Steve LampirisThe Jersey punks are back with the first single from the upcoming fourth record, Handwritten. The band tells Rolling Stone that they “wished to return to the driving punk rock that ignited” their early work. True to their word, the song’s a little heavier (relatively speaking, of course) than anything on 2010’s American Slang. I’d argue that “45” fits between Slang and its predecessor The ’59 Sound, both the album and title track of which…
Sticks and Stones
Staff
This is a guest post by Robert Greenberg, author of “How to Listen to Great Music: A Guide to Its History, Culture, and Heart” WE were told as children, “sticks and stones will break your bones but words will never hurt you.” Wrong. In truth, words have the power to inflict tremendous hurt: spiritual, emotional, and intellectual. Among the worst offenders are terms of classification: those handy-dandy words and phrases that allow us lump things together…
Haley Reinhart- “Free”
Alice Smith
This is probably one of the most outlandish things I’ll say for a very long time: I like an American Idol alum, plain and simple. In fact, I just may like her a lot. For those who didn’t tune in to the tenth season of the show, which features perennially unoriginal talent (but talent nonetheless), Haley Reinhart, a Chicago native with an edge, finished third to charming country teens Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery. On Idol, Ms. Reinhart left…
New Beach House – “Lazuli” and “Myth”
Mark SteinbachI sometimes wonder what it would be like if I didn’t love Beach House. There are surely scores of people out there who can’t stand them. They must be a frustrating band to hate because, well, all their songs take such a uniformly dramatic, florid tone that likely makes detractors want to barf simply because their style is so consistently overwhelming. In the first five seconds of both “Lazuli,” their first official single off of…
Ted Nugent meeting with Secret Service because….well, The Nuge is a moron
So Ted Nugent, everyone’s favorite right-wing has-been musician, said something stupid. Doesn’t seem that newsworthy. Or something that the Secret Service would look into. Mostly, that’s the case. The man could reasonable be called mentally unstable. So it shouldn’t really be a shock that he said something the SS interpreted as potentially threatening to President Obama. And I quote… I’ll tell you this right now: if Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I…
Tanlines – Mixed Emotions
If I were to solely base my feelings for Mixed Emotions on its opening track, “Brothers,” I would be here to tell you that Tanlines has made the best indie pop album of 2012. On “Brothers,” swelling harmonies are laid carefully over Eric Emm’s wailing baritone vocals, creating an infectious pop song that goes beyond “catchy” and becomes unforgettable due to its infusion of subtle gravity. It packs so much promise that the album’s subsequent…
Firefly Music Festival buzzing with killer lineup
Hailie Hay
Ever heard of Dover, Delaware? You know, the capital city of that first U.S. state, located just under Pennsylvania and New Jersey and cut off from Maryland by one clean eastern border…The one with Dover International Speedway, Silver Lake, a quaint, down-home feel… And Firefly Music Festival? In late July of this year (the 20-22, to be exact), more than 30 of the most prominent indie/alternative artists of today will be meeting up in Dover,…
King Charles
Joe Mills
With his debut album, Loveblood, due to come out early may, having come second in the ‘MTV Brand New For 2010’, and playing shows all over Europe, things really seem to be getting exciting for King Charles. Having toured with acts such as Laura Marling, Noah and the Whale and Mumford and Sons, he has already been recognised as having some serious talent. The great thing about him is that after all that he still…
New Music Round-up: Soundgarden, Torche and Kanye West
Holy hell, has it been quite a six-day run for new music. New tracks from Soundgarden, Torche and Yeezy all came out since the middle of last week. First up, the reunited grunge gods Soundgarden put out a single from the forthcoming Avengers Assemble album (the soundtrack to the Avengers film) called “Live to Rise.” I was initially excited cause, ya know, it’s fucking Soundgarden. It is, sadly, simply meh: a do-nothing riff over the…
Born To Die – Lana Del Rey
Olivia Pad
I’m sure you’ve heard Lana Del Rey’s name floating about the music scene for a while now – but it is only recently that her songs have drifted into my ears in a chilling way. This is especially weird as she has actually been on the music scene since 2008, but not under “Lana Del Rey”. You may have heard of her as “Lizzy Grant” – her real name. With this name she released…