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Coachella 2013: The Good, The Bad, The Bros

By Leah Taylor on

Our intrepid, heat-resistant reporters spanned both weekends of this year’s Coachella to bring you a look at the (no exaggeration) epic music festival from the comfort of your own laptop. While the bros and the… let’s say “overmedicated” crowds can sometimes be deterrents to enjoying the weekend, ultimately, you’re there for the music. And there is something for everyone. Here are our highlights, with special thanks to Doug Levy, Liat Kriegel, and Dan Busta. … Read More

Music

10 MP3s You Need to Download for Free This Week: Stars, Four Tet

By Tom Hawking on

It’s Friday, which means that we’re awaiting the arrival of the latest snowpocalypse, and also that it’s time for our regular roundup of new music to get your hands on this week. This week there’s a free EP from Stars and their touring buddies, along with a bunch of interesting remixes (featuring Tame Impala, Diana and Doldrums, and others), a free Dilla-inspired beat compilation from Shigeto, new tracks from Four Tet and Leech, a pretty ace mixtape from Kilo Kish, and plenty more where that all came from. None of this will cost you a dime, so we suggest you click through and get downloading ASAP. … Read More

Music

What Pitchfork's Top 10 Songs of 2012 Say About Us

By Tom Hawking on

Seventeen years after Ryan Schreiber first started banging out reviews in his Minneapolis bedroom, Pitchfork’s end-of-year lists are probably the most anticipated in the music industry — both because for all its failings the site remains the Internet’s most popular and thus most influential hive of music criticism, and because it holds its lists until pretty much everyone else has published theirs. Over the last couple of years, we’ve amused ourselves by pondering what the songs in the ’Fork’s Top 10 say about its readership (which, of course, includes us) — and so, with the publication yesterday of this year’s winners, we’re giving the exercise another go-around. … Read More

Music

Who Is Missing from ‘NME’s’ Top 50 Albums of 2012?

By Alison Nastasi on

Long-running Brit weekly mag NME has just published its 50 Best Albums of 2012, and as Stereogum points out, the list is a mixed bag of good, bad, and predictable. The top five spots went to Tame Impala at number one, with Grimes, Frank Ocean, Crystal Castles, and Alt-J following closely behind. Australian psych outfit Tame Impala will be kicking off their 2013 tour with the first US stop at New York’s Terminal 5 in February, celebrating the release of new album, Lonerism. Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die made the cut at number 45, but Fiona Apple’s The Idler Wheel… is mysterious missing. We’re also lamenting the lack of Swans on this list, but we have Pitchfork TV’s 27-minute, behind-the-scenes doc to tide us over for now. Who else deserves a spot? Head past the break to see the countdown in full, and chime in, below. … Read More

Music

The 10 Best Rock ‘n’ Roll Bands To Dance To

By Tom Hawking on

Lonerism, the new album by the most excellent and hyper-talented Australian psych band Tame Impala is out today, and we’ve been enjoying it immensely. Perhaps the best thing about the band is that their music is as danceable as it is psychedelically wigged-out — something that’s perhaps more surprising than it should be. Happily, the dance music/rock music divide is far less pronounced than it used to be, but still, we go to far too many rock shows where everyone but us is just kinda standing and nodding their heads. So to celebrate Lonerism, we’ve selected some of our other favorite guitar-focused bands for jumping around like a lunatic to. Who are your choices? … Read More

Music

The 15 Albums You Need to Hear in October

By Tom Hawking on

After a bumper month in September, the good news is that there’s a heap more good albums due in October — especially tomorrow, which is shaping up as one of the busiest/best release dates of the year. Hurrah! As we do every month, we’ve devoted ourselves to poring over the release schedule and separating the proverbial wheat from the chaff and all such things. There’s also a roundup of everything else that’s out, encompassing the good, the bad, and the Barbra Streisand. What are you looking forward to hearing this month,… Read More

Music

10 MP3s You Need to Download for Free This Week: Tame Impala, The Antlers

By Tom Hawking on

It’s Friday, which means another installment of our regular roundup of downloadable MP3 goodness from around the web. This week it’s remix central, with another excellent Tame Impala remix from Canyons and a similarly worthy Antlers remix from Tricky, of all people, along with Laurel Halo vs. Lianne Le Havas and Peaking Lights vs. TEEN. Elsewhere, there’s the return of Crystal Castles and Jason Molina, fine new tracks from Beacon and Guards, and plentiful other goodness. Since all this action costs precisely nothing, what are you waiting for? All the download links await after the jump. … Read More

Music

10 MP3s You Need to Download for Free This Week: Tame Impala, Frank Ocean

By Tom Hawking on

It’s Friday, and we’re back with another installment of our regular roundup of downloadable MP3 goodness from around the web. This week, there’s a glut of music about dreaming, including the suitably fuzzed-out return of Tame Impala, gentle reverie from Taken by Trees, and dreams of chillwavin’ by Puro Instinct. Elsewhere, there’s a great new tracks from Starred and ERAAS, Innergaze remixing Walk the Dog, a free Frank Ocean track, and also something new from Jimmy Cliff (today only!). In other words, there’s plenty of interesting sounds awaiting you after the jump, and since they won’t cost a penny or land you an RIAA lawsuit, as your attorneys we advise you to start downloading immediately. … Read More

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10 Head-Meltingly Awesome Neo-Psych Bands You Should Know

By Tom Hawking on

One of the welcome artistic developments of the 21st century has been the resurgence of psychedelic music. We don’t mean the kind of wet, holding-hands-and-gently-humming-at-the-flowers variety — we’re talking about bands whose music immerses you completely, whether it’s because they’re given to pile-driving drum patterns and guitar freakouts, or because they make the sort of blissed-out drone sounds to which you can turn on, tune in, and drop out to your heart’s content. With neo-psych doyenne Jesse Sykes on the bill for a recent installment of the Sailor Jerry’s Presents concert series, we realized that she most definitely features on the roster of awesome neo-psych acts everyone should know. Click through for a bunch of similarly worthy suggestions, then be sure to check out more can’t-miss upcoming shows from Sailor Jerry’s Presents. … Read More

Music

10 Rock ‘n’ Roll Remixes That Are Better Than the Original

By Tom Hawking on

We were intrigued to hear the news last week that Radiohead are planning on releasing a series of 12″ remixes of the songs from The King of Limbs, handing over the album tracks to producers like Flying Lotus and Caribou to cut up and reinterpret. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given their love of all things electronic, Radiohead have always been enlightened when it comes to having their tracks reworked, so much so that there are a couple of Radiohead remixes out there that arguably improve on the original versions. These got us thinking about other guitar-based or otherwise rock-inflected tracks that have been improved by remixing – they’re surprisingly few and far between, perhaps because writers of rock songs have been loath to let producers deconstruct them over the years. We’ve collected ten of our favorites; additional suggestions are, as ever, welcome. … Read More