The Velvet Underground

Bauhaus' Peter Murphy: "Doctors Give Out Antidepressants Like Smarties or M&Ms Now"

Nearly four decades ago, frontman Peter Murphy and his bandmates in Bauhaus recorded what Murphy calls the "'Stairway to Heaven' of the post-punk period." But with the release of that tune, "Bela Lugosi's Dead," Bauhaus innovated a form of avant-garde rock that would influence artists ranging from l ... More >>

Pete Swanson's Muse Leads Him Down Ever-Gnarlier Alleyways

When Punk Authority (Software Recording Co.), Pete Swanson's new EP, is emanating from my iPhone, a funny thing happens: my German Shepherd rushes in from wherever else he was in the house, snuffling and whimpering and breathing heavily. The ears flatten against his head. His entire body heaves. "Fo ... More >>

Tracing "Hallelujah" From Obscurity To Ubiquity

Back in September of 2010, noted music journalist (and former editor-in-chief of SPIN and Vibe magazines) Alan Light was among 4,000 people sitting in the Jacob Javitz Center for Yom Kippur services when the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah choir took the stage to conclude the solemn proceedings with ... More >>

How Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' Went From Obscurity to Ubiquity

Cold, broken, and holy

Holiday Guide: Arts Listings

Loved By Iggy Pop, Hated By Jim Morrison: The Life and Times of Danny Fields

From pulling needles full of dope out of Iggy Pop's arm just before showtime and helping turn Jim Morrison into a sex symbol (becoming Morrison's sworn enemy in the process), to unleashing the Ramones upon the world and later becoming one of the globe's leading music journalists, Danny Fields has be ... More >>

Titus Andronicus Are Not the Taliban: Sorting Out the Long, Twisted History of the Band

Titus Andronicus draw more from hip-hop culture more than you think. Songwriter, bandleader and Wu-Tang Clan fan Patrick Stickles' lyrics are deeply post-modern and full of hypertext links to everything from The Velvet Underground to Albert Camus to Curb Your Enthusiasm. And like any hustler with a ... More >>

Q&A: Jonathan Toubin On His Record Collection, Moving To New York In The '90s, And Wanting To Make Culture

Some DJs are quiet, let-the-music-do-the-talking types, but not Jonathan Toubin. Interviewed for this week's Voice profile, the 4Knots Music Festival Afterparty host was enthusiastic and opinionated, generating a novella's worth of transcript. More highlights from our conversation are below, as Toub ... More >>

Live: Phish Bring The Phish Experience To Jones Beach

Phish Jones Beach Theater Wednesday, July 4 Better than: Putting the freak flag in permanent cold storage. "Goddard College!" Phish leader Trey Anastasio called out between verses during "Alumni Blues," the band's opening number at Jones Beach on Wednesday night, a rare onstage shout-out to the b ... More >>

Cannes Film Festival: Brad Pitt in Killing Them Softly, Gael Garcia Bernal in No, and political propaganda at the movies

The opening credits of the Brad Pitt-starring Killing Them Softly are set to snatches of Barack Obama's 2008 Democratic Convention speech, focused on the notion of "the American promise," jarringly jump-intercut with scenes of Frank (Scoot McNairy) making his way through a tunnel onto a dismal A ... More >>

Pazz & Jop 2011: Brad Nelson On Why Lou Reed And Metallica's Lulu Was 2011's Best Album

To supplement this year's Pazz & Jop launch, Sound of the City asked a few critics to expand on the reasonings behind their voting. Here, Brad Nelson talks about the much-discussed collaboration between Lou Reed and Metallica, Lulu, which topped his ballot and came in at No. 94 on the albums poll. ... More >>

Q&A: David Thomas On Resurrecting Rocket From The Tombs, Grooming His Replacement In Pere Ubu, And Doing What He Wants

​Tracing the antecedents of punk rock is as easy as whipping out your trusty map, then looking toward Michigan (The Stooges' blood-stained, glass-stabbed, track-marked skuzzballness; MC5's Afro-sized destructo rawk-n-roll bombast), New York (The Dolls' lipstick-smeared, cross-dressing scum-blu ... More >>

Holiday Guide: Yo La Tengo Celebrates 10 Years of Hanukkah Miracles

Next year, in Hoboken

Q & A: The Raincoats' Ana da Silva On The Riot Grrrl Movement, Kurt And Courtney, And Being Johnny Rotten's Favorite Band

​ This month has seen quite a bit of ink spilled on behalf of the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind. But it's also a moment to remember the ways that lead singer Kurt Cobain's reach went beyond the scope of his band and that record—consider one of his most beloved influences, the U ... More >>

Q&A: Rock 'N' Roll High School Director Allan Arkush Looks Back (Plus Exclusive Photos)

