Brandon Soderberg

Critics Need to Lay Off Macklemore

The recently-crowned number one song in the country, as you probably know, is a Seattle-based white independent hip-hop artist's ode to shopping at thrift stores. I'm not sure exactly how the stars aligned and/or what Illuminati clerical error caused it to happen, but "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore and ... More >>

Pazz & Jop Voter Comments: The Personals

The 20 Worst Songs of 2010, #6: Salem, "Trap Door"

F2K10 is a countdown of the 20 worst songs of 2010. Track our progress here. The face of rap in 2010. Photo via MySpace.​Here are five compelling reasons why Salem is the worst new band of the year:

This Week in the Voice

​In this week's issue of the Voice, Steven Thrasher takes on the supposed racial discrimination of the New York City "6019" firefighter's exam. Black candidates have passed the test with flying colors and yet have been prevented from joining the FDNY after the test was deemed racist by federal ... More >>

This Week's Voice: Diddy, R. Kelly, Justin Townes Earle, and More

Request "Ass on the Floor." Photo by Travis Shinn.​In this week's Village Voice, Brandon Soderberg chats with Diddy on the eve of the release of his long-awaited Last Train to Paris, Mikael Wood rounds up the current crop of 2010 quiet storm r&b (R. Kelly, Ne-Yo, Jamine Sullivan, Faith Evans, ... More >>

This Week's Voice: AraabMuzik, My Chemical Romance, Orange Juice, Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, and More

My Chemical Romance go . . . Styx. Photo by Neil Krug.​In this week's Village Voice, Brandon Soderberg profiles the 21-year-old rap producer AraabMuzik, Christopher R. Weingarten is not impressed with the new record from My Chemical Romance, Francis Davis praises new efforts from Bill Frisell, ... More >>

This Week's Voice: Sam Amidon, Courtney Love, Little Brother, Harlem's Afro-Cuban Renaissance, Roky Erickson, The Human Centipede, and More

Little Brother: happy or not, it's an ending. Photo by Studio Kompleks​In this week's Village Voice, Rob Harvilla falls hard for Sam Amidon, the gentle, affable, R. Kelly-covering young folkie, while Camille Dodero applies a lifetime of Courtney Love-related knowledge to Hole's new Nobody's Da ... More >>

Week in Review: Shut It Down

Scenes from MtyMx. Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.​In the week LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy told our own Michael Musto to "eat it" and Musto sensibly retaliated by telling him to "suck it" right back, we spent a good chunk of the week unpacking the twin out-of-state enterprises that were SXSW and M ... More >>

This Week's Voice: tUnE-yArDs, Lil Wayne's Rebirth, Alan Lomax in Haiti, Steve McQueen, the Red Riding Triptych, and More

tUnE-yArDs, now proudly R-rated. Photo by Chrissy Piper.​In this week's Village Voice, Rob Harvilla conducts an occasionally embarrassing chat with one-woman feral folk sensation tUnE-yArDs (contains sex talk!), Brandon Soderberg catches up with Howard Stern's favorite headbanger, Richard Chri ... More >>

Michael Jackson and Hip-Hop

Guess which one of those things didn't die this year

This Week's Voice: Phish, G-Side, Phil Kline, I Slept With Joey Ramone, Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones, the Year's Best Graphic Novels, and More

Phil Kline gets into the holiday spirit. Photo by Tom Jarmuich​In this week's Village Voice, Rob Harvilla does the thing that probably everybody with a masochistic streak should probably do at least once, which is go to a Phish show at Madison Square Garden, while Brandon Soderberg meets up wi ... More >>

The Top 20 (and Far Beyond)

Big year for metal, hip-hop, and Paul Simon/pigfucker reconciliation

Kanye West's New "Flashing Lights" Video: A Partial Syllabus

The Top 10

Odes to fame, guns, and what we should've seen coming

That Which We Cranked

Charting our myriad obsessions, amusements, and confusions

Ten Favorite Moments From the Wu-Tang Clan's 8 Diagrams

Cam'ron's Best Song in Years

Kanye West's Graduation: A Preview

The (White) Rapper Show: Still Great