It won’t be easy to beat 2010, but we’re counting on the likes of Lykke Li, PJ Harvey, James Blake, and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart to give last year a run for its money. Check out our anticipated albums and books for 2011, and let us know what you’re watching out for, [...]

In 1972, a young rock critic named Lenny Kaye — soon to be serving as guitarist for the Patti Smith Group — was tasked with reviewing the Rolling Stones‘ Exile on Main Street for Rolling Stone. He panned it, writing “Exile On Main Street spends its four sides shading the same song in as many [...]

In the event you are snowed in, or are bored at your desk, or are looking for an intellectual excuse to download Live’s Throwing Copper: The Onion AV Club’s Steven Hyden has been doing terrific, word-intensive work these past few months, excavating the ruins of his teen past and highlighting the finer, or, erm, more [...]

Well, it certainly is a banner day for eMusic Selects alums. This morning, we brought you the gripping new video from Strand of Oaks. No sooner did we post it than our Inbox brought us more ex-Selex happenings — a song from the forthcoming Hooray for Earth album. Taken from their upcoming full-length True Loves, [...]

I don’t think there is any way we could possibly be any more psyched for Tim “Strand of Oaks” Showalter. Ever since he released his excellent second record, Pope Killdragon through eMusic Selects, dude has been everywhere. His Kickstarter project to press up vinyl of Killdragon quickly met its goal, he scored an impressive 8.1 [...]

eMusic faves Screaming Females have announced more live dates in support of their latest album, Castle Talk, despite historically having something of a difficult time on the road. Way to mock fate, guys! You can watch the bizarro multi-color video for their excellent new single “Wild” above, and read the interview I conducted with the [...]

Tennis – Pigeon from Scott Laidlaw on Vimeo. Next Tuesday, the indomitable Fat Possum records releases Cape Dory by the new band Tennis. Essentially a duo of Patrick Riley & Alaina Moore, Tennis write tiny little pop songs that put an emphasis on Moore’s lithe, childlike voice. Get a taste of what you’re in for [...]

My New Year’s resolution is to avoid books that are geared to helping you keep your New Year’s resolutions. Why bother with diet manuals when there are so many great new reads to devour? Here’s what’s new!

Find of the Day: Batwings Catwings Remember there were like 10 weeks where there was nothing coming out and we were all just trolling through the catalog trying to find old records to keep us occupied? Friends, I am here to tell you that those dark days are over. After the jump, more new records [...]

Whoah! Last night eMusic faves Okkervil River dropped by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to debut the song “Wake and Be Fine” from their upcoming I Am Very Far, out May 10. And guess what? It’s great! Sounds like O.R. have been revisiting their Modest Mouse records. That they are backed by The Roots doesn’t [...]

On January 25, Deerhoof will release their hotly-anticipated Deerhoof vs. Evil on the very-excellent Polyvinyl. You can get a sneak preview above with the off-the-charts video for “Super Duper Rescue Heads,” which features, among other things, explosions, dancing, and shopping malls.

(Photo by David Andrako) Saturday night, eMusic fave Sharon Van Etten played a show at New York’s Bowery Ballroom which was, by all accounts, spectacular. This is no surprise: Sharon’s recent album, Epic made our Best of 2010, and if you haven’t heard it yet, we’d advise you to change that immediately. Just as noteworthy [...]

By Andrew Perry Wire — seminal art-punks, tunesmiths extraordinaire, Britpop-era heroes — are also exemplary heritage-rockers, as fiercely productive and forward-looking in their fourth decade together as they were in their first. Debuting in early ’77, Wire’s genius lay in a measured but no less galvanizing channeling of punk’s furious energy. In their inaugural lifespan, [...]

By Richard Gehr Tabu Ley Rochereau is more than just one of the greatest singers and composers in African popular music. He’s also the master politician of the Congolese dance-band nation, which has splintered, fractured, revolted, imploded and rebuilt itself more or less continuously over the course of three generations while producing some of the [...]

In a few weeks, Smith Westerns will release the excellent Dye It Blonde on Fat Possum, a label that is gunning to have the Greatest Q1 of all time (wait until you guys hear the Yuck record…) You may remember Smith Westerns’ ramshackle charm of yesteryear but, guess what, those days are long gone. Take [...]

Well, it was only a matter of time before people started re-thinking their violent opposition to that last M.I.A. record. Roundly thrashed when it first came out for being too confrontational (which was somehow shocking?) and too tuneless, now that we’re several months removed from The New York Times Profile That Dare Not Speak Its [...]

Akron/Family – “So It Goes” Video (Stereogum Premiere) from stereogum on Vimeo. Hey, where do you guys stand on the internet? And jokes about the same? The Akron/Family know where you’re coming from. In the above video for the first single off their upcoming ST II: The Cosmic Birth And Journey Of Shinju, they play [...]

Remember this guy? More recently recording a couple country records and taking a few gut-shots in the new Jonathan Franzen book, Conor Oberst has resurrected the Bright Eyes moniker and will be returning on February 15 with The People’s Key. To get you extra psyched, he’s giving away “Shell Games” for free, right now. Enter [...]

Hello there! It’s been too long. One of the most fun parts of each day — as I’m sure most of you here can attest — is combing through Freshly Ripped here at eMusic, seeing what weirdnesses and grand, exciting discoveries showed up. I have pulled so many things blind from Freshly Ripped — by [...]

If there’s one thing we know about MF Doom, it’s that he often sends imposters to play his shows, and that he occasionally cancels shows at the last minute, and that he’s somewhat allergic to the recording studio, and that he can drop off the public radar without warning, and that he’s like Joaquin Phoenix [...]