Hardcore was regional music that reached and changed the world. The local references, in-jokes, and our-scene-is-best boosterism are part of what makes it so compelling. Like the best American…   Read Story »

In the best possible sense, Yo La Tengo can feel less like a band and more like a beloved national trust.   YLT has for so long been proffering great music, and at such a consistent rate, that…   Read Story »

Back in 1990, an extremely young Jay-Z showed up wiggita-wiggitaing all over "The Originator," a single by his fast-rapping buddy the Jaz. And between that moment and 1996, when he released his…   Read Story »

When a musician dies, they leave behind an aural legacy -- songs that serve as eternal reminders of what this person did when the microphone was on. This legacy isn't always difficult to pick out.…   Read Story »

Jesus Lizard fans love to swap war stories. They'll tell you about how bassist David Wm. Sims almost impaled them with his headstock during one of his trademark gyrations, how guitarist Duane Denison…   Read Story »

Was anyone in music ever so jaded and armored so fully, at such a young age, as Alex Chilton? The genius who launched a thousand great bands in his wake was seemingly burnt out by the music business…   Read Story »

Rock and roll is a business largely founded on a kind of voyeuristic cannibalism: Take the most vulnerable, volatile performers you can find, place them in the most intense circumstances imaginable,…   Read Story »

The best part of getting into music while growing up is the constant sense of discovery. This feeling disappears as the years go by. Most adults who spend a lot of time and money on music know the…   Read Story »

In a perfect world, all albums would be self-contained universes. A good album can communicate complex emotions and ideas with the aid of just a little context; a great album can communicate…   Read Story »

In a sense, Pavement was the ideal mixtape band: Their tracks rarely broke the five-minute barrier, and nearly every one could yield gnomic postulates for the title (or at least the subtitle). The…   Read Story »