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
Crate Digging 101: Uncleared Samples, Piracy or Creativity?
No sound is original. Otis Reading’s crooning can’t be missed in the hook of the Kanye West-produced “Otis.” Kelis’ angry monologue featured on “Caught Out There” addictively loops throughout James Blake’s “CMYK.” From hip-hop to dubstep, songs that we’ve grown to love due to their complexity and inventiveness are often just variations of throwbacks from past generations. Unbeknownst to many, beat producers are hard at work in the studio mixing,… continue reading
Music Recommendations From a Sexist Pig
What I am about to say will make me sound like a jerk. I’ve had good friends criticize me for it: I don’t like (most) female singers. Many times, I’ve been listening to a new band with a great intro, when suddenly a girl’s voice starts singing and I’m instantly turned off. I don’t know why. I’ve tried to figure it out for years. I know one element is that… continue reading
A Q&A with: White Arrows
White Arrows were kind enough to sit down with me after their gig opening for The Naked And Famous. The L.A based band easily claimed their territory as a band to watch with their beach infused electronic rock. Between the Hawaiian shirts, raw energy, and their down to earth nature, White Arrows won the Paradise over that night. The White Arrows is Mickey Schiff (frontman), Henry Schiff (drums), J.P. Caballero… continue reading
Oct 06 2011
Local Festival Targets All Senses
Our friends from the Slaughterhouse Gallery are expanding to new outlets, venues and formats. Think bigger and better. Anyone following the underground promoters may recall their event over the summer at Yes.Oui.Si.. This Saturday will bring the same great programming with an ambitious new leap in scale. The first Kill Joy Festival will take place this Saturday in Central Square, Cambridge. Filling a variety of venues, the festival will feature… continue reading
The Art of Electronica
At 6 p.m. on a Tuesday, everything from the open containers of Chinese take-out in his kitchen to the video game system in his living room seems typical of a 24-year-old’s apartment. What a visitor might miss, however, is that Jason Pavlow is more than just your average Chinese food-loving twenty-something. He is also part of a group of technology-savvy ‘basement DJs.’ A graduate of Southern Connecticut State University, Pavlow… continue reading
Running the Show
We’ve all been in the crowd at live shows watching our favorite musicians play. But, when the tables are turned and you become one of the people working a show, it changes the perspective. It’s a lot of work to make even the smallest events happen. Last weekend, my friends and I helped run an event with three bands and three DJs that sold out The Middle East upstairs, a… continue reading