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The 10 Albums You Need to Hear in January

By Tom Hawking on

January has historically been a bit of a fallow month for album releases, but that’s changed in recent years with some notable records (most memorably Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion ) dropping early in the year, and the first month of 2013 is certainly looking reasonably well stocked for worthy new records. We’ve selected the ten records we’re most looking forward to hearing, along with a roundup of all the other stuff — good and bad — that’s due out over the next four… Read More

Music

Our 15 Most Anticipated Albums of 2013

By Tom Hawking on

We have good vibes in general about the year to come, and we’re hoping that it holds as much musical goodness as 2012 did. The early part of the year is certainly shaping up well, and we’ve put together a kind of extended edition of our regular monthly album release preview, looking at the 15 albums (with confirmed release dates) that we’re hanging out for in the new year, in addition to a roundup of records that are rumored/don’t have firm release… Read More

Music

Surreality Check: 10 New Experimental Albums You Need to Hear

By Tobias Carroll on

Surreal, unexpected, and compelling: the ten albums that follow hover somewhere around the experimental/avant-garde divide, musically speaking. They range from drifting textures born from manipulated guitars and vocals to more traditional verse/chorus/verse arrangements that nonetheless threaten to implode into a squall of noise. What they share is a fondness for pushing into unexplored territory, and sometimes recombining disparate elements into a unified whole. … Read More

Music

10 Indie Rock Side Projects You Should Know

By Heidi Vanderlee on

Real Estate inspired us to mix Budweiser with Sprite and embrace Hawaiian print last summer. But more recently, frontman Matthew Mondanile quietly slipped in through the vulnerable cracks of our childlike subconscious, instantly winning us over with the lo-fi comfort rock of Ducktails, whose new album, Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics, dropped on Woodsist this week.

In fact, plenty of indie rock royalty have lower-profile side projects hiding up their sleeves that are every bit as brilliant as their better-known, blogosphere-friendly bands. After the jump, we introduce you ten more such acts that should be on your radar. … Read More

Music

The Flavorpill Fix Episode Three, Curated by Titus Andronicus

By Judy Berman on

Our first artist-curated installment of the Flavorpill Fix features one of our favorite bands. Titus Andronicus have made some of the most powerful music of the year on their latest album, The Monitor, an emotional wallop of a punk-rock Civil War concept record that also manages to peg the frustrations of 20-something life and shout out New Jersey without ever feeling forced. For this episode, the band let us sit in on a rehearsal and pick their brains about some of their favorite acts. Watch Titus Andronicus rip through two songs, Ducktails and Solanin (Titus’ Amy Klein) premiere new material, and a music video by The So So Glos after the jump. Oh, and be sure you don’t miss out on Andrew Cedermark, Titus’ Patrick Stickles, and Martin Courtney of Real Estate in a rare performance as Extra Cheese. … Read More