There’s an “Indie Class of 2009” reunion this year, and Grizzly Bear just arrived fashionably late (with an emphasis on the “fashionably” part). The bands that owned the “campus” three years ago — Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors, The xx and Grizzly Bear — have all released new records in 2012, Read More…
There are times in pop music when a song takes on a life of its own and becomes bigger than the artist who performed it. The smash hit of the summer, “Call Me Maybe,” is such a song. It has grown into a phenomenon, sparking countless YouTube parodies and entering Read More…
If any more evidence were needed, The Killers are proof of the unfortunate phenomenon that popularity so often equates with mediocrity in the music world. A hugely acclaimed band, they have built their success on plain, enervated rock songs. It’s the least common denominator at work again, as The Killers Read More…
You could call Woods’ sixth album, Bend Beyond, “cohesive,” but they probably wouldn’t want you to. G. Lucas Crane, the band’s tape effects technician, told Ragged Words, “Cohesive is one of those terms applied when you notice something. I think each of the albums have been their own weird journey Read More…
America loves brothers who can sing: Kings of Leon, the Bee Gees, The Everly Brothers, Oasis.We can’t get enough. And who could possibly be better to further this national romance than those good-natured, southern, banjo-wielding Avett Brothers? Straight out of Concord, N.C., Scott and Seth Avett come with identical scruff and Read More…
Following the release of The xx’s debut album, xx, the band was swarmed with critical acclaim and immense popularity, leading to seemingly endless touring and spots in high-profile music festivals across the globe. After three long years, the band returns with Coexist, a follow-up album destined to be subject to Read More…
It’s brutally unfair. We have been enjoying the fruits of Chan Marshall’s woe for nearly two decades now, and it has been anything but a symbiotic relationship. Plagued by family turbulence, substance abuse and a slew of highly publicized breakups, indie darling Marshall — known musically as Cat Power — Read More…
It’s amazing what a group of four British boys can do with guitars. Arising from a long list of iconic British foursomes whose names begin with “the” — The Clash, The Smiths, The Libertines, to name a few — The Vaccines are the most recent to conquer the landscape of Read More…
Northern Ireland’s three-piece indie rock group Two Door Cinema Club found huge success with their 2010 debut, Tourist History. The band is back with an emotionally deeper yet consistently catchy sophomore album, Beacon. On first listen, Beacon sounds like Tourist History: Part 2 with its abundance of boisterous choruses and Read More…
Radio ads and announcements are often the jabber between songs, the necessary evils that help listeners keep their stations in business. Physical CDs have assumed a similar role in music. If sales are what a band’s spirit is worth in cold, hard cash, then lately, that answer has been: nothing. Read More…
