Back in 2001, there was still mystery left in the Pixies. Frank Black (not, as he seems to call himself now, Charles Thompson) had only just reached the point where he could say the name of his former band out loud; he still hadn’t spoken to his ex-bandmate Kim Deal in almost a decade. Whispers of a reunion were growing louder, sure, but certainly nobody I knew was ready to believe them. And when an article appeared in Mojo that March, it was still …

Of all the overused, overemphasized, overrated terms in modern indie music, “honesty” must be close to the top. An unfortunate outgrowth of the 1980s’ integrity-obsessed first wave of alternative rock (in the same way that gonorrhea can be an unfortunate outgrowth of sex), “honesty” has served as many a wannabe critic’s highest standard of quality, its absence the cruelest and most demeaning of epithets.
Take a perfectly good, kick-ass rock’n’roll band, who maybe just happen to like a little semi-ironic Spandex in their stage gear, …

I feel as if everybody (or at least every indie kid and compulsive Pitchfork reader) has already heard The Boy Least Likely To. Didn’t everyone and their dogs already give this record two thumbs up last fall, around the time of its release in the UK? It’s easy to assume that only cheapskates and those afraid of the Man have waited for the United States release to get their admission to The Best Party Ever; yet an album as sweet and playful as this …

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 …

I spent the entire month of October 2004 wondering if I had wasted $35 (plus Ticketmaster convenience charges) to see a band better remembered through their records. It’s not as if I assumed the Pixies reunion would be horrible, but for me purchasing a Pixies ticket was more about being able to say, “Well, at least I saw them.” Despite the fact that there were no rumors or reports of the Pixies fighting, there was always the possibility that my show could be the …

It’s all but unavoidable: The press for Witch’s self-titled debut will be dominated by references to J Mascis, the alt-rock living legend who lends both musical talents and an impressive head of hair to the band. And in a way, that isn’t so bad; most listeners of catholic tastes won’t find it too hard to see parallels between Witch’s monolithic hard rawk and the more plodding aspects of Mascis’ “other” gig, Dinosaur Jr. (“Sludgefeast,” anyone?). Indeed, the jet-fueled riffage and shrieking solos which lurch …

Is it just me, or with every passing year does Mudhoney sound less like the “grunge godfathers” of yore and more like a natural progression from the Asheton/Asheton/Alexander lineup of the Stooges? Granted, this observation is nothing new – singer Mark Arm’s delivery has been called “Iggyesque” about as often as his howl has been called “wolfish” or his visage “hawklike” – but since 2002′s Since We Became Translucent the tendency has begun to cross over from mere resemblance to full-on torch-passing; and with …

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 …

Myths. When David Bowie came to New York City in 1971, he thought a certain Lou Reed was still fronting the Velvet Underground: that notorious band whose early Factory associations had given them a very Warholian fifteen minutes of fame, but whose last two years of existence had been wrought with both personnel problems and public indifference. Of course, by then Lou had long gone solo — his breakthrough album, Transformer, would be produced by Bowie less than a year later — but at …

Robert Pollard can’t have much to prove. Perhaps the first “ex-indie rock frontman” since Morrissey whose name doesn’t require such an epitaph to be recognized, the former Ohio schoolteacher has done alright for himself through Guided By Voices’ twenty-year career. Following his decision to call that band quits, GBV’s departure earned a teary-eyed send-off from no more stoic a hipster rag than Pitchfork. Hitting the studio almost immediately thereafter, Pollard has released a few sort-of solo albums since 2004, and escaped with his …