Maps and Atlases: A Q&A
If you aren’t already listening to Maps and Atlases then you clearly haven’t been reading Tastemakers long enough. Maps is a unique bands that combines a folk aesthetic with math rock experimentations. Their new album, Beware and Be Grateful, was released last month on Barsuk and they are playing this Friday (5/18) at the Middle East Downstairs. Some critics of the album have bemoaned its cleaner production, but talking with… continue reading
A Q&A With Delta Spirit
San Diego’s Delta Spirit have been winning fans over with their unique instrumentation ever since they started banging on trash can lids for their 2008 full-length Ode to Sunshine. And on their newest, self-titled effort, the five-piece is still trying new things, like recording in a converted church and working with renowned producer Chris Coady (Grizzly Bear, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Tastemakers got a chance to catch up with the band before… continue reading
Hot-chella
I’m not sure I’m sharing any new information when I say that Coachella was an amazing experience. It may have reached a high of 106F every day, but I have very few complaints. The festival ground is gorgeous but by the end of the weekend, the grass was dead and stuck to your legs when you sat down. The mountains and palm trees were a really nice change from Boston…. continue reading
Zammuto: a Q & A Preview
In the eternal wisdom of Del Paxton, “Ain’t no way to keep a band together. Bands come and go. You got to keep on playin’, no matter with who….” Yes, I just quoted That Thing You Do. Nick Zammuto’s sound-collage collaboration, The Books, broke up last year. He considered quitting music all together but friends and family convinced him to get back in to it right away. We’re all glad he… continue reading
Q&A With: Brad Oberhofer
With both a new album and a Coachella debut in view, Brad Oberhofer was able to have a quick phone chat with us and based on the conversation he seems both relaxed and excited about the wild year ahead of him. The 21-year old frontman of the four-man band, Oberhofer, has mastered the art of new wave rock combined with dreamy pop and his music makes it nearly impossible to… continue reading
Getting Past the Accents: The Universally Impactful Language of Foreign Rap
“Elite critics … write that rap must be produced in local places, not in corporate studios for the national market, to be authentic; that ‘‘the ghetto’’ is a site from which rap full of personal meaning emerges; and that foreign rap is aesthetically innovative and politically important when compared to domestic production,” write two UC San Diego sociology professors in their 2010 article* titled “Cosmopolitan preferences: The constitutive role of… continue reading
Q&A with Lazerbeak: Music, Munchies and LAVA BANGERS
Behind five furiously bouncing emcees that make up Minneapolis hip-hop collective Doomtree, stands Lazerbeak – rocking with equal fervor. The super producer creates in-your-face beats for the Doomtree, for P.O.S. and Sims, solo material and a project with Mike Mictlan called Hand Over Fist. Only months after the release of Doomtree’s critically acclaimed No Kings, Lazerbeak released his second solo record, LAVA BANGERS. Tastemakers sat down with Lazerbeak before Doomtree’s… continue reading
Coachella Line-Up 2012
This year’s Coachella line-up has a palette for everyone’s tastes. Artists range from Swedish DJ and master of house music, Avicii, to the melodious, indie-folk band, Bon Iver. Genres at the newly crowned two-weekend festival include techno, hip-hop, indie rock, folk, blues, garage rock, psychedelia and electronic. The sold-out festival has been catering to a mighty desert folk for thirteen years and this year’s line up recruited some of the… continue reading
The Top 10 Albums of 2011
10.“Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing” – The Wonder Years For a band whose two releases on No Sleep Records have both come within the last two years, it’s amazing to see how widespread feelings towards The Wonder Years have evolved from an appreciation of a Philadelphia pop-punk band’s uniqueness to a downright obsession. It’s not just that The Wonder Years’ musicianship, talent, and creativity… continue reading
Ode to Finals
It’s finals week. You know what that means? I have all my final papers, tests and projects due tomorrow. Have I attempted to conquer these beasts? No. Per usual, I have concocted a disjointed playlist and assigned it one strict duty: keep me awake and happy. These two ideas seem to run for the hills on finals night. It’s important to note that there are two types of music I… continue reading
A Day of Boston Music Store Hopping
When my dad was 12 years old, he eyed his grandmother’s victrola and asked, “Can I have this when you die?” When the day came, he did not remember saying that, but someone else did; now there’s a victrola standing in my family’s dining room. Yet, between victrolas and Apple products are records, cassettes and CDs, which form a surprisingly prolific market. On December 3rd, I set out to explore… continue reading