It’s true — Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) couldn’t have been too thrilled after her eMusic-sponsored headlining set at Central Park’s Summerstage. Sure, through songs like “Actor Out Of Work,” “Laughing with a Mouth of Blood,” and “Marrow,” she was her typical charming self, her vocals were fantastic, and she benefited from a full backing [...]

I first stumbled across Casey Dienel on Hush Records’ website in late 2006 and, on a whim, bought her debut record Wind-Up Canary, which quickly became my go-to record for the weird time between fall and winter. It’s smart, unabashed piano-pop, sort of in the same vein as, say, Regina Spektor. Dienel signed with Dead [...]

So, I think I’ve figured out the key to surviving SXSW: Go to enough shows that there’s no time to get tired—at least that’s what worked for me yesterday. Between noon and midnight I saw 10 artists at seven different venues, most of whom were pretty fantastic.
The day started with killer performances by our latest [...]

I’m the kind of listener who gets stuck on songs and moods. I find one mood I like and suddenly it starts appearing everywhere before me, echoes of the ideas ubiquitous. Right now two songs dominate my consciousness, both precious, contained, and beaten down by life. One is “Black Lake” from the new Real Estate [...]

(photo Orin Bassoff Photography)
Douglas Wolk has been serving as eMusic’s alt/punk columnist for the last four years now, writing about everyone from Sufjan Stevens to Swans with remarkable insight and inventiveness. When Douglas proposed a column on ukulele music, we decided to take it one step further: Douglas is a uke player himself, so I [...]

Douglas Wolk has been serving as eMusic’s alt/punk columnist for the last four years now, writing about everyone from Sufjan Stevens to Swans with remarkable insight and inventiveness. When Douglas proposed a column on ukulele music, we decided to take it one step further: Douglas is a uke player himself, so I asked him if [...]