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Coming soon, unfortunately

Music you don't want
Despite last month's record sales (the lowest since anyone's been keeping track), some artists still don't get the picture: nobody wants music anymore .
By DAVID THORPE | June 15, 2010

Beer, boys and parking-meter woes

New anti-anthems from Foam Castles and the Rattlesnakes
As if you needed proof that Ron Harrity is one busy man (see: new releases from If and It, Honey Clouds, Marie Stella), two more albums finished off in his South Portland studio hit the streets this season in advance of your summer road trips.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | June 16, 2010

It's BiMPy time: Rhode Island Music Awards at Lupo's

Off the Couch
Start the weekend off proper.
By PROVIDENCE PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | June 02, 2010

Welcome to Chateau Rex

A new day rising for Coma Coma
75orLess Records strikes again with another stoner-rock scorcher in Chateau Rex , courtesy of Coma Coma.
By CHRIS CONTI | May 26, 2010

And the award for best bad moustache and a Jheri-curl goes to ...

Sibilance
Do yourself a favor and watch the video for RUSTIC OVERTONES’ “Love and a 45.”
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | May 26, 2010

Poetic chaos

A Troop of Echoes spend Days In Automation
The melodic noise collective known as A Troop of Echoes will unveil their full-length debut Days In Automation next weekend at AS220, hosting their album release party alongside an impressive gathering of local support.
By CHRIS CONTI | May 19, 2010

Living in the Now

Shryne’s ‘honest but polished’ pop-rock
There’s no denying the ongoing presence of what we’ll call melodic pop acts here in Rhode Island, bands comprised of guys in their mid-20s with a serious knack for penning sugary-sweet hooks and harmonies.
By CHRIS CONTI | May 12, 2010

The Big Hurt: Red scare

M.I.A.’s ultraviolent new video misses the target
If you’re a dedicated follower of pop, you’ve no doubt heard about M.I.A.’s shocking new video for “Born Free,” the lead single from her upcoming album.
By DAVID THORPE | May 04, 2010

Beats, rhymes, and Li(f)e

Sage Francis balances despair and hope on new album
Cult-status indie wordsmith Sage Francis digs deep and blows the black mold off the diary on Li(f)e (Anti-), while enlisting an impressive roster of indie-rock songwriters.
By CHRIS CONTI | May 05, 2010

Review: The Church at the Somerville Armory

The Church, live at the Armory in Somerville, April 21, 2010
The night's entertainment was, as they say, high concept: on the eve of their 30th anniversary, Aussie new wave lifers The Church played 23 songs, one from each of their albums, in reverse chronological order, beginning with last year's Untitled #23 and ending with 1980's self-titled debut (in the U.S., it was eventually released as Of Skins and Heart).
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | April 26, 2010

Flying Lotus | Cosmogramma

Warp (2010)
Only an experimental laptop artist whose music exists primarily for pensive white weedheads would purport his new album to be “basically the studies that map out the universe and the relations of heaven and hell.”
By CARRIE BATTAN | May 03, 2010

Monster math

Nature/Nurture return with EP002
New Bedford-based instrumental specialists Nature/Nurture strike back with a new release and an added guitarist, bolstering their complex yet concise angular jams while continuing the N/N tradition of composing monster math rock by-the-numbers — literally.
By CHRIS CONTI | April 21, 2010

The Big Hurt: ICP take on magnets

Plus Slash loves Axl and Dre does Freddie
Would that I could simply post the entire lyric to “Miracles” by INSANE CLOWN POSSE and call it an article.
By DAVID THORPE | April 13, 2010

Midnight ramblers

Rock legend Peter Wolf