P.J. Harvey

Get Lost in the Virulent Tumblr Maelstrom of Lady Lamb the Beekeeper's Aly Spaltro

How best to tag the restless, reactive folk-pop of Lady Lamb the Beekeeper? So many ways, dude: rambunctious, precocious, invigorating, probing, sweet, exasperating, quirky, self-indulgent, lunging, crackers, too sane, even. The outfit led by Brooklyn's Aly Spaltro, 23 -- named after something she s ... More >>

Those "Influential" Albums Being Discussed on Facebook? They're Garbage

Influentialalbums.com is a "quiz" one of your Facebook friends might've posted, boasting "Very few people own 70 or more. How many have you got?" and listing 100 albums ranging from the duh (Blonde on Blonde, Pet Sounds) to the hmmm (Gerry Rafferty? Felt??) to the genuinely bizarre (well, see below) ... More >>

Fall Guide 2012: Books

The Myth of the Happy Hooker Debunked in Blunt and Beautiful Whores' Glory

Six Songs That I Might Be OK With Waking Up To Every Morning If I Was Trapped In A Groundhog Day-Like Purgatorial Existence

Today is Groundhog Day, and while rodents on the East Coast are split on whether or not 2012 will actually see something resembling winter around these parts, one thing's for sure: People will probably watch the 1993 Harold Ramis-directed Bill Murray vehicle Groundhog Day, in which the comedian play ... More >>

Beyonce, Nicki, and Merrill Get Optimistic

Finding the bright side of 2011

Pazz & Jop 2011: Seth Colter Walls On Craig Taborn, Matana Roberts, And Voting From The Fringe

To supplement this year's Pazz & Jop launch, Sound of the City asked a few critics to expand on the reasonings behind their voting. We'll start off the series with Seth Colter Walls of New York City, who has a constant itch to do the deep dive and find the single-voter albums out there. Find his bal ... More >>

The 11 Most Infuriating Songs Of 2011, No. 4: Brian McFadden, "Just The Way You Are (Drunk At The Bar)"

The Song: Brian McFadden, "Just The Way You Are (Drunk At The Bar)" The Crimes: Setting sexual assault fantasies to the dulcet strains of "Cotton Eyed Joe," as remixed by a David Guetta clone. As has been the case for too many years now, 2011's year-end polls have ended in a wave of proclamations ... More >>

Sound Of The City's 2011 NBA Preview: Each Team, Paired With An Album From The Past Year

Think of the orange car as a clue. ​The resurrected NBA season kicks off (thankfully, finally) on Sunday. To celebrate, we've paired each team with a notable album from the past year; the list, with tweet-sized justifications, is below. (NB, although the NBA-savvy of you might have already fig ... More >>

Q&A: Pistolera's Sandra Velasquez On Singing In Spanish, Criss-Crossing The Country, And Rapid-Response Songwriting

M. Sharkey​The powerhouse NYC quartet Pistolera started out meshing uptempo, Latin party music with politically engaged lyrics, but on their third release El Desierto y la Ciudad (Luchadora), they shift into a more atmospheric mode, offering a suite of songs meant to be heard in sequence and a ... More >>

Q&A: EMA's Erika M. Anderson On How To Shock People Using Stolen Classic-Rock Lyrics And Firing A Gun At Age 14

William Rahilly​With her excellent debut Past Life Martyred Saints, former Gown Erika M. Anderson (a.k.a. EMA) has been causing quite a stir for dense sonics and harshly comic narratives that haven't been this critically acclaimed since the heyday of certain Seattlites. Or, if you let her tell ... More >>

Q&A: Marianne Faithfull On Her Critics, Her Voice, And The Rolling Stones' Brian Jones

​ "Either you like my voice or you don't," Marianne Faithfull says in a deep, husky breath. "If people come to my music expecting my pretty voice, or anything pretty, they're going to be disappointed and they're going to hate it. It's much better to come to my work and say, 'This is going to b ... More >>

Steve Albini Has a Food Blog

Steve Albini, not cooking food.​Steve Albini is one of the music world's most renowned and prolific recording engineers: he's made his mark on an estimated 1,500-2,000 albums from the likes of Nirvana, the Pixies, Fugazi, PJ Harvey, Will Oldham, Low, Joanna Newsom, and Jarvis Cocker. He's also ... More >>

