The sun shone bright Saturday at this year's Virgin FreeFest at Merriweather Post Pavilion, and while the grounds were a bit muddier than last year, at least the Dance Forest wasn't as dusty. It was the first nice afternoon in weeks—as well as the day before the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and the start of [...]
On Saturday, the Virgin Mobile FreeFest dodged rainy forecasts and generally moved forward on the Merriweather Post Pavilion grounds with the efficiency and grace of a Tony Romo drive, at least for the first three quarters. The Ferris wheel was steady; burritos in the press tent were easy to smuggle; no one in the dance [...]
It’s hard to know how long a record like Tassili lasts. It’s easy to get lost in, feel transported by, and forget when it all began. There’s no studio trickery to speak of, but the droning, repetitive grooves feel endless in the best way. Songs end when they feel like they should; yet how Tinariwen [...]
Click Track says it's the "Year of the Fugazi Cover", now that TV on the Radio's brilliant live rendition of "Waiting Room" at last weekend's Pitchfork Music Festival is all over the Internet. (Full disclosure: Hearing the song's bass intro after battling the heat all day cheered me right up.) The year is barely past [...]
No need to get fancy with the lede. Here's the lineup for this year's Virgin Mobile FreeFest, set for Sept. 10 at Merriweather Post Pavillion:
Spread across two mainstages: The Black Keys, Deadmau5, Cee Lo Green, TV on the Radio, Patti Smith, Empire of the Sun, Cut Copy, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, Okkervil River, Big [...]
Kyp Malone does not stand still. When his band TV on the Radio finished up its most recent tour, multi-instrumentalist Malone kept pushing forward. He released a strange, even unsettling solo album under the name Rain Machine and hit the road again both in the states and in Europe. When he was recently invited to [...]
On Monday night, TV on the Radio exorcised any demons lingering after February's uncharacteristic misstep on Saturday Night Live with a triumphant sold out show at the 9:30 Club. They opened the cage on the postmodern menagerie of sounds harnessed in the masterful Dear Science while keeping the layered electronic howl respectfully danceable.
With the new year comes not-so-new traditions: purging your closet of heinous holiday sweaters, resolving to dissolve your waistline and, if you're Rolling Stone , looking to Top 40 lists and tired-and-true troubadours to compile your list of the 50 "Best" Albums of the Year.
Brent Burton observed earlier in the week that critics seldom mourn the absence of metal from mainstream top 10 lists. I'd go a step further and say that the only bands that don't get shafted are the ones that don't need reviewing–bands like GnR and Metallica, for whom critics dutifully went out of their way [...]
Below: this year's top-sellers at Melody Records. Glad to see Gnarls on there; chagrined to see Coldplay; not surprised to see either; curious whether any other stores were able to move the Hancock album like this.
Madonna, Hard Candy
Coldplay, Viva la Vida
Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One
Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
Portishead, Third
Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Hudson
Amy Winehouse, [...]
