It might appear that the ultra-abrasive Brooklyn band Parts & Labor has been unusually quiet since dropping its 2008 album, Receivers. Although 2009 was the first year the group went without producing a new album since 2005, the electronics-tinged art-punk act has actually been as productive as ever.
"We spent about half of last year doing [...]
Converge brought its punk/metal hybrid to the Black Cat last night, opening for hardcore purveyors Thursday. Like many of the concertgoers, I didn't stick around after Converge's 45-minute beast of a set, leaving with eardrums ringing and feeling fully satisfied. Photos after the jump and at the full gallery.
This week ended with snow, but it also ended with PROG—in the form of “Song of the Great Kataklysm,” which author Jeffrey Rotter recorded with a number of D.C. punk-rock vets to promote his recent novel. We also looked at an eerie J.D. Salinger portrait, and people remained upset about Fan Death. But their ire's [...]
The covers night: Is it the lowest form of expression, or the highest expression of flattery? And is it misguided to pay homage to music that flipped the bird to almost everything that came before it?
However you come down on those questions, what's indisputable is this: D.C.'s Spelling for Bees collective approaches everything it does [...]
Welcome to the Pitchforkast. Here, your friendly Pitchforkast team (YFPT) will attempt to predict the Pitchfork rating for albums that have not yet appeared on that Web site. Note: Ratings estimates are arrived at through expert guesswork.
TODAY: Liars, Sisterworld—leaked January 2010; out March 8
Holy dude do those Pitchforkers love their Liars. Ratingswise, Brooklyn’s finest [...]
Bloc Festival 2010: Your pals at Festival Watch like to keep you informed about things that don’t happen in this country. Maybe it’s 'cause we’re jealous that we can’t really afford to go to them—and are hoping that we can live vicariously through those of you who can.
Anyway. If there’s ever been a festival that [...]
"Evocations of time past need not be sentimental or even sad," writes Eve Ottenberg of Patti Smith's memoir Just Kids. "Some merely attempt to retrieve, however briefly, a lost treasure." In this case, that treasure is Robert Mapplethorpe, the influential and controversial photographer with whom the legendary punk singer once lived and worked. Mapplethorpe died [...]
Update 4:56 p.m.: WKE's Janice Grube, an executive producer of D.I.Y. America, just sent me this note about the episode that was taken down:
Yep, we pulled it down yesterday on a whim, as a courtesy to Ian, because we thought it was shitty that bloggers were giving him such a hard time about it. He [...]
For starters, we’re aware that the image to the right isn't a photograph of the DJs behind Kicks!, the dance party that celebrates its two-year anniversary backstage tonight at the Black Cat. But Kim Klinger (left) and Sara Rycroft just insisted—insisted!—that we use this adorable portrait drawn by their buddy, DJ Denman Anderson. And who [...]
Minor Threat Drummer Sells Test Pressing for Nearly $6,000
Oh, That Avatar Review Embargo? It's Off!
Distant Relatives at National Geographic
BREAKING: New Yorker's Tad Friend Names Tad Friend Greatest Author Ever
Rules for Would-Be Interviewers of Lee "Scratch" Perry
