May 30, 2011 By Lauren Barbato Akron/Family

Having a conversation with Akron/Family’s Seth Olinsky is a lot like listening to one of their albums unfold in its entirety. It swells and builds from one vaguely connected thought to another, all the while working on a seemingly higher level of consciousness that Olinsky swears is just an effect from an absurd amount of coffee consumption.

May 27, 2011 By Kenny S. McGuane Wild Beasts

Kendal, England’s Wild Beasts have just released their third album, Smother, to what is pretty much worldwide acclaim. Known for their elaborate but spacious arrangements and the flabbergasting vocal techniques of the male alto Hayden Thorpe, Wild Beasts make music where the weird meets the gorgeous, the creepy meets the sexy and the devastating meets the inspirational.

May 26, 2011 By Hays Davis Booker T. Jones

Booker T. Jones was a master of musical economy from the start. After settling in as a studio musician for Stax Records in Memphis, Jones formed Booker T. and the M.G.‘s with fellow Stax players in 1962, and the instrumental group enjoyed hit singles of their own while serving as the label’s house band.

May 26, 2011 By Matt Fink #36 - Music vs. Comedy

The late Andy Kaufman once bristled at the suggestion that he was a comedian, contending that comedians told jokes while he was simply an entertainer, an artist who would use whatever he had—songs, props, characters—to make you laugh. As the 2006 winner of “The Andy Kaufman Award,” Reggie Watts is also an entertainer for whom the word “comedian” seems insufficient.

May 25, 2011 By Matt Fink Web Exclusive

As indie bands and comedians have been sharing bills long enough that it’s no longer a novelty, the question of whether they should is rarely asked. But Michael Ian Black has always been the inquisitive sort, and after years of sharing stages with music acts, he has some questions.

May 24, 2011 By Kyle Lemmon Josh T. Pearson

Country-folk singer/songwriter Josh T. Pearson (ex-Lift to Experience) slurs his words like a true Texan. This spring he is back from wandering the wilderness with his first suite of songs in 10 years, Last of the Country Gentleman. The record touches on such old pop music themes as love, despair, and regret, but the 37-year-old artist’s delivery is labyrinth-like and truly haunting. It’s a spartan record that stays with you for quite some time. As such, we called up the son of a preacher man about his life over the past decade and trying to surmount past woes through cathartic music.

May 23, 2011 By Matt Fink Eugene Mirman

It’s hard to say exactly what it is that makes Eugene Mirman such an obvious fit for indie rock listeners—his distinctly absurdist outsider perspective, his understatedly shrugging demeanor, his full embrace of non-mainstream media—but few comedians have been as widely embraced by fans of underground music.

May 20, 2011 By Matt Fink Superchunk

As one of the few artists who can legitimately claim dual citizenship in both the music and comedy worlds, Jon Wurster has witnessed firsthand the evolution of the relationship between the two scenes. Having kicked around the indie rock scene for nearly three decades now, ending up with fulltime gigs drumming with both Superchunk and Mountain Goats, he is also one-half of the team behind The Best Show on WFMU, the long-running radio program hosted by writer and comedian Tom Scharpling.

May 19, 2011 By Matt Fink #36 - Music vs. Comedy

Looking over the history of musical comedy, from Vaudeville to Monty Python and “Weird Al” Yankovic to The Lonely Island, one would get the impression that having a Y-chromosome is a prerequisite for being able to write and sing funny songs. But don’t tell that to Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome, the duo behind Garfunkel and Oates and the stars of an upcoming HBO series that will bring to life their delightfully twisted slice-of-life observations. With sugary sweet harmonies and lullaby hooks prettying up songs about handjobs (“I Don’t Understand Job”) and getting medical marijuana prescriptions (“Weed Card”), their music is as playfully charming as it cleverly subversive.