Tomorrow sees the release of The Monitor, the eagerly-anticipated concept record from Titus Andronicus. Using the overarching metaphor of the Civil War to discuss feelings of emotional isolation, conflict of identity and personal heartbreak, Patrick Stickles has created a fascinating, flummoxing record that invites deconstruction by refusing easy answers. We had Matthew Fritch talk to [...]

This coming Tuesday sees the release of the new Shearwater record, The Golden Archipelago. Here’s eMusic’s Melissa Maerz with an idea of what to expect.
Shearwater
The Golden Archipelago
[Matador]
Release Date: 16 February 2010
An explorer, ecologist, and folk hero, Jonathan Meiburg is the Jacques Cousteau of indie-rock. A former graduate student with a specialty in geography and ornithology, [...]

Though I am, at heart, an album guy, I don’t think I’ll ever lose my affection for the 7″ format. When I was cutting my teeth on ’90s indie rock, this was the perfect way to get introduced to a band, to get a feel for what they were and to decide if you wanted [...]

We know there’s been a spate of good releases vying for both your time and your downloads lately, but we wanted to point your attention to an album that’s not only full of great music, but also supports a worthy cause.
Excellent New Zealand musician Chris Knox, known mostly for his work with Alec Bathate in [...]

(photo by SyGuildmistress
In addition to the deluge of WMG and affiliated titles on the site yesterday, I wanted to call out a few indie releases well worth your time and credits!
Vijay Iyer Trio, Historicity: Unanimously chosen as one of the best jazz records of 2009 (but, sadly, arriving on the site too late to make [...]

You know what band I still love? Bettie Serveert. By simply typing that sentence I realize the degree to which I am placing myself in a very particular indie rock time and place, as the kind of guy who asks questions like “Whatever happened to the Rock*A*Teens” and “Do you guys remember that Matador Toiling [...]

Sometimes I have to stop what I’m doing and contemplate what a crazy, excellent, post-’Marquee Name’ world we’re living in right now. You see that up there? That’s fucking Jawbox. On Jimmy Fallon. Playing “Savory.” I mean, I know that back in the day you’d see Belly on Letterman and all that, and that [...]

(photo by mehan)
There were two bands working to establish their reputations at New York’s Bowery Ballroom Friday night. The first, and more prominent, was San Francisco’s Girls, about whom it’s probably best for me to let Sean’s excellent Sound of the City piece do the talking. The other band was the New Jersey group Real [...]

(Superchunk as the Misfits!)
It’s been years since I actually dressed up for Halloween. I chalk this up to a combination of laziness, lack of planning and the fact that I can never convince enough friends to buy into my dream of going out in a group as the cast of the video game Burger Time [...]

(photo by zac.overman)
Our trip throughThe Best Albums on eMusic You Haven’t Heard continues today, with more overlooked indie. Some genuine lost classics in here from the likes of Velvet Crush, the Glands, Rocketship and the Ivory Coast. We’re cranking out a new list every day, full of records we love and hope you will, too.

(photo by great beyond)
They’re the ones that got away — the records that, for some reason, slipped through the cracks while other albums got the hype, the praise, the buzz. And all this week on eMusic, we’ll be showcasing records we love that somehow got passed over. We start today with overlooked indie, and will [...]

Words cannot express how much I am looking forward to this record.

The Colbert Report
Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

(photo by Talie)
Finally! An avalanche of new releases today, the first real bounty in what looks to be an extremely exciting autumn. I’m gonna do my best to cover all of them in this post, but I’ll undoubtedly miss a few, so please point out my oversights in the comments! I’m going to break [...]

Usually when I think of summer jams, I think big and bold and bright. I think of swooping Beach Boys harmonies or “Heat Wave”-y romps or, ya know, Summer Jam. I’ve noticed recently, though, the ease of which I’ve stockpiled a bunch of scratchy new lo-fi summer favorites. I know “lo-fi” is a bit of [...]

While there’s not a whole lot that qualifies as “new” today, we do have a pretty solid variety of catalog titles perfect for summer listening!
Camera Obscura, My Maudlin Career: New Camera Obscura finally arrives on eMusic. Some of you may have heard this already but for those who haven’t — it’s fantastic. I’ve been iffy [...]

Doug basking in the glorious rays of his indie guitar jammery
I have seen Built To Spill live somewhere between five and seven thousand times. When I was 17, I listened to Perfect From Now On the way I used to listen to, like, Led Zeppelin IV or Paul’s Boutique. That is, endlessly, with Talmudic [...]

So it would be disingenuous for me to write a post about the awesome Tic Tac Totally label without first mentioning that it was Alex who first brought it to my attention. I’ve been really, really, really into the return-to-garbage aesthetic that’s been creeping back across indie rock lately, and almost every album on Tic [...]

I don’t know how it took me almost two weeks to stumble across this but, man, am I glad I did. In this awesomely artless video, Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison takes a breathless spin through Neutral Milk Hotel’s awesome and underrated “Song Against Sex.” FRabbit have their own “song against sex,” of course, and its [...]

There are few things I love more than Kiwipop, especially Kiwipop of a certain vintage (I’m already scheming ways I can get to New Zealand for the one-off Chills reunion). Two years ago the Flying Nun Box Set was a constant on my iPod, and I generally scour record stores for the odd album by [...]