Can an album comprised solely of samples really be an artistic achievement?
Honestly, I'm a little bit torn about naming Girl Talk's Feed The Animals the best album of the year. After all, it is a record made up entirely of mashups, so, strictly speaking, there's not a note of new music in this banging 53-minutes club opus. But there is pretty much everything that's great about popular music, all tossed together into something joyously familiar yet excitingly new.So, while pretty much no one w
The first batch of bands for the hottest music festival around, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, has been leaked. Confirmed Artists: the Killers, the Airborne Toxic Event, the Bug, Buraka Som Sistema, Crystal Castles, Drop The Lime, Fleet Foxes, Flying Lotus, Girl Talk, the Hold Steady, the Killers, No Age, Noah and the Whale, Late of the Pier, Los Campesinos!, Peanut Butter Wolf, the Presets, Sébastien Tellier, Themselves, Tinariwen. Confirmed DJs: DJ Gina Turner, DJ Hipnotic S
A great week for show announcements, as we've got indie faves The Black Lips, Cursive, Gaslight Anthem, and The Little Ones coming.Oh, and Fall Out Boy. You know, for kids.The Black Lips (above) have a druggy, melodic sound they call "psych-punk," which strikes me as something like The Stooges playing Stephen Malkmus. Cursive is a post-hardcore act from Omaha signed to Saddle Creek which is still apparently touring on the strength of a decent 2006 album, Happy Hollow. Gaslight Anthem, a favorite
The big show announcements just keep coming. Earlier today we had Fall Out Boy and a host of buzzing bands (Gaslight Anthem, Black Lips) now we've got The Killers on April 16 at Dodge Theatre. Tickets for the Las Vegas faux-indie act's show go on sale next Friday. Tickets at LiveNation.com.Oh, and in case you were wondering, this show is LDS-approved.
Coachella's 2009 official lineup is officially out -- as of 3:15 this morning, says Michael Lopez. Here it is: Girl Talk, Crystal Castles, The Knux, Fleet Foxes, Lupe Fiasco (that's, in order, five of my 10 favorite records of 2008) plus The Black Keys, Late of the Pier, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gaslight Anthem, Amanda Palmer, Ida Maria... oh, hell, stop reading my picks and see the list yourself. By the way, the bulk of the leaked list we published was correct, though obviously most of the "rumored
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Gear up, Valley Fans -- Lucero is coming to Tempe this NovemberIt seems every week, if not every day, I have a fantastic new show announcement for The Valley. This week's edition brings us Lucero, a Valley favorite judging by the last time they packed the Rhythm Room. Their sixth album and major label debut, 1372 Overton Park, is due out October 6, giving fans plenty of time for them to get it under their belt when they play The Clubhouse on November 5.What Else Would You Have Me Be...
The Gaslight AnthemIt's been nearly a year since The Gaslight Anthem started buzzing with the release of their second album, The '59 Sound, but they're showing no signs of cooling off. In fact, last month was arguably the band's best ever month, as a guest appearance by Bruce Springsteen, the Godfather of their Jersey Shore Sound, at one of the European festival shows sent their album sales up 200%, according to NME. Phoenix gets a look at the band on September 15 as they come to Martini Ranc
