 |
Steve Hauschildt is the quiet member of the trio Emeralds; his solo output is slim compared to the volumes amassed by bandmates John Elliott and Mark McGuire. His first widely available (non-CD-R) album is accordingly economical, making the most of its materials. It's not minimal, but it's rapturously focused. No gesture is wasted, and his pinging synthesizer fugues roll like perpetual motion machines. Klaus Schulze, Durutti Column and Detroit techno's John Beltran inform the dewy arpeggios, but the music is a universe of its own making. [Philip Sherburne]
Hear It Now! |
Kris Kringle is quite the mystery. Some believe he's just a jolly good fella that can do no wrong; others are a little more suspicious. What exactly does he do with those reindeer in the off-season? Who is he really kissing under the mistletoe? Artists like 
Holiday music is not just reserved for the fair crooner. In fact, many an indie artist has been struck with yuletide fever — or has at least shivered enough through a December day to be inspired to sing about hard winters and white snow. So this isn’t strictly hall-decking, bell-jingling music, but rather an array of tunes that represent both the jolly and the melancholy of the holiday season, from covers by 
One of America's most successful indie labels doesn't run out of Brooklyn or Portland or L.A., but rather the modest metropolis of Durham, N.C., home of the Blue Devils of Duke University and the Bull Durham Tobacco Factory. It may not be the likeliest of habitats for a record label to blossom, but Merge Records has slowly risen to indie-powerhouse status. 
As 2011 starts to wind down, we're highlighting some of the last remaining releases of the year. It's a mix of luscious dream pop from the likes of M83, Atlas Sound and newcomers Blouse, alongside creepy electro-pop from none other than the filmmaker weirdo David Lynch, symphonic rock from former Oasis man Noel Gallagher, bold romantic pop from Florence + the Machine and My Brightest Diamond, and even a new Twilight soundtrack for the tween in us all. There are also some tasty singles and EPs from Mazzy Star (!), Kurt Vile, moody post-punkers The Soft Moon and downtempo Grecians Keep Shelly in Athens.
Once upon a time, there was a young doe-eyed beauty of rising Hollywood fame. An inspiration for deadpan girls with cutesy fashion sense and a taste for retro indie-pop, she had everything but her Prince Charming. One day she met a like-minded lad, bespectacled and slightly nerdy, but nonetheless a sensitive troubadour of rising hipster fame. He claimed he would "possess" her heart; she batted her eyes and purred, "You really got a hold on me."
With Rhapsody turning 10 years old next month, let's flash back exactly a decade to salute the class of 2001 — the generation that brought us, for better or for worse, the hipster.
Devoted readers of The Mix (hi, mom!) might remember that my last 
Rhapsody named 
LateNightTales is a mixtape series that "invites the world's best artists to delve deep into their music collections to create the ultimate 'late night' selection." 
Over the last decade or so, many Latin artists have carved out a new style by stitching indie rock, hip-hop, electronic and pop together with folk and traditional music to create a sonic tapestry that's at once comfortably familiar and chicly cutting-edge. New York outfit 
When 
For this month's Indie Roundup, we highlight a couple dozen new releases. We include big names like Björk, Feist, Ryan Adams and Wilco, but we also put the spotlight on several underground greats like '90s revivalists Big Troubles, minimalist dream-poppers Gem Club, manic garage-rocker Mikal Cronin, bedroom-pop lamenter Youth Lagoon, and Swedish electro-shoegazers I Break Horses. Discover some great new music here!
