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 »

As far as being a band in 2012 goes, Grizzly Bear has it pretty good. Critical darlings aren't often financially successful as artists and vice-versa. Yet, the Brooklyn troupe has spent the past…   Read Story »

When dealing with any individual possessing the sheer magnitude of Bob Dylan -- a figure utterly massive in terms of talent, mythology and self-regard -- it becomes difficult to speak to his "lesser"…   Read Story »

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to select the rising bands which have connected them, someone wrote a long time ago. Or, something close to that. Here's what…   Read Story »

It is difficult to imagine indie rock without Sonic Youth. Only the Velvet Underground can reasonably boast a more important alternative history to the grand narrative of rock and roll. Combining the…   Read Story »

I remember driving down Pacific Coast Highway with my dad, listening to Merriweather Post Pavilion, when he suddenly asked why Animal Collective repeat themselves so much. I was driving and looking…   Read Story »

Pop music is full of great, apocryphal origin stories, and Belle & Sebastian's is one of the best. The yarn goes like this: young Stuart Murdoch is a student at Glasgow's Stow College when he enrolls…   Read Story »

Q: What do you call someone who hangs out with musicians? A: A drummer! If you've spent enough time hanging out with people in bands, you've heard a million jokes like this. But as it turns out,…   Read Story »