A Brief List Of Female Singer-Songwriters Who Might Not Fit The "White Girl With Acoustic Guitar" Mold, But Who Certainly Shouldn't Be Ignored By Overly Strict '90s Revivalists

Where, indeed. ​Hey, so the new Jane Pratt venture XOJane launched today! And one of the Sassy granddaughter's first music-related articles is Yet Another Thing About The Now Gingrich-Assisted '90s Fetishism Happening Right Now, in which Emily McCombs pleads, "Can the '90s Revival Include Fema ... More >>

Spring Arts Guide: The Feelies Get Perpetually Nervous All Over Again

Plus CSS, Adele, and other spring music picks

SXSW Cheat Sheet 2011

An assortment of local bands heading to Texas for beer, BBQ, and maximum blogability

Download: Julie Christmas Covers Jacque Brel's "If You Go Away"

Yes In My Backyard is a semiweekly column showcasing MP3s from new and emerging local talent. Seldon Hunt​Julie Christmas is best known as wailing, barking, bloodletting dervish fronting Brooklyn's most emotionally complex metal band, Made Out Of Babies--a performer capable of unpredictable h ... More >>

Video Premiere: Lia Ices, "Grown Unknown"

Yes In My Backyard is a semiweekly column showcasing MP3s from new and emerging local talent. Eric Ogden​Uplifting in a Kate Bush way, uneasy in a Cat Power way, the 2008 debut from Brooklyn dreamcatcher Lia Ices was a slept-on slow-burner full of haunting crooning, minimalist pianos, and shi ... More >>

Yes In My Backyard: Download Bloody Panda's "Pusher"

Yes In My Backyard is a semiweekly column showcasing MP3s from new and emerging local talent. Tommy Kearns​New York's Bloody Panda are downright scientific with their avant-gloom. Second album Summon (Profound Lore) layers riffs to perfection and then shoots out in all directions: art-splatt ... More >>

Tonight! Jenny Lewis vs. PJ Harvey, and the Vision Festival Begins

Jenny Lewis in Sweet Temptation (Part 4) Fair-haired girl-next-door Jenny Lewis, the former child actress and Rilo Kiley heartthrob, plays the Music Hall of Williamsburg in support of her latest solo release, Acid Tongue, a sugary country album that's found a place in entrenched Nashville. Lewis g ... More >>

The Kills+the Horrors

PJ Harvey, Mary-Louise Parker Can't Save Hedda Gabler

Don't blame the actors. Swedish bad-boy August Strindberg isn't around to attend the Roundabout Theatre Company's new production of Hedda Gabler, but he did chime in on the play back when he first read it in 1891. Comparing the Ibsen piece to his own plays The Father and Creditors, Strindberg wrot ... More >>

BEEN HERE AND BACK

She's not just angry 'cuz she's from Boston

Adem Tonight at Union Hall

Hugs and Kisses #38: New Bloods' Kill Rock Stars Record

Learning to Fly Solo

Canadian rock stars alternately please crowd, themselves

Ancient Maneaters of the Future

The year's best-selling album made mass culture sound vapid; the year's hottest auteur made vapidity sound transcendent

The Friends of Diplo: A Report Card

The Death and Possible Rebirth of Alt-Rock Radio

Let me defrock you, oh liar of the orifice, but about yer blues . . .

Singer-Songwriting Local Averts Gaze of Large Jungle Cats

Squirt You

August precedents, timely details, and timeless novelties you will find nowhere else

We Got A Lot

Kvelling over damn near a dozen meanings of life, their average length close to an hour

Into the Cut

A French triple threat's fearless debut feature reopens wounds and redefines 'skin flick'

Electric Lady Land

Innocence Executed by Ohm

La Musique Nostalgique

Happy Gilmore

Listings

Tori’s Got a Gun

Love the Sun, Lasso the Moon

Theater

A-OK

Like Our New Direction?

Five Years and Eight Hours

Elastica Out of Control

Queers in Space

DUMBA Takes Off

Too Sweet To Die

Consumer Guide

Consumer Guide

Six of these 12 picks recast known compositions, and only two of the six are in the rock tradition. But I did find one medium-obscure alt band worth writing about. One.

Letters

Confess Nothing

Consumer Guide