I've made a personalized mixtape every month for the last five years, combining au courant new hits, old favorites, random stuff overheard in convenience stores, Songs of Personal Emotional Relevance (the one from August 2008 mostly involves my wedding, which explains, for example, "
There's an 
Pop punk is one big, fat oxymoron if you think about it, but if The Ramones were the first punk band, then "Blitzkrieg Bop'" and their obvious affection for teenybopper pop also made them the first pop punk band. Punk, in its earthiest of roots, may just be poppier than any self-aware devotee would ever admit. But since The Ramones, the genre branched off into several differing sectors, some more snot-nosed and anarchic than others. This Cheat Sheet highlights more of the latter: groups that nail the requisite sneer but add irresistible pop charm that even a mom could love (well, maybe), full of punks more likely to scream about orgasm addictions, getting stoned in the afternoon, suburban stagnancy and losing their nose-ringed sweetheart than any unjust isms. Starting with 1976's Ramones, we travel through time and highlight 20 of pop punk's most successful and influential albums to see how the genre has grown, changed and thrived.
There are certain bands you choose, and certain bands that choose you. It seems like the latter catch you when it matters -- when the time, place and circumstances are just right. For me, 
Oxford, Miss.'s Fat Possum Records was founded in 1992 with an initial mission to discover and endorse local blues musicians like 
With the arrival of Alice Cooper's new record, Welcome 2 My Nightmare -- a concept-album sequel to his 1975 classic 
You already know the story: two decades ago, Seattle, Sub Pop and grunge became regular topics of conversation among music geeks, rock writers and those most fickle consumers of all, teenagers. It can be argued 
In case you were wondering, yes, I was one of those people who would spend months perfecting a mixtape, design a collage of artwork for it, and then shyly hand over the cassette tape to some crush I mooned over in hopes that she would get my special "message." Don't front like you didn't do that, too.
What's new in indie? Oh, just your usual hodgepodge of eclectic sounds from eclectic artists. Veteran indie dudes (Stephin M. and Stephen M.), Brazilian booty-shakers, Philly rockers, Canadian all-stars, Swedish popsters and more take over our August edition of the Indie Roundup, featuring notable new releases and singles. 
Ah, to partake in the miracle of flight. We all love to bitch about it, don't we? 
Bow down to Deadmau5, oh ye water-logged masses. Pics by Garrett Kamps.
Just sing, man: CeeLo does his Rock God thing. Pics by Garrett Kamps
The rise of Sub Pop Records is a tale of Cinderella stature: Prince Charming came in the form of a rogue Aberdeen poet, and the rest, as they say, is history. But that was only the beginning of the story. From longhaired grunge to squeaky-clean indie folk to a world-music imprint and now hip-hop, the Seattle label has proven time and again to be one of the most reliable tastemakers in the biz. For over two decades, they've helped define whatever "indie music" is, or soon will be.
Some high school memories aren't so good.
Latin alternative music, like anything lurking under that ambiguous "alt" umbrella, is a hodgepodge hive of sounds, ranging from gritty rock to twee pop, from experimental electronic music to quirky hip-hop. But one aspect of the sound is easy to pin down: initially a kind of boys' club (or at least a club in which admittedly very talented boys got most of the attention), the world of Latin alt has recently been invaded by captivating, critically acclaimed, incredibly talented female artists. In fact, there are so many fresh new female faces in this world that we're focusing here primarily on women working in the cantautor (aka singer-songwriter) tradition, and saving the hard-rocking outfits, punk bands and emcees for another time. But even within that concentration, a wealth of sonic diversity exists, from Juana Molina's ambient electro-pop to Rita Indiana's techno-merengue, from Pistolera's folklorico rock to indie-pop darling Ximena Sariñana, whose masterful self-titled sophomore album dropped this week.
When I tell people I work in the music biz, the first question they ask is the obvious one: "What types of music do you like?" I find this akin to asking a chef their favorite food, or a pedophile their favorite Haley Joel Osment movie. I didn't gravitate toward this field because I wanted to lobby for the cultural merits of early-'80s straight-edge or West Coast cool jazz (though I would, happily, for both). I landed here because I find it endlessly fascinating that so many different types of folks choose to express themselves so differently using music, and that they do it over and over again, and have been for literally millennia. I love the mess of it all, not to mention the fact that it thrives in spite of -- at least in the last 100 or so years -- a massive capitalist machine whose inner workings are as calculating and mechanical as an auto mill's (and this is coming from someone who's part of that machine). It's pretty amazing when you think about it. I mean, like -- take that, painting.
