Music >>

Music Features

Following Julia Easterlin's beat

Long accustomed to repeating herself, Julia Easterlin is finally done explaining.

By: MICHAEL MAROTTA | September 18, 2012

The measured success of Metric

Two years ago, Metric dropped their fourth effort, Fantasies , with catchy-as-fuck compositions "Sick Muse," "Help I'm Alive," and "Gold Guns Girls."

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | September 18, 2012

Getting loud with Lightning Bolt

What is noise?

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | September 19, 2012

What's F'n Next? DIIV

Zach Cole Smith is grappling with extremes.

By: LIZ PELLY | September 19, 2012

Local pop records to look for this autumn

Elbows and knees
The four quick cuts on the Boston quartet Pretty & Nice's Us You All We embody what guitarist Holden Lewis calls an endless-summer mentality. "I think our songs got happier," he says.

By: MICHAEL MAROTTA | September 24, 2012

Minimalists and maximalists

The xx | Coexist
When working on a sophomore follow-up to a successful debut, most bands react to the extra dough and time-as-luxury bounty given to them by trying to cram as much as they can into the confines of their new grooves.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | September 19, 2012

The simple pleasures of Banditas

Easy rider
Simplicity is not always easy, but sometimes it's the surest path to style and clarity, especially when we're talking about three girls, three instruments, three singers, loads of reverb, no solos, basic blues beats, high-and-lonesome harmonies, and killer songs dying for a smoke.

By: JONATHAN DONALDSON | September 12, 2012

Patterson Hood sidesteps his Trucker mouth

Drive-by slowly
Rock and roll once saved Patterson Hood's life.

By: NICK A. ZAINO III | September 11, 2012

Peter Gabriel reflects on So, his pop oddity

Progressive by nature
In the annals of rock/pop history, 1986 is often an underappreciated year.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | September 11, 2012

Bloc Party regain their post-punk edge

Four, squared
When Bloc Party announced in 2009 that they were taking a break, the band's future was a big question mark.

By: ANNIE ZALESKI | September 14, 2012

Dragonette step into the limelight

Say hello
Do you think you could make it in the music world? If you answered "yes," then ask yourself this follow-up: how game are you?

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | September 07, 2012

Amanda Palmer lets go of all restrictions

Million strong
Just when hemming and hawing about the future of money in music had grown dreadfully redundant, leave it to Amanda Palmer to resurrect the dead horse and prompt the American square community to ask, "What the fuck is Kickstarter, who the fuck is this frequently naked lady with painted-on eyebrows, and why did the Internet send her a million dollars to record an album?"

By: BARRY THOMPSON | September 05, 2012

Amon Tobin settles into abstract electronica

His bridge
If his 2011 off-the-cuff comment is any proof, Amon Tobin is terrible at resisting the urge to prod a proverbial beehive.

By: REYAN ALI | September 05, 2012

Introducing Infinity Girl, now and forever

Sound in waves
Being labeled "shoegaze" is a tricky thing for a fledgling band.

By: MICHAEL MAROTTA | August 29, 2012

The proper intentions of Frank Turner

Punk makes good
On July 27, Frank Turner played the biggest show of his life while surrounded by sheep, actors dressed as Brits of different stripes, a Ferris wheel, a synthetic recreation of the English countryside, and an unfathomably massive crowd.

By: REYAN ALI | August 28, 2012