“Let’s just say we kept our shit together,” singer Jesse Tabish said of performing for Radiohead, in the very pub that hosted the Grammy-winning alt-rock giants’ first conventional performance in 1986. Added Jonathon Mooney, who plays piano, violin, guitar and a host of other instruments in Other Lives’ intricate, baroque arrangements, “Having them in the […]
indie
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Poliça — Give You the Ghost
Winning an NFL Championship (last season) and a couple Grammys (for Bon Iver) probably has a lot of those folks high on life, which could possibly also explain why they’re so unafraid to strike out in weird sonic directions. Enter Channy Leaneagh (formerly Casselle). Previously fronting Minneapolis folk ensemble Roma di Luna, her new vehicle, […]
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Land of the Lost
Lost Lander founder Matt Sheehy spends a lot of time alone, out in the wild. It’s his job, actually. The Alaska native is employed as a forester in his newly adopted home of Oregon, and it gives him a lot of time to think. Consequently, his music is similarly cerebral, if not also romantic, in […]
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Snow Patrol — Fallen Empires
The resulting album optimistically handles maturation and the journey from regret to embracing imperfection, only to be set back by the occasional self-indulgent, plodding love note from vocalist/songwriter Gary Lightbody. Fortunately, the incorporation of playful melodies and eccentric synths leave impression enough to warm even the coldest heart. Jacknife Lee returns for the fourth time […]
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Steady as he goes
It’s hard work writing songs with characters vivid enough to fit a movie script or a novel. Bespectacled rocker Craig Finn’s been doing it for a little less than a decade as the front man for The Hold Steady, Brooklyn’s beloved bar band. Although he’s recently taken a brief detour as a solo artist to […]
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Hooked on ’phonic
The Polyphonic Spree has always been ambitious. While the Dallas-based symphonic rock band isn’t as fond of the eccentricities and gimmicks of someone like our own Flaming Lips, more than a few similarities exist — most notably a total disregard for convention. Tim DeLaughter formed the group on the heels of the demise of Tripping […]
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Music Made Me: Nicholas Ley
The Zombies — “Odessey and Oracle” (1968)I remember the night my best friend and lifelong band member, Colin Fleishacker, brought me this record. I was at a party and he burst in, dragged me out to his car and made me listen to the first four or five tracks. We were recording vocal tracks at […]
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Two Suns — Dream Familiar
While it might be tempting to write this enterprise off as another of many Radiohead tributes, the album’s far too nuanced and interesting to squarely categorize. After “Not the End”’s shoegazey, textured drumming and “Nostalgia”’s chiming Americana, “Dirty Industry” slurps and sizzles with guttural, low-end bass and synths that approach learned dubstep. Davidson’s songwriting isn’t […]
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Craig Finn — Clear Heart Full Eyes
“Clear Heart Full Eyes” (yes, the title’s a play on the catchphrase from “Friday Night Lights,” of which Finn is admittedly an enormous fan) really seems to follow the groping, narcotized and promiscuous teenagers that characterize The Hold Steady’s discography, as it moves away, discovers integrity, grows up, and/or finds Jesus. It follows pretty logically […]
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Dead alive
Costa Stasinopoulos, record producer and leader of Tulsa alt-rockers Dead Sea Choir, has had a pretty rough month. Someone broke into his car on Jan. 15, taking a friend’s guitar and a pair of hard drives containing yet-to-be finished records. And this came just as he was repairing his vehicle from another break-in mere weeks […]