Over the next few weeks, Backbeat will feature some Top Ten lists from around the Village Voice Media chain. Today, our own Michael Roberts runs down his favorite indie albums of 2008.
In 2008, independent rock returned to the underground, where it belongs. Given the grand catastrophe that is today's record industry, most major-label executives don't have the time or energy to convince music fans they might like something a little out of the ordinary. They're too busy recycling variations on
Over the next couple of weeks, Backbeat will feature some Top Ten lists from around the Village Voice Media chain. Click here for previous year-in-review coverage from Backbeat and VVM.
Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen Trapper's fantastic Furr smells
photo by Aaron ThackerayBlitzen Trapper last year at MonolithEver find yourself disliking a band for reasons that have nothing to do with the music? Maybe you heard that the frontman eats meat. Maybe you saw an interview in which the drummer referred to herself in the third person. Maybe the artwork on the band's latest CD included unicorns. Regardless, you find yourself judging the group based on completely non-musical aspects. Music critics should probably be immune to the effect of non-m
Photo by Soren McCartyThat music was Boss.
This town rips the bone from your back.
Today in Backbeat Online:
• Over the Weekend: Bruce Springsteen at Pepsi Center.
• Record Store Day preview: Odds and sods, Blitzen Trapper-style.
• Flobots' Jonny 5 rallies the troops for higher ed.
• Mr. Midas, DJ Quote unite for free Last Man Standing mixtape.
• Neil Young top seller at Twist & Shout.
• Jadakiss tops Independent's best seller list.
Today in Cafe Society:
• If you knew sushi lik
The All-American RejectsThe All-American Rejects, Bassnectar, Goldfinger, the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, the Spill Canvas, Single File and Meese will all be part of this year's Channel 93.3's Big Gig Saturday, July 11 at Fiddler's Green. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 22 at 10 a.m. The first 1,000 tickets are $9.33, otherwise they're $15 and $30. In other concert news, Blitzen Trapper hits the Bluebird Thursday, July 16 and the Young Dubliners return to the Soiled Dove Friday, August 21. For a comp
Skinny Puppy stops at the Ogden Theatre Saturday, November 7 as part of the industrial band's In Solvent See tour, which kicks off October 30. Tickets are $30 in advance and go on sale Friday, August 15. Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt team for an acoustic evening Wednesday, October 7 at the Pikes Peak Center in Colorado Springs and Thursday, October 8 at CU-Boulder's Macky Auditorium. It's been a while since Urge Overkill has released an album, but the Chicago-based rockers will hit the Larimer L
As music critics, the most common question we get asked (and ask each other, for that matter) is, "What are you listening to?" The pervasiveness of this query is precisely what inspired Heavy Rotation, our latest feature. For the benefit of those who happen to be curious, we've compiled a list of all the things we're listening to this week. Feel free to chime in with picks of your own after the jump.
As music critics, the most common question we get asked (and ask each other, for that matter) is, "What are you listening to?" The pervasiveness of this query is precisely what inspired Heavy Rotation, our latest feature. For the benefit of those who happen to be curious, we've compiled a list of all the things we're listening to this week. Feel free to chime in with picks of your own after the jump.
As music critics, the most common question we get asked (and ask each
other, for that matter) is, "What are you listening to?" The
pervasiveness of this query is precisely what inspired Heavy Rotation,
our latest feature. For the benefit of those who happen to be curious,
we've compiled a list of all the things we're listening to this week.
Feel free to chime in with picks of your own after the jump.