Click here to listen to the entire playlist: 
As a heatwave descends upon the country, Team Rhapsody is ironing its Jantzen bathing suit in anticipation of the twentieth installment of Lollapalooza, August 5-7 in Chicago's Grant Park. If you can't make it, fear not: We shall be in attendance, interviewing artists, snapping photos, and reporting on the various shenanigans (looking at you, 
The much-lauded second album by 
Discover fresh sounds from a diverse lineup of indie artists. In our latest roundup of new releases, we cover chillwave champions, dreamy folkies, quirky sirens and even a mysterious masked man. Read all about them and play away.
Welcome to the final installment of 
During its first week out, Justin Vernon's sophomore album under the name 
Welcome to another edition of 
One aspect of summer that never fails to surprise is that the year is now nearly half over: we are closer to 2011's year-end critics-poll season than we are to 2010's. You've started drafting your own Top 10 list already, right? No? You haven't? Don't panic: here, Rhapsody's genre editors each pick their five favorite records of the year so far. How many will survive until November? Which ones will be replaced by Lil Wayne, by Beyoncé, by the soundtrack to Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark? Time will tell, but for now, here are our picks for the year's best, half a year early. 
It's time for another look into the past month of new indie releases. We've got the vets (Death Cab, My Morning Jacket, Thurston Moore, Arctic Monkeys), along with some buzz-y newcomers (Cults, Givers, Foster the People) and exclusive live sets from indie mainstays Deerhunter and Kurt Vile. For more info on each release, read on and play away.
You think "alternative" is a confusing, ambiguous, meaningless term? Try "Latin alternative." Does it mean a Latin band that plays, um, mainstream alt-rock? Or an artist that offers an alternative to Latin pop? And isn't every Latin band an alternative to the American rock mainstream? Yes? No? Maybe? Forget the semantics and just take a listen to the crème de la crème of albums that have come out under that heading in the last couple months. We've rounded up a Top 10 that includes American electro-poppers who sing in Spanish, Mexican garage rockers who sing in English, Argentinean psychedelica, Venezuelan dance punks and post-grunge rockers who pack soccer stadiums across the Latin American world. There's an alternative for everyone.
London truly was swinging back in 1991. With a little help (read: hype) from music weeklies such as NME, Melody Maker and Sounds, new stars were being made at clubs such as Syndrome and Blow Up, while Camden-area pubs such as The Good Mixer overflowed with young Brit-pop stars nightly. It didn't take long before the music — and the legendary, drunken stories of those of those who made it — made its way to America. And although the release of 
We must admit that Tuesday is our favorite day of the week here at Rhapsody: that's when new releases come out. Thankfully, the next three months of Tuesdays look absolutely glorious, full of fresh music from ukulele-brandishing rockers, electronic pioneers, strident country hit makers, unabashed pop divas, unrepentant metalheads, CCM luminaries, contenders for Best Rapper Alive honors, soul superstars and, of course, Lady Gaga. Here's the best of what's to come.
Over the last few years, modern folk men have swept the indie landscape with as much reckless abandon as the pelts covering their faces. The bold and oftentimes bearded troubadours have once again made mandolins hip and banjos a trendy accessory. But it's not all about the hair or the gear. There's often something mystical in the folk artist, like he knows something we all don't and this lingering awareness drives a passion that is translated into electrifying music, even if there's little more than the strum of an acoustic guitar to carry it through. Today's folkies all share this trait, and while they are students of the rustic and raw revival scenes of '50s, '60s and '70s America and Britain, they are also revelers in the uninhibited world of indie rock. 
When it comes to adventures in music, you can do a lot worse than Coachella - a kaleidoscope of bands and fans spanning all manner of genres and scenes. Rhapsody sent its rock editor, 
Portions of album content provided by All Music Guide © 2011 All Media Guide, LLC ® 1999-2011 Rhapsody International Inc.