Joey Ramone would have been 60 years old on May 19. This week, in celebration of the birthday of the Queens-born gone-too-soon punk legend, Sound of the City will run a series of features on his life and his legacy. Bruce Frankel/courtesy Allan Arkush​ Allan Arkush has executive produced a bu ... More >>

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

Plus CSS, Adele, and other spring music picks

Portishead And Jeff Mangum Are Headlining All Tomorrow's Parties In Asbury Park, NJ

​Good lord. All Tomorrow's Parties is bringing their boutique full-immersion indie-rock weekend blowout to a new spot this year: Asbury Park, NJ. ATP's three-day I'll Be Your Mirror fest will be partially curated by Portishead (!) and headlined by none other than fuckin' Jeff Mangum (!!!!), la ... More >>

Live: The National Open, But Yo La Tengo Dominate During Their Final Hanukkah Night At Maxwell's

Georgia, Ira, and the Clean's Hamish Kilgour, leading a drummer summit. Pics by Liz Clayton, more below.​Yo La Tengo/The National Maxwell's Wednesday, December 8 Better than: The other seven nights, kinda. Nels Cline sitting in Tuesday was pretty sweet. Ditto Jeff Tweedy a few nights earl ... More >>

The Downward Spiral of TVT Records

How the ambitious NYC indie nearly brought artists from Ambulance LTD to Lil Jon down with it

Download: Translations, "The Wanderer"

Yes In My Backyard is a semiweekly column showcasing MP3s from new and emerging local talent. ​Reverb-soaked New York art-crooners Translations are a lazy Sunday dream, tempering their drizzly indie-pop with the subtle shades of classic r&b. Drums rattle drearily and bass lines groove silkily ... More >>

Vijay Iyer Tops the Fourth Annual Village Voice Jazz Poll

Historicity and records from other fresh faces take our 2009 jazz poll

'Beyond the Absurd: Ronald Tavel & Andy Warhol' at Anthology

The man behind some of Warhol's best work

Agnostic Front's Victim in Pain at 25

A crucial 15-minute NYC hardcore origin story gets canonized at last

Interview: Heartless Bastards on Erika Wennerstrom's Huge Voice, Male Groupies, and Hookers in Flip-Flops

Erika Wennerstrom: "I want to sound like Nico and Lou Reed." photo by Cambria HarkeyDave Colvin, Erika Wennerstrom, Jesse Ebaugh Heartless Bastards are having an incredible year: a spot on The Late Show with David Letterman, great reviews for their latest record The Mountain, and an appearance on ... More >>

Siren Festival 2009: Q&A With Grand Duchy's Frank Black

"I'm more of a freak show kind of a guy." Whether it's through his alter-ego Black Francis, his seminal band the Pixies, or under his own name, Frank Black has become iconic in terms of not only indie rock, but pop culture as a whole. His new project is Grand Duchy, which he formed with his wife ... More >>

God Is In Welcome Wagon's Living Room

Modest, familial, faithful folkies multiply in Brooklyn

Fall Preview: My Bloody Valentine Reunite, Tour, Liquify Eardrums

Robert Forster's Long Goodbye

A Go-Between re-emerges with maybe the best song his dearly departed bandmate ever wrote

J'Entends Plus la Guitare: Nico Remembered

Phillippe Garrel's Relationship Memoir is Perfectly in Tune

Misanthropic Fields Forever

A delightful chat with the delightfully sardonic Stephin Merritt

Factory Worker

An FOA gets his own documentary portrait

Possibly 4th Street: Steve Wynn in a Dog Park

Talk to Me, Lou

Lou Reed hangs a photo show, and other tales of Fashion Week

Another Brave New World

Glenn Mercer's solo debut could be a Feelies reunion. He's just too nice to make it one.

Lou Reed Gets Syracuse Arts Medal; Induction Ceremony Definitively Not On Wild Side

Unknown White Male

Searching for a lost relative in Warhol's Factory

One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even These

Random obsessions and vexations, born of both young tyros and inexplicably still-rocking old people

Ellen Willis, 1941–2006

A personal tribute to the legendary writer, feminist, academic, and Village Voice editor

The Continental Drifts

An East Village staple evolves, but dies a little in the process

Uncool It Now

Brit lads get things like naked girlfriends out in the open

Gypsy Part of Town

Come savor the beaty delights of European multiculturalism, Arabski kjuchek included

CMJ Musicfest 2003

Loud-Blowing Free Jazz Gives in to Subtle String Pleasures

Outer Children

The Moldy Peaches Slip You a Roofie

Tori’s Got a Gun

Music

Thom's Joneses

Occult Classic

Wrigley's in the Trashcan

James Miller Tries to Control What He No Longer Loves

Roadhouse Scholar