Past Stories
The Art of the Remix
André Allen Anjos is the mastermind behind Remix Artist Collective (RAC), a cadre of artists (including Andrew Maury out of New York and Karl Kling of Portland) who compose brilliant, dance worthy remixes from bands across the...
A So-Called Strife
Courtney Marie Andrews sings like an angel, just ask her ardent fans. And it’s due to her pure persistence that we know about it. The 21-year-old pop-folk phenom helped cultivate her hometown music scene as a driven teen, tra...
Spiritual Improvisation
Playing full-length solos as a 6-year-old prodigy is extremely rare in India—yet Kartik Seshardi homely claims it isn’t a difficult thing being dubbed a “sorcerer,” “child prodigy” and a classical music “virtuoso...
Censored
Let’s put aside this band’s rad electronic tunes for a moment, and focus on what you really want to know: what is up with STRFKR’s name?
It’s unexpected and a bit rock ’n‘ roll, sure, but it’s got to have…
Being Wrong Never Felt So Right
Brett Anderson never thought her side-project, The Stripminers, would play live; it was tough enough getting a steady group of musicians into a studio to lay down tracks. But after a couple years of under-the-radar writing with...
This Ain’t No Crazy Cat Lady
Tracy Shedd couldn’t help but follow in her mother’s footsteps. Growing up in Jacksonville, Fla., the country singer’s daughter went on to become a performer as well, cutting her chops crooning along with Patsy Cline song...
Au Natural
Nate Bergman is the guitarist and vocalist for Lionize, a band that plays music that’s hard to define but easy to enjoy. The group’s songs feature elements of stoner rock and hard metal, guided by a reggae/funk spirit that ...
The Hunger Lives On
Peter Murphy always knew he would live forever. Not in an undead, Twilight sort of way, but through song.
The former Bauhaus frontman’s career spans more than four decades, kicked off with the unlikely hit, 1979’s “Bela L...
The Ins and Outs
There’s no shortage of folk singer-songwriters these days, but a lot about Ana Egge makes her stand out from the crowd—like that she grew up in a 23-person town in North Dakota or that, after her family moved to another&hel...
From the Underground
Jus Allah from Camden, N.J. and Vinnie Paz from Philadelphia are Jedi Mind Tricks, a band that delivers utterly original, ironclad hip-hop that goes far beyond boring radio rap.
The duo’s latest album, Violence Begets Violenc...
A Man of Few Words
When questioned, Eric Earley—frontman for Portland-based folk-rockers Blitzen Trapper—is a man of few words. His pauses, as he mulls over a response, are long and his answers are brief. Finally, he admits, “I’m not some...
Breaking All the Rules
The Sounds began its career performing live in Helsingborg, Sweden. “I wouldn’t say we had a big scene, about 150,000 people, but music has always been a part of the history of the city,” says Félix Rodríguez, lead guit...
Representin’
Playing songs about the place where you grew up is a tradition that’s as old as music. Bruce Springsteen wrote “My Hometown” and Ben E. King sang “Spanish Harlem.” People Under the Stairs is a hip-hop group that lays ...
Feeling Colours
With over five years in the music business and three successfull albums, Dallas Green of City and Colour is hardly a newbie on the music scene, not now or when he was previously jamming with Alexisonfire. During his career, thi...
Music Music
First of all, the band uses toy noise makers in its performances. It also uses flutes, pans and anything else it can find on the street. The members typically wear white tops and draw lines on their faces like a…
Almost Acoustic
Amon Tobin samples music to create songs the way Rembrandt used color to create art. He has an ear for finding that single perfect element in a song and understanding where it could go. The result is electronic music that…
The Second Capo
Juan Velazquez, guitarist and vocalist for Abe Vigoda, met the rest of the members of the band growing up in Chino. “We all met in school. I met our bass player David Reichardt, and Dane Chadwick, our drummer, in junior…
R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
“Originally we wanted to be a band but it felt like a gang. [Bryan and Tim] flipped a coin and settled on Gang Gang Dance.” That is the inspirational story behind the weird yet cheerful name of the experimental electronic&h...
Hittin’ the Road
“We are just trying to make good music. I guess that’s how I would define us: people consistently trying to make good music.” Despite line-up changes and constantly switching labels, Colour Revolt has never steered away f...
This Ain’t Grateful Dead or The Velvet Underground
Growing up with a grandfather who owned a radio station and a mother who helped run the place, Bobby Hecksher couldn’t help but soak up the sounds of classic rock bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Surrounded by&h...
Reaching New Heights
The Horrors first album, Strange House, was a screaming, punk-drenched blast of experimental noise, garage rock and industrial metal. It featured thrashing guitars, clamoring drums and dirge-like organs for the black-clad, leat...
Shifting Sounds
Connor Shambrook, Luke Schoepf and Alex Guder had all been friends since the fourth grade before they became the Inland Empire rock band known as Foley. They first played for a church event, followed by a high school graduation...
Homeward Bound
Nashville-based trio The Ettes is no new comer to the indie scene. The Ettes released its first full-length album in 2006, and by 2008 the band was supporting the likes of The Black Keys, Kings of Leon and The Dead…
Chuck Norris Only Listens to A Welcome Distraction
The Bible on Kicking Ass, an album title still in-the-making for A Welcome Distraction, illustrates that the band is just that awesome. Hailing from El Monte, this alternative rock group is all about the nostalgia of our childh...
Movin’ on Up
Dom Kennedy is an independent hip-hop musician from Leimert Park, Los Angeles. While larger record labels mass-produce hip-hop artists so generic you can’t remember a single song they wrote a month after the album drops, Kenn...
I am He as You are He as. . .
Take a beautiful brunette at the microphone, a quick-witted and talented guitar player and throw them in a van with a little bit of Aaron Gillespie. What do you get? The rising indie band He is We. Right now, the…
Tighten Those Bolts
Rock and roll will never get away from the essential sound that came out of the ‘50s. Artists like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis made music that future musicians of the genre either parallel or build upon&hel...
Three Words That Became Easy to Say
Bob Crawford longed for one last hurrah. The bassist for roots rockers The Avett Brothers was preparing for the next chapter of his life—grad school—leaving behind his persona as a bar-band musician.
But he couldn’t igno...
