Jul 11, 2018
By Charles Steinberg
Rafiq Bhatia
When visualizing a lone guitarist, our cultural normalization might bring to mind someone strumming or picking fancifully, searching for footing on a melody or chord and humming along. Now erase that imagery.
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Jul 06, 2018
By Lee Adcock
Web Exclusive
Our private lives are what make us human. Uncanny patterns of rationale weave through our daily habits; mental checklists track our progress to tiny goals that would surely shrink further in the light of everyone else’s big ambitions.
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Jun 25, 2018
By Matt Fink
Mount Eerie
“Absurd”—that’s the word Phil Elverum uses to describe the last year. In early 2017, he released A Crow Looked at Me, his universally-praised examination of the devastation brought on by the death of his wife, artist and songwriter Geneviève Castrée.
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Jun 22, 2018
By Matt Conner
Issue #63 - Courtney Barnett
Alex Kapranos begins with a blank slate-an honest to goodness real blank slate. No preconceived ideas. No thematic direction. No cares or concerns for where Franz Ferdinand has gone in the past or where they’re expected to head in the future. The band, he says, has to be selfish that way.
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Jun 21, 2018
By Ben Jardine
GUM
For fans of Tame Impala and its many side projects, few might be familiar with the solo work of one of both group’s common denominators: Jay Watson, aka GUM. Watson—a multi-instrumentalist—is known for playing drums, bass, keyboards, and synths in both Tame Impala and POND.
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Jun 19, 2018
By Kyle Mullin
Wye Oak
You pour your heart into it. You dedicate hours, long nights, lingering years to it. You strive until your muscles and mind and emotions sear from the strain. And finally, when it’s in your grasp, and yet you still have to wrestle with it… well, then what?
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Jun 18, 2018
By Matt Fink
Tune-Yards
When Merrill Garbus began work on Tune-Yards’ I Can Feel You Creep Into My Personal Life in January 2016, she had a difficult decision to make. How should an artist—especially one who tries to use her life and work to contribute to dialogs surrounding difficult topics in her native Oakland, California—react to the era of Black Lives Matter and President Donald Trump?
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Jun 15, 2018
By Mark Redfern
Okkervil River
To end the week, we ask Will Sheff of Okkervil River some questions about endings and death. Sheff is the singer/songwriter/main creative force behind the band, which formed in Austin in 1998 and has had various lineups over the years, with Sheff the sole constant.
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Jun 14, 2018
By Ben Jardine
Web Exclusive
With wisdom beyond her years, Greta Kline of Frankie Cosmos has made a name for herself as both an economic and impactful songwriter. On her latest album, Vessel, Kline shifts her lens from describing physical places to describing connections of a more abstract, mind-body nature.
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Jun 12, 2018
By Matt Conner
MGMT
A steep learning curve presents itself when your debut summits not only numerous year-end lists but is instantly immortalized on rankings labeled “Best Albums Ever.”
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