The Shins

Portugal. the Man and Danger Mouse's Not-So-"Evil" Friendship

When word started getting around about Portugal. the Man's next record, singer John Gourley put it out there that they'd be working with Brian Joseph Burton, aka Danger Mouse--of Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz and The Grey Album fame--and that the band was toying with the idea of writing "their" Dark Side ... More >>

The Ten Best Concerts in New York This Week, 5/13/13

Support live music and check out one of these 10 shows this week.

ASHES TO ASHES

Four Frenchmen take over the Apollo Theater

Shout Out Louds - Music Hall of Williamsburg - 3/11/13

Better Than: Blasting "Very Loud" very loud while driving down your old street with all the windows down. It's been three years since the last time Stockholm's Shout Out Louds came through the United States on tour, and about as much time has passed since the release of their last record. Now, the ... More >>

Get To Know the "Literally Psychedelic" Sounds of Jagjagjuwar's Foxygen

For Foxygen -- the songwriting duo of Sam France and Jonathan Rado -- 2012 was a year rife with experimentation, sound explorations and a ton of time logged either on their computers or at the studio. Though the feather-haired pair has been writing songs together since the age of 14, Foxygen release ... More >>

Damien Jurado Will Take Your Breakfast Food Related Question Now

Earlier this year, Seattle's Damien Jurado issued his tenth full-length album, Maraqopa, continuing his evolution from spectral, introspective folk whisperer to bold, ambitious, genre-splicing troubadour. It's his second album -- following 2010's Saint Bartlett -- helmed by fellow musician/bard Rich ... More >>

Beck's Sheet-Music Gambit And Six Other Alternatives To Just Putting Out A Boring Old Record

This week neo-pop superstar Beck announced the release of Song Reader, a new "album" in the form of sheet music. The finished product offers nothing to listen to; just 20 sheets of notation collected in a "lavishly produced hardcover carrying case," according to the publishing outfit McSweeney's, wh ... More >>

A History Of Rock And Roll, As Told Through 100 Riffs Selected By A Guitar Store Employee Who Really Likes Jack White

Here is a video put together by an employee of the Chicago Music Exchange that purports to tell the story of rock and roll in 100 guitar riffs, which the guy manages to do in a single take. (They're not all perfect, but you try winding your fingers around the guitar parts for "Hot For Teacher" and " ... More >>

Q&A: The Walkmen's Peter Bauer Talks Heaven, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, And Being A Parent

Earlier this year, the Walkmen hit their 10-year career mark, and on May 29 they'll give us their sixth studio album, Heaven, produced by Phil Ek (Built to Spill, The Shins, Fleet Foxes) and recorded in Seattle. Through the band's ups and downs, they've elevated to one of the most defining bands in ... More >>

Live: The Shins Grow Teeth At Terminal 5

The Shins w/St. Lucia Terminal 5 Sunday, April 29 Better than: A Shins concert five years ago. Halfway through the Shins' show at Terminal 5 on Sunday, the Portland indie rockers found their groove. Maybe it was the generous clang of cowbell or the strobe lights that ushered in new song "No Way ... More >>

In Honor of Record Store Day: As CDs Sales Plummet, Vinyl Finds Its Fifteen Minutes

It was announced in early January that Bleecker Bob's Golden Oldies, the record store on West Third Street that was a staple of Seinfeld and a personal favorite of Bob Dylan's, would be closing after 43 years of business as a result of the neighborhood's high rental demands. With the famous Fat Beat ... More >>

Coming This Week: SXSW Coverage

by Chris Gray "What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area." —Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive You don't have to spend much time at South By Southwest to know that all of ... More >>

ANALOG POP

Tapes ’n Tapes deliver a solid third album

Avi Buffalo

Photos: Siren Festival Highlights, 2001-2009

Dustin PittmanSpoon's Britt Daniel, back in '05​Ten years ago, the Village Voice staged its first-ever Siren Music Festival. On Saturday, we're celebrating the anniversary by welcoming back some SOTC favorites like Matt & Kim and Ted Leo to the shadow of the Cyclone at Coney Island. As we gear ... More >>

Broken Bells

Broken Bells, The Collaboration Between Danger Mouse and the Shins' James Mercer, Is For Lovers in New York

Broken Bells Music Hall of Williamsburg Wednesday, March 10 The Shins are a band girlfriends take boyfriends to see. Gnarls Barkley are a band boyfriends take girlfriends to see. So it's no wonder that the crossover between the two turns out to be couples. Lots of them. Couples rubbing each other ... More >>

CMJ: The xx Play the Apple Store

Different locale, same concept. As Camille pointed out, this year's CMJ is pretty devoid of marquee acts; there are no gigantic queues for Spoon, the Shins, the Knife, or the like. What we do have is a compounded hysteria for the zygotes that would be second or third tier in other years but, in t ... More >>

FRUITILY DELICIOUS

Folk pop to soak up

The Feelies

Beauty Bar Brooklyn Grand Opening: Jon Spencer Pounces on a Car, Cops Have Better Things to Do in Bushwick Than Care

Nate "Igor" Smith Heavy Trash Beauty Bar Brooklyn Thursday, May 28 The Beauty Bar Brooklyn, opening to the public this weekend, is a soccer-goalie's kick away from the Myrtle J/M/Z stop, about a block from everybody's favorite loft-show space Market Hotel. The place's awning still currently reads ... More >>

Week in Review: Swine Flu False Alarm Total Panic Edition

In the week that we thought maybe we had swine flu, ran frightened from our offices, wandered the East Village for hours looking for wireless or a good doctor, and eventually received an email with the subject line "It's NOT Swine Flu," we sheepishly came back to our desks, only to find an army of c ... More >>

INSIDE JOKE

A comedy festival that can laugh at itself

No Age: Ultimate Alternative Wavers

LA duo revive the sadly neglected spirit of shattered pop and lo-fi amateurism

Spring Music Preview: The Teenagers and the Porn/Pop Split

The Teenagers have dirty mouths and an accent

Live: Vampire Weekend at the Bowery Ballroom

The Pillow Fight of Her Life

On the precipitous rise of the cloying, maddening, occasionally devastating Kimya Dawson

CMJ: Band of Horses at the Bowery Ballroom

Breihan vs. Harvilla: Does Indie-Rock Need Rhythm?

The Pornographer's Vows

A power-pop maestro settles down and loses a step, but stays far enough ahead

Is Sellout Even a Dirty Word Anymore?

The New Pornographers' Challengers

Affairs, ragged empires, and other sweet power-pop fodder

Let the Indie-Rock Chart-Wars Begin

Expectations Too Narrow

Pity the Shins, a good band now plagued by ubiquitous claims of greatness

Music

Stuff you need to know to avoid ostracism

CMJ Music Marathon Highlights

The Shins Ruined Indie-Rock

Live: Annie and the Indie-Pop Problem

2002

Room Service: Drink Wine and Beer in a Low-Key Atmosphere

Eternal Sunshine of the Mood-Stabilized Mind

Sick and Mortar

Real record stores open, close, move, struggle, and thrive

The Dean's List

Feeding Frenzy

Stunts, moguls, buffed-up people, and sharks—fitting for a film festival at a ski resort

An Alternative Universe

Why should indie-rock bands go pop when webzines everywhere think they’re so cool?

CMJ Musicfest 2003

Carry Your Torch

By the time they make Albuquerque, she'll be modeling

Listings

Outdoor Concerts & Music Festivals