Photo by Dave Morffy, courtesy MattyLuv.com.
I’ve always said that if I were to start a record label, I would make sure that my first release would be to reissue Hickey’s self-titled debut album, one of the best records released in the ’90s, and one of my favorite punk recordings of all time. Fortunately for all [...]

Photo by illenion
Here’s a look at the six best albums that arrived on eMusic this week, according to this man’s slightly informed opinion.

I like all kinds of music: bebop, gamelan, Tropicalia, minimalism, honky-tonk, to name but a few, but as with a lot of people, opera has always eluded me. There’s just a language to opera, a set of signs and signals, that I’ve never been trained to decipher. Rock music has its own signs [...]

The first song on At Rear House, the second album from the New York group the Woods, is full of protests. At first, they’re pleas — “Don’t pass on me, and I won’t pass on you” — but as the song progresses they get darker and more depressed, ending finally at “Don’t count on me” [...]

As an avid gamer since my childhood, I have likely logged thousands and thousands of hours listening to the music contained in video games. Now that games are complete multimedia experience and memory issues are a thing of the past, it has become increasingly common to find video games with fully orchestrated scores, huge [...]

Some really, really spectacular stuff today, including an incredible Southern blues album, a horrific electronic record (horrific being a compliment!), Canned Heat, Keith Hudson, Frank Black and a baseball classic just in time for opening day!

The sheer volume of thrilling global music that shows up monthly on eMusic is enough to make me want to skip sleeping for good and just stay up all night with headphones on. While it’s always a thrill to see titles from old favorites like Asha Bhosle, Fela Kuti or Thomas Mapfumo, I’m more intrigued [...]

If you’re really into learning about the whos, whats, whys, whens, etc. about classic albums, there’s no better place to start than the 33 1/3 book series that is put out by Continuum. They’ve put out nearly 40 volumes so far and they’ve just announced another batch of titles that will be written over the [...]

While enjoying the new Ted Leo and the Pharmacists album, I recall Ween and a bunch of completey underground bands that are keepin’ it real with human grit and a hand full of “the Mothership”. Here is one my favorites from my hometown: JOAN.

Photo by Tal Bright
Some confusing name thieves, indie hip-hop stars and assorted odds and ends in today’s batch.

An excellent day for freshly ripped, with a gorgeous, avant-garde Japanese album, a reggae classic, the new one from the Fall and a solid effort from an eMusic subscriber!

Anyone with a passing familiarity with Barrington Levy may be surprised to get an earful of the sublime Englishman, which showed up on the site today. Levy is one of the founding fathers of post-Sleng Teng digital reggae (his “Under Mi Sensi” was one of the most famous interpolations of that riddim), and his work [...]

I’ve been nigh-on obsessed the past few days with Kathy Diamond. Set to be released in April, her debut album is a collection of spectral slo-mo disco tunes flecked with touches of dub by her producer, the incomparable Maurice Fulton.

It appears all of the good records are out enjoying the first inklings of spring, as today is another slow one for new arrivals with just a couple titles worth recommending.

A good dance party is the opposite of showing off your record collection. You could have a great dance party with one record. In fact, we might only bring one record each.
—The Make Up’s Ian Svenonious and K Records’ Calvin Johnson interviewed by The Stranger
Link courtesy The Morning News.

As a bit of a music crit groupie, it was a special pleasure this month to see eMusic grab the infamous Ronald Thomas Clontle to write a column in which he runs the site’s Top 10 February releases through his complicated and highly scientific rubric for determining a band’s worth (rock = good, rot = [...]

Not a whole lot to recommend for this Friday aside some Latin jazz and British hip-hop.

Still nursing a hangover, but had to commend El-P and Definitive Jux for putting on another tight, well organized event. I have gone to countless hip-hop shows in my time and no one does it better than the Jux, the openers are worth watching every time, they keep their sets short & sweet, and everything [...]

On my iPod, stereo and mind all this week and last are three songs, each of them utterly perfect and awaiting a download. They come from the Rakes, Medicine Head and the Gun Club.

There’s a post on TechCrunch today by Michael Arrington that really got my blood boiling. Arrington writes:
The faster music labels realize their massively profitable days are over, the better it will be for them, as well as the bands they represent and us, their customers. Digital music sales are not going to make up for [...]