Quick! Name your favorite Sub Pop artists. Do I hear Wolf Parade? Iron & Wine? The Postal Service? How about Kelley Stoltz? Let’s put it this way: if your answer to that last question was “who’s Kelley Stoltz?”, then you’re seriously missing out. Stoltz, a suburban Detroit transplant turned San Francisco power pop wizard, might not have the high profile and the Pitchfork appeal of his trendier labelmates; but what he does have, and what is arguably more important, is a thoroughly solid …

Cary Grant will forever be known as one of Hollywood’s most seductive and interesting stars. Even twenty years after his death, Grant still owns the imaginations of film lovers. Perhaps it’s because there’s still more charisma hidden within Grant’s scattered ashes than there is in any major leading actor today. Or perhaps it’s because the old silver screen air of mystery is now officially dead, and icons such as Grant can no longer exist outside our memories. Society today is overburdened with the …

Cary Grant will forever be known as one of Hollywood’s most seductive and fascinating stars. Even twenty years after his death, Grant still owns the imaginations of film lovers. This week, the Modern Pea Pod celebrates this consummate icon with reviews of five of his classic films, as compiled on Sony’s new DVD box set. Day by day, we’ll show you some of the best and some of the worst of Grant’s canon. So bust out a nicely tailored suit, make yourself a nice …

Cary Grant will forever be known as one of Hollywood’s most seductive and fascinating stars. Even twenty years after his death, Grant still owns the imaginations of film lovers. This week, the Modern Pea Pod celebrates this consummate icon with reviews of five of his classic films, as compiled on Sony’s new DVD box set. Day by day, we’ll show you some of the best and some of the worst of Grant’s canon. So bust out a nicely tailored suit, make yourself a nice …

Don’t get me wrong: we at the Modern Pea Pod love all music, regardless of such phonily objective qualifiers as influence and mass appeal. But when it comes to someone like Wanda Jackson, lines have to be drawn. Wanda Jackson is a living legend: not just the first woman to achieve infamy as a rock and roll singer, but one of the most vital musicians — male or female — ever to grace the genre.
She emerged as a teenage country singer in mid-1950s Oklahoma, …

Readers know I take in my share of review material for the Modern Pea Pod. It’s a cushy gig, I won’t lie. “Cushy,” though, only in the sense of unsolicited free stuff arriving frequently. That’s changed, though, with the arrival of the Sumo Omni beanbag.
Oh, yeah.
What’s initially striking about this piece of furniture is its magnitude. Actually, its sheer volume remains striking even secondarily. Upon walking down the stairs to my apartment and seeing the four-and-a-half foot tall box waiting for me, I …

The Gossip have always been in a league of their own – after all, how many other feminist indie rockers could you name with roots in small-town Arkansas? But with the release of their third and latest album, it’s going to be time for all of us lazy critics to pack up those “White Stripes meet Sleater Kinney” references for good. Standing in the Way of Control is the work of a slicker, more streamlined Gossip: angular and danceable enough to sit comfortably next …

See Ya Later, Suckers: The Modern Pea Pod’s “Best of 2005″ Mixtape
Yeah, yeah, you’ve heard it before. We don’t like lists, but we have to make them. It’s part of the job for music writers, part of the yearly routine, even: at Halloween you pass out candy, at Thanksgiving you cook a turkey, and somewhere around New Year’s (hopefully before the champagne is imbibed), you crank out a perfunctory, self-important ‘Best of the Year’ list. And yeah, it’s bullshit, because who can honestly narrow …

If you’re from the Detroit area, you may not have heard it here first…but the Hard Lessons are about two hair’s breadths from becoming a fully fledged household name. With a smoking debut album, Gasoline, and a red-letter 2005 under their vintage white belts – not to mention the single best live show in the metro area – if these kids aren’t the next big thing, then I’d like to see who in the hell is. But before all yer little indie-cred senses start tingling, let me put you …

The Strokes don’t get any respect. Maybe it’s because five years ago, they were thought to be the second coming of rock and roll. Maybe it’s because they’re frighteningly rich. Maybe it’s the fact that they’re more good looking than most of the teenybopper bands out there today.
It’s gotten to the point where rival gangs of indie kids fight for dominance by seeing who can create the cattiest (and cleverest) remarks concerning them. Meanwhile, the kids who think of indie music merely as “weirdo music” don’t even give the Strokes …