Washington State, the population of which is less than 15,000. He’s […]

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Tags: feature · touring

Murder By Death: Staying Alive

April 30th, 2008

Dwindling record sales of artists big and small doesn’t elicit a lot of sympathy from consumers these days. In an age when typing in your favorite artist into your favorite Bit Torrent engine is the de facto response to having to pay actual money for music, being in a band is more of a gamble […]

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Tags: feature · interview

Morrissey runs a tight ship of drones

January 25th, 2008

This is an incredibly eye-opening piece about Morrissey’s inner circle written by a man who managed to be accepted into Morrissey’s entourage, who was flown into the US from the UK only to be unceremoniously dismissed after one day of service. The article presents no bias against Morrissey. In fact, the opposite is true. Andrew […]

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Tags: feature · link

Jens Lekman’s lyrical genius

October 23rd, 2007

Slate gushes over Jens Lekman today in a fanboy piece that is so self-deprecating and honest that it doesn’t seem to offend on any level, despite its reckless superlative-tossing (“Lekman is a fully realized pop genius, and each of his full-length records is its own masterpiece”). Focusing on Lekman’s lyrical gift of gab, author Stephen […]

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Tags: feature · link

The Hives want a bigger piece of the pie

October 22nd, 2007

You’ve probably heard by now that The Hives are touring with Maroon 5. This oddball pairing is more likely the result of Maroon 5’s handlers trying to think of a way to lure open-minded, fence-riding “alternative” kids to its arena tour than it is the brainchild of a shirtless save-for-a-silk-vest Adam Levine sipping an appletini […]

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Tags: feature

Hope I die before I get old

September 6th, 2007

As bad as rock stars seem to be at living, some simply refuse to die. And in the same report that, uhh, brilliantly concluded that rock stars are more likely to choke on their own vomit than, say, normal folks, it is also duly noted that since 1980: “…the number of pop stars who die within […]

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Tags: commentary · feature · link

Echo & the Bunnymen’s self-inflicted wounds

August 31st, 2007

Alan McGee postulates in the Guardian why Echo & the Bunnymen are ever the bridesmaids of rock. I think he nails it pretty well. After the orchestral majesty of Ocean Rain, the band simply dried up creatively. It really took three years to follow-up that masterpiece with an utterly deflated, self-titled throwaway? Even still, “Lips […]

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Tags: commentary · feature · video