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
In an admirable show of Christmas spirit, MP3 blog Stereogum has thoughtfully compiled a list of its top 50 downloaded tracks of the year. Even more thoughtfully, they've zipped all 50 of the files into one conveniently downloadable archive! Among the gems are a radical Diplo deconstruction/remix of Radiohead's "Reckoner," selections from year-end-list favorites such as Hercules and Love Affair, Fleet Foxes and Crystal Stilts, and even a track from Brooklyn-via-Boulder outfit Chairlift. It take
The Derek Trucks Band's Already Free, released January 13, on RCA Victor, tops last week's top seller list at Twist & Shout, while Paper Bird's Anything Nameless and Joymaking comes in at number three again. The full breakdown is listed after the jump.
Conrad Keely, frontman for the indie-rock vets in ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, is among the most articulate and opinionated figures in music. He earns this reputation anew it in the following Q&A, conducted for our profile of the band, "...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead Cuts Its Own Path," which was published in advance of the band's Monday, March 9 gig at the Bluebird Theater.
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.
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down's latest record, Know Better Learn Faster, carries a wide menu of influences. Like the ensemble's previous work, the album draws from traditional American folk precedents, as well as snippets of other sounds that range from old Motown to '60s pop. The blend comes largely from the tastes of the band's lead singer and guitarist, Thao Nguyen. Originally from Virginia, Nguyen blends the traditional and the contemporary in her high-energy guitar lines and plai
Adam PerryJolie Holland, with Matt Bauer
The Walnut Room
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Better Than: Walking from Market St. Station to Walnut & 31st in the cold
No one shines like Brooklyn-based indie-folk goddess Jolie Holland.
Just as Neil Young was the depth and edge of CSNY, Holland was the
stand-out talent in the Canadian, all-girl, alt-folk group the Be Good
Tanyas, and for the last half-decade has excelled on her own. Last fall,
Holland drew a large crowd to the Boulder Theater on th
