Entertainment awards ceremonies are always a mixed bag. As a rule, we typically don’t follow them too closely. After all, the only awards that matter are the , right? Well, we weren’t impressed by the Grammys this year, and the ...

Finding new music today is a lot easier than it used to be. And finding recommendations for new music is much easier as well, literally thousands of blogs and ‘zines offering their own taste of what’s worth hearing (and we’re one of ‘em). But there’s one source that’s more reliable than any other ...

My experience at the Be the Riottt! festival in San Francisco was . . . interesting. Contradictory, I guess, if you’re feeling the need for another adjective. In fact, I’m feeling rather torn as I write this, wondering if I should be so ungrateful as to say what should really be said about this ...

When my brother first proposed the idea of “Life on Shuffle” to me, I couldn’t help but think of how frequently my iPod plays the same songs. For the longest time, “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” by LCD Soundsystem would pop up early in a rotation, as often would Morrissey’s “Glamorous Glue” or ...

Boy, is this embarrassing. Would you believe it’s been about four months since we last published our famed Album of the Week mix? Well, we want to make good for neglecting our periodic songs picks by providing twice as many, and in a far more sophisticated manner. We’ve searched the interweb for ...

It’s the season for stress, disingenuousness, and warmth pertaining to an age based spectrum. Luckily, for a few thousand on a south west coast holiday camp, Santa has taken a ginger and gangly form early. Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore curates the 2006 instalment of All Tomorrows Parties’ UK ...

Talk about extremes in life, for Christmas this year I got an 80GB iPod from my wife, and six days later we were officially splitting up. My life was in turmoil, but I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to enjoy that new musical toy. Because of the split and the impending move, I haven’t been able to ...

I don’t know why, but I can’t remember which song was the first I heard from Depeche Mode. It could have been “People Are People,” but then again, it could also have been “Just Can’t Get Enough,” “New Life” or “Get the Balance Right.” I do remember owning a cassette of ...

On a balmy Friday afternoon in December, I made my way across Barcelona to Sala Razzmatazz where I met up with Peter Morén, guitarist and primary vocalist of Stockholm’s Peter Björn and John. That night they were to play between GoodBooks and The Magic Numbers, Barcelona being the third of four ...

At the beginning of every year, there’s a certain excitement that comes with being a music writer. There’s the promise of new albums, returns of old favorites, the discovery of new favorites, new tours, festivals, scandals and events. But there’s really no telling what exactly is going to happen. ...