Music

There’s an important but subtle difference between burning love and getting burned. Neko Case explores the effects of toggling that particular four letter word in and out of the equation on her latest album, Middle Cyclone. More aggressive and revealing than her previous solo release, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006), and more straightforward than her New Pornographers material, the flame-haired indie/dixie diva is at her songwriting best.
March 19, 2009 at 12:23 am

Five years ago, the music gods smiled on Kelly Clarkson and the American public’s desire for a more palatable Alanis found its apotheosis in an awesome little song about dumping your loser boyfriend.
March 19, 2009 at 12:20 am

Street: Of all the OTB-wannabes on campus, why did you make the cut? Maggie Nyce: I have a nose ring.
March 19, 2009 at 12:12 am

In the tradition of major concept albums of years past, Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon of N.A.S.A. (that is, North America South America) have constructed The Spirit of Apollo, which focuses on the transcendent theme of unity through music.
February 25, 2009 at 11:32 pm

Tight Knit has more in common with grass, Vetiver’s namesake, than front-man Andy Cabic could have ever hoped.
February 25, 2009 at 11:26 pm

If you think you’ve never heard Taylor Swift’s “Love Story,” or the album Fearless, you’re wrong.
February 25, 2009 at 11:22 pm

Street: What’s so new about DJ Newby? Matt Newberg: Everything is new about DJ Newby because I am hip-hop.
February 18, 2009 at 8:40 pm

Six years our senior and fresh off the middle school bus, my best friend’s sister Ali was the unquestioned arbiter of cool.
February 18, 2009 at 8:38 pm

Despite wandering into Explosions in the Sky’s territory, the epic (post-rock) fail that is Sagarmatha won’t land the A-Cast a spot on the Friday Night Lights soundtrack anytime soon.
February 18, 2009 at 8:36 pm

Three years after the critically acclaimed The Ringleaders of the Tormenters, Morrissey returns with more wrist-cuttingly good times.
February 18, 2009 at 8:23 pm

Maybe big boys don’t cry, but this week has left me dwelling on the long-gone days of puppy love and unanswered Disney Valentines.
February 11, 2009 at 9:57 pm

Four years after “Catch My Disease” ran rampant through hospital dramas everywhere, Ben Lee is back with The Rebirth of Venus. “I’m a woman too,” Lee claims on track 11, as though anything could validate this failed attempt at a girl power concept album.
February 11, 2009 at 9:55 pm

Street: You guys are often compared to artists of the ‘70s, Neil Young and Bob Dylan. Were these the bands you grew up with? Eric Earley: Those are the bands we grew up on and our parents listened to.
February 11, 2009 at 9:46 pm

1957: Bill Haley, a star among Comets, arrives in Southampton on the Queen Elizabeth II, becoming the first American rock star to tour the UK.
February 4, 2009 at 10:58 pm

My parents are, in the simplest of terms, ex-hippies. There are more pictures of my father wearing bandanas than there are of us together and my mother still dances like a girl on Haight Street.
February 4, 2009 at 10:54 pm

Two Tongues starts off somber, with a quiet, almost innocent, guitar solo. Then there’s a lurching stop, a screaming “Wait!” and a massive power chord followed by the crash of cymbals.
February 4, 2009 at 10:51 pm

If Judy Garland had landed in Oz in 1960 instead of 1939, followed the yellow brick road straight to the local karaoke bar and requested something bluesy to ease her not-in-Kansas-anymore induced homesickness, the resulting sound would be that of Heartless Bastards’ The Mountain. Owing to a distinct, mature vocal tone (think Melissa Ethridge comes to Zooey Deschanel’s window) and a constantly changing line-up, Erika Wennerstrom truly is Heartless Bastards.
February 4, 2009 at 10:48 pm

Using a rusty guitar, a falsetto yowl and as much heartbreak as he could shove into 37 minutes, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon created For Emma, Forever Ago, one of 2008’s most critically acclaimed records.
January 28, 2009 at 10:20 pm

At the beginning of high school, I was hopelessly uncool. I was socially awkward, and my mother was still buying my clothes.
January 28, 2009 at 10:17 pm

Lykke Li The First Unitarian Church 1/30 8:30 p.m., $17.50 People were remixing Swedish internet darling Lykke Li long before she ever stepped foot inside a US venue.
January 28, 2009 at 10:15 pm