For more than five years I was an overworked and underpaid book editor at Simon & Schuster. And I loved every minute of it. Truly. So it thrills me that a bunch of titles from the S&S audiobook catalog are now available on eMusic. You can find some of the most notable titles here. In [...]

The eMusic staff was treated to an in-office performance by Those Darlins last week. The trio was in town from Murfreesboro, TN to record tracks for their upcoming record and got the toe-tapping started with a number about eatin’ chicken! A recycling bin turned into an impromptu drumkit and I snapped a blurry [...]

Dudes like romance novels. That’s what an audiobook publisher told me recently. Apparently, men make up a vast percentage of the audiobook download market, but sales of downloadable romance novels are flourishing. One theory: it’s way easier to enjoy a guilty pleasure when nobody can see what it is you’re reading. Men (and women, too!), [...]

At long last, Southern Lord brings their catalog up-to-date on eMusic. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s what:

For the past two days I have been listening nonstop to Wilderness, a band I was super obsessed with about two years ago, but hadn’t listened to in ages. What prompted the return was Ponytail, a band all of us here (all of us = me and Joe) completely adore, and the kinda eureka insight [...]

And the traveling continues. Not satisfied with Detroit and Montreal at the end of May and beginning of June, I decided that I needed to go to Barcelona last week for the Sonar conference. Boy am I glad I did:

Like most people of a certain age, who were buying records at a certain period of time, Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville is one of my musical cornerstones. I played that record to death when it came out, relating to parts of it more than I wanted to admit. So getting the chance to talk [...]

countless instruments were cropped from this picture.
One of my favorite bands in New York has made a record. And it’s finally out now. I reviewed it here for another publication, so I don’t have much more to say. But it also comes complete with a curious Pitchfork review that goes like this:

Twice over the course of the last week I had the opportunity to witness one of my favorite bands, the National, as they transitioned from small clubs to big stages. The group had the unenviable show-opening, 7pm “crack-of-dawn” slot on the REM tour (Modest Mouse was sandwiched in between). Watching the band handily upscale and [...]

Not quite the HEADLINE NEWS it woulda been in a pre-In Rainbows world, schizo mash-up dude Greg Gillis (aka Girl Talk) has unleashed his newest plunderfest Feed the Animals on the world as a pay-what-you-want download.  Despite being beat to the (sucker) punch by Radiohead, the internet is still a-buzzin’ about the quick-release.
On first listen, [...]

On Tuesday, eMusic released a beta version of the download manager, a slick new incarnation that automatically syncs your music to any player, among a few other bells and whistles. Best of all? It has an incredibly small footprint, and won’t hog your machine. Instead, it largely runs in the background, and seamlessly gets you [...]

Hearing “What You Won’t Do For Love” on the overhead speakers in the deli across the street today absolutely made my morning. Then finding out that we have a significant chunk, if not all, of Bobby Caldwell’s entire discography made my week. And THEN finding these youtube clips pretty much made my whole [...]

I have not been able to stop playing The Presets latest album Apocalypso since it was released last month. Not since The National’s Boxer has an album received this much of my constant attention. Everything I like about 80’s, Industrial, Synthpop, Dance n whatnot is wrapped up in this tight lil [...]

The speed at which The Hold Steady can turn around an album is certainly impressive - ‘Stay Positive’ is their third release since 2005 and covers familiar Hold Steady territory - from raucous party chants to introspective meaning-of-it-all cuts. And the really good news? If you’re in the UK you can pick it up at [...]

Here it is, one of the biggest Tuesdays of the year. Two new eMusic Selects artists. Vampire Weekend. The Cool Kids. The Pitchfork Music Festival Sampler. And so so so much more.

About three weeks ago, I took a drive down to DC to spend some time with someone I’d been secretly idolizing for about three years now: Mingering Mike. I’ve already talked about this a bit on here already, so I won’t bore you with repetition. Suffice it to say, Mike was a warm, wonderful [...]

Coming tomorrow with Mingering Mike!

Before tomorrow’s deluge, some great new titles to recommend.
Studio, Yearbook 2: Sultry Swedish dance-rockers Studio cover/remix a host of great songs, the standouts among them being A Mountain of One’s “Brown Piano” (this was killing me this morning) and Kylie’s “2 Hearts,” which the blogs went nuts for a few months ago. Very, very good. [...]

Guest bloggers? 17 Dots has hit the big-time, surely. Or we’re lazy. Either way, here’s eMusic UK freelancer Neil Mason unearthing some new releases specifically for our UK users.
London’s Moshi Moshi label seems to be taking over the world. What really stands out this week—to my ears at any rate—are two releases that both have [...]