A Guardian piece follows the recent shutdown of one of Britain’s retail music chains and its larger impact on the music industry’s constantly shifting business model. The good news is that specialty record shops are hopping, as collector’s vinyl, limited releases, and obscure bands still sell well; it’s the “supermarket-style” retailers that are biting the […]

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The New York Times published a piece yesterday covering the underground rumblings of French duo Justice, whose sound is a bit rougher and tougher than, say, the slick, atmospheric soundtracks of bands like Air, adding noise to its propulsive beats. The new, evolving strain of electronic music that Justice is at the forefront of trades […]

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On Sunday, The New York Times did a piece on Andrew Kuo, an obsessive blogger with a bizarre methodology: “Mr. Kuo meticulously dissects indie rock and hip-hop records and shows and then transforms the data into complicated, brightly colored charts and diagrams.” It’s a visual piss-take on ADD internet surfers. So, to put Kuo to […]

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Asked by Guardian Unlimited to pony up the secret decoder for what makes its debut, Mirrored, tick, Battles throws out ten reference points, which predictably range from the obscure to the amusing to the nonsensical. Among them: The art of neo raunch “If there was ever an example of what the music of Battles “looks” […]

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The AP has a surprisingly decent piece on jazz legend Sonny Rollins. At 76, Rollins is still recording and performing. He made his mark in the early 1950’s, recording with Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk. He broke new ground with his strict use of only bass and drums as accompaniment to his sax solos. When […]

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Having successfully shape-shifted their way onto a major label, The Blood Brothers are reaching a pivotal point in their collective career, where they must decide what it is exactly they want. Is commercial viability a concern or is maintaining the status quo good enough? Confused teenagers are great acolytes and everything, but what is the […]

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When I sat down this past Saturday at Adriana’s with bassist Lauren Andino and guitarist Willie May from Orgone Accumulator (which also features Andy Woodward and Josh Smith on drums and electronics, respectively) to talk about their final show as a band, they were sort of thrown off by my hand-held cassette recorder. I told […]

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