Kimbra discusses the unusual influences behind her second record The Golden Echo, why songwriting is like making a tapestry, and the importance of balancing the technical with the creative.
Interview: Kimbra
Interview: Randy Strohmeyer of Finch
Guitarist Randy Strohmeyer talks about reuniting for Finch’s first album in over nine years, why he doesn’t like What It Is to Burn being referred to as nostalgic, and how the band always tries to keep things mysterious and tongue in cheek.
Interview: Adam Duritz of Counting Crows
Frontman Adam Duritz shares how Counting Crows were reenergized on the new album Somewhere Under Wonderland, why it’s important to play cover songs, how he finally made peace with his mental illness, and the reason the band has lasted so long.
Review: The Gaslight Anthem – Get Hurt
“Completely different than anything we had ever done before.”
That’s the description that Brian Fallon, frontman for New Jersey rock band The Gaslight Anthem, gave to Rolling Stone in regards to Get Hurt, the band’s fifth full-length studio album. In fact, in the lead up to this record, Fallon made numerous statements just like that, talking about how he and his band spent the writing and recording sessions for album number five listening to famous records where bands had changed course and gotten “weird.” For some, hearing Fallon reference U2’s Achtung Baby and how it took that band’s sound in a completely new direction was reason to become uneasy. After all, The Gaslight Anthem is a band that has made a career out of following small progressions from album to album, changing up the themes, lyrics, and song structures, but always maintaining the same core Jersey rock and roll sound. The prospect of a “weird” Gaslight Anthem album was nerve-wracking because, for many, imagining what that album could even possibly sound like was borderline impossible.
Read More “The Gaslight Anthem – Get Hurt”Interview: Jack Antonoff of Bleachers
Jack Antonoff discusses starting Bleachers, the lyrical and musical ides behind debut album Strange Desire, writing with others, and why it’s hard for some people to accept a person being in two bands at the same time.
Interview: Christo Bowman of Bad Suns
Frontman Christo Bowman talks about the process behind Bad Suns’ debut album Language & Perspective, not following trends by making your own path, and why chemistry is the most valuable thing to have in a band.
Interview: Anberlin: The Exit Interview (Part Three)
Guitarist Christian McAlhaney compares his experiences in Anberlin and Acceptance, remembers first joining the band and fitting in right away, recalls working on Dark Is the Way and Vital, and clarifies why being a touring musician can be simultaneously joyous and difficult.
Interview: Anberlin: The Exit Interview (Part Two)
Lead singer Stephen Christian discusses Anberlin’s final album Lowborn, the excitement of the first two records, how being in the band taught him not to be scared to fail, and why leaving behind a legacy of responsibility is important.
Review: Real Friends – Maybe This Place Is The Same And We’re Just Changing
It seems a little strange that this feels less like a review for Real Friends’ first full-length Maybe This Place Is The Same And We’re Just Changing and more like a State of the Scene Address. After like a year of “outsiders” talking about “our” bands, people seem to be up in arms that an entity like Real Friends are getting discussed at all. Like it somehow ruins this faux-popularity that they didn’t even really like in the first place. Regardless of what you think about Pitchfork’s Ian Cohen and to a certain extent someone like Noisey’s Dan Ozzi, a vast majority of diehard fans have spent the past few months wondering if all of this emo proselytizing is even a good thing. Leave it to the Internet generation to find a new way to condemn bands for selling out, like being good at your fucking job is some sort of cross to bear.
Read More “Real Friends – Maybe This Place Is The Same And We’re Just Changing”Review: Joyce Manor – Never Hungover Again
The first rule of listening to Joyce Manor is not turning Joyce Manor into a quote unquote big deal. In a culture that’s always so eager to deem something the “next big thing,” it’s only natural that bloggers and journalists alike have turned their ears and eyes towards the Torrance, CA quartet. But here’s a new flash – Joyce Manor only wants to play super-catchy punk in super-efficient bursts of auditory ecstasy. The band isn’t here to defend pop-punk, revive emo, or save rock and roll – rather Joyce Manor just wants to have a good time, play some solid tunes, and maybe have an adult beverage or five afterwards.
Read More “Joyce Manor – Never Hungover Again”Interview: Anberlin: The Exit Interview (Part One)
Drummer Nate Young explains why 2014 will be Anberlin’s last year, sheds light on those weird album covers, reflects upon Cities and New Surrender, and talks about how starting in the band at the age of 15 molded him into the man he is today.
Review: Anberlin – Lowborn
I will forever defend the right of a band to go out on their own terms. I’ve said before that I would happily follow any of my favorite artists years past relevance and ages after their creative apexes, but I am equally okay with bands who realize when it’s time to leave the party and decide to give their fans a proper goodbye. There’s something about a very consciously crafted swansong that can just be so perfect when executed correctly. And “the perfect swansong” is precisely what Anberlin are shooting for with Lowborn, their seventh full-length studio album, and their last.
Read More “Anberlin – Lowborn”Review: Four Year Strong – Go Down In History
You realize about five seconds into Go Down In History that Four Year Strong, the Worcester, MA-based quartet that exemplified the best parts of pop-punk’s “easy-core” subset with its first two full-length releases, has completely and unabashedly returned to form. This is, by all means, a great thing.
I hate using a phrase like “return to form”–a cliché with the best of them–but after the band’s 2011 (probably near-career-ending) effort In Some Way, Shape Or Form, it seems wholly appropriate. That last record showed an unfortunate take on Four Year Strong’s typical sound, one that was seemingly executed through a lens of trying too hard to “mature.” That might have been due to pressures at a major label or simply the band’s own desire to show growth in their art. Either way, it didn’t work very well, and Four Year Strong was left with an album that both alienated fans and didn’t see commercial or radio success.
Read More “Four Year Strong – Go Down In History”Review: Every Time I Die – From Parts Unknown
From Parts Unknown is Every Time I Die’s seventh full-length, yet it comes out of nowhere like a debut – feeling desperate, ferocious, and raw. You can attribute that feeling to producer (and Converge guitarist) Kurt Ballou, whom undoubtedly challenged and pushed the veteran band to the limit at Godcity Studios. Enlisting a producer of Ballou’s stature could only mean one thing regarding LP7 – a complete deconstruction of metalcore’s status quo. From Parts Unknown is stuffed with various twists and turns and sudden stylistic changes – tastefully mixed in with absolutely brutal compositions and utterly bleak lyricism.
Read More “Every Time I Die – From Parts Unknown”PVRIS Signs With Rise/Velocity Records
PVRIS has signed to Rise/Velocity Records.
Read More “PVRIS Signs With Rise/Velocity Records”