Apr 09, 2014 By Hays Davis Web Exclusive

When it appeared in the spring of 1983, Aztec Camera‘s debut album, High Land, Hard Rain, was an acoustic-driven breath of fresh air. Led by teenaged singer/songwriter/guitarist Roddy Frame, the Scottish band offered a batch of memorable songs that deserved a broader audience than they reached at the time, from the infectious “Oblivious” and “Pillar to Post” to the introspective “The Bugle Sounds Again.”

Apr 08, 2014 By Chris Tinkham Issue #49 - February/March 2014 - Portlandia

Warpaint vocalists/guitarists Theresa Wayman and Emily Kokal share a musical connection that dates back to when they met in choir class at the age of 11. The two friends, growing up in Eugene, Oregon, walked along the same route to school and would make up songs along the way.

Apr 07, 2014 By John Everhart Real Estate

Pensive, languid melodies are the name of the game on Real Estate‘s third LP, Atlas. The band largely jettisons the influences of its New Jersey brethren Yo La Tengo and The Feelies throughout this soft-hewn album, instead nodding heavily to ‘80s Brit cult icons Felt. Frontman Martin Courtney concurs.

Apr 04, 2014 By Cody Ray Shafer Small Black

Minutes before Small Black‘s energetic and dance-fueled set at one of Under the Radar‘s SXSW 2014 parties last month, they were lamenting the somber feeling that hovered in the atmosphere, amid the cool spring breeze and food truck smells.

Apr 03, 2014 By Cody Ray Shafer Web Exclusive

It’s been four years since Avi Buffalo‘s breezy guitar pop-infused self-titled debut was released by Sub Pop in 2010. Frontman and songwriter Avi Zahner-Isenberg officially confirmed in February that a new album is on the way.

Apr 02, 2014 By Frank Valish Web Exclusive

Dum Dum Girls’ third full-length album, Too True, represents a new chapter in the musical life of frontwoman Dee Dee (who used to go by Dee Dee Penny, but now prefers no surname). After the tragic death of her mother, which informed 2011’s Only In Dreams, Dee Dee slowly started to exorcise her pain and hurt. The band’s subsequent End of Daze EP found her

Apr 01, 2014 By Matt Fink Issue #49 - February/March 2014 - Portlandia

Sharon Jones admits that she didn’t want to do the video for “Stranger to My Happiness,” the second single from her new album, Give the People What They Want.

Apr 01, 2014 By Laura Studarus Spandau Ballet

At first listen, one wouldn’t necessarily draw a line between Spandau Ballet and Lou Reed.

Mar 31, 2014 By Matt Fink Issue #49 - February/March 2014 - Portlandia

Sharon Jones has always been a fighter. Though she has been singing her whole life, doing talent shows and singing backup on some obscure albums in the ‘70s and ‘80s, she had to fight for anyone to think she could be more than a former Rikers Island corrections officer with a booming voice.