I love EPs, even though there are so many reasons to hate them. EPs are generally overpriced CDs which contain only one good track. They rarely include rare songs that will never be released again (hellllllooooo box sets). A lot of recent EPs just seem to be remixes, too, and for the most part, I despise remixes of rock songs. Yet lately I’ve gotten two excellent EPs, which remind me of just how exciting a good EP can be. The first one was from …

For a lot of girls, there is always that one best friend they can count on. The friend who you’ve had since at least high school, who knows everything about you. The friend you’ve done really stupid things with; the friend who, even in the midst of a giant storm of annoyances, you automatically called when everything was going wrong; and the one friend (who you aren’t fucking) that you can stay up all night with and not get grumpy. So imagine a day …

Okay, I give. Things have been far too cute and nonsensical over in Canada ever since the Unicorns’ 2003 Stateside heyday with the release of Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone. I didn’t always feel that way. The Unicorns’ album was a piece of sweet and silly pop taffy, but even their disintegration was a joy, because it lead to the formation of Islands and the creation of one of this year’s best records, Return to the Sea. However, while I can …

Lately, it seems like everywhere an indie kid goes, they can find a freak-folk record. The music which was once associated with jugs, long beards, and county fair performances to which a misguided parent dragged you, has suddenly become strangely hip. Yet this growing interest in the freakier side of folk music rarely extends to the straight Americana and world-based folk from whence it came. Hopefully, the latest release from Tompkins Square, Imaginational Anthem, Vol. 2, will help shake off some more …

There are some genres of music that seem to grow in appeal during certain seasons. For me, melancholy-tinged indie pop (The Lucksmith’s Naturaliste, for example) is the flavor of autumn. Garage rock is usually best seasoned with a dash of snow and a lot of grey clouds. And what is one of the most palatable flavors of summer? Orchestral indie distilled in southern Scotland, a la Camera Obscura. Camera Obscura’s latest release, Let’s Get Out of This Country, has a luminously sweet flavor …

There are some bands that would become all the more popular if they’d simply change their zip code. Case in point is New York’s The Little Killers. While I’m sure certain dirtier corners of the Big Apple must appreciate this garage rock sludge of a bar band (and I mean that in the positive!), it’s a fact that Detroit would love them more.
Maybe the Little Killers have picked up on that mindset, because they hired trendy Detroit Producer (Ghetto Recorders), former Dirtbomb, and Jack …

Okay, let’s all just get it off our chests right now: Interpol is played out. Way back in 2002 and 2003, hipster college kids across the world were losing their virginity to the rainy day gloom of their vinyl copies of Turn Off the Bright Lights. Everyone was cutting their hair asymmetrically and wearing empty gun holsters while playing their bass guitars. But now it’s 2006, and Interpol’s hype has fizzled out. Neither their site nor Matador’s has any information on what exactly …

Maybe it’s because I wear hornrims and have a closetful of ironic T-shirts that I can be so judgmental. Or maybe it’s society that’s made me that way. It could have been all those episodes of Seinfeld I watched during my formative years. Or perhaps I’m just naturally inclined to be a bastard. I don’t know. But every once in a while, even I can’t bring myself to judge; every once in a while, I come across a person who I should naturally dislike, …

Talented folk musicians do not create a song; they create a ghost. There is an instinctive past to folk music (and no, we are not speaking of the current trend of freak folk) that can be directly involving to the willing listener. But most easily accessible American folk music seems to borrow only from its North American roots: plenty of folk singers have upright bass and the occasional banjo, but few can cross further into the barrier of time than that. Christian Kiefer and …

You can always hear an electronic music fan from a mile away. Some speak louder, due to years of gyrating near giant speakers…or perhaps it’s all of that dance floor confetti still stuck inside their ear. Scenester electronic music fans can often be heard proclaiming their authenticity (“I’m wearing my Peaches merkin today!”). And then there are the electronic music fans who seem to be trapped inside of a video game: they drive incredibly fast to the sound of glitches and robot voices. …