I am seriously, seriously bummed to see just now that Studs Terkel died today. The oral history — of which Turkel was the absolute master — is one of my absolute favorite forms of writing, and it would not be nearly as common as it is without his amazing books. In particular I have to [...]

Photo by MissParticipacion Some quick hit new arrivals from the past two days. Juana Molina, Un Dia: The very well received new record from Juana Molina. I’m gonna listen today. Joe’s into it. Various Artists, The Rocky Horror Picture Show Original Soundtrack: The rare “original soundtrack” instance where that’s the case! Yep, this has Tim [...]

Later today, the eMusic homepage will begin previewing our guide to African music, but the list is so freaking great I wanted to give everyone a sneak peak here first. You can check out the hub here. Basically, what you are getting there are tons and tons and tons of amazing records touching on a [...]

This week on our East Village Radio show, I busted out a ton of new songs from great up and coming artists, most of whom are already available on eMusic. Pay particularly close attention to Rainbow Arabia — my newest obsession — as well as Stricken City, which is also awesome. We touch on Halloween [...]

This week Evil Nine released They Live! – a zombie themed electro record with collaborations with EL-P and others. It’s pretty freakin good, and inspired me to track down a few more Halloween or Horror themed (or at least appropriate in tone) electronic albums in the the spirit of the season.

Corey Dargel is a young singer/songwriter in the Stephin Merritt mold – he’s got the same flat-as-Earth vocal tone, an “I do the NY Times Saturday crossword every week – in pen“-style vocabulary that he’s not afraid to flaunt, and the same affinity for the tender-hearted smirk. I caught him last night at the Le [...]

(photo by mhwlng) New today: the second record from Deerhunter. But first: Righteous Babe

So much great stuff. And yes, Deerhunter should be in this list but is not. It will be up tomorrow.

(photo by Phil Dokas) The big news on the blogs this past week has been the string of shows that members of the Elephant 6 collective have undertaken recently — more specifically, the fact that Jeff Mangum has been turning up at several of the shows to sing along with his friends. It’s the kind [...]

This week on 17 Dots on East Village Radio, I pulled out some of the big hits, doing my best to define the edges of the indie canon, by request. But we also hear from a lot of new artists as well. Pay attention, in particular, to Julianna Barwick and Fan Death. Both of those [...]

The Politic Melodic: A Campaign Song History In ways that grow more important by the day, the 1972 presidential contest between incumbent Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat George McGovern has dictated the tone, style and execution of every election since. It birthed the modern-day primary format; it defined and honed the press’ approach to all [...]

We strive to keep things utterly apolitical around here, but as the U.S. nears the peak of election fever, it gets harder and harder to pretend the outside world doesn’t exist.  You know it’s getting bad when you open the New York Times homepage and find yourself confronted with the question: “Could obesity in a [...]

I know I talked some shit about CMJ and the general malaise it has been known to cause, but the East Village Radio show plugged in this flyer is one I’m definitely going to try to make. See you there.

Photo by allisonallison So many records.

First an apology. Usually, when I go to gigs with an intent to review, I think like a journalist: take a notebook, look for a story, monitor the crowd’s reaction. Last Friday, watching British Sea Power at the Roundhouse in Camden, I was totally incapable. I was absolutely swamped by ecstatic, shining love. They made [...]

Late October? Must be time for another invasion of college radio DJs, aka the CMJ Music Festival. This will be my 11th or 12th CMJ, and honestly, I’m dreading it more than anything. Every show becomes five times as packed, the amount of talking/schmoozing becomes ten times worse and the number of digital cameras front [...]

It’s supposed to be the most depressing song in the world. It was allegedly banned in Hungary because of its devastating effects. Spurned lovers were found drowned in the Danube, the sheet music clutched in their fingers. Lonely women lay back on their beds and slipped into oblivion as the gramophone needle ground through the [...]

It’s unbecoming for me to say it, but our fifth East Village Radio show is far and away our best. It’s two hours of straight music uninterrupted, every song transitioned and/or beat-matched, my meager skills becoming slightly less awful, and there a few parts in particular I am very proud of as a result. Specifically, [...]

Meet Kurt Vile. His Constant Hitmaker is one of my sleeper faves of 2008, but for some reason I haven’t ‘Dot’d him yet. The procrastination paid off, though — Hitmaker seems tailor-made perfect to soundtrack the onset of the (so far beautiful) New York City fall. The short of it: Philly-based lo-fi guitar pop guy [...]

October is like Oscar season for book people. First, the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded last week, and then we found out yesterday that a debut novelist beat out tons of literary establishment stalwarts to win the Man Booker Prize. Today, the 2008 National Book Awards nominations were announced (see here for a full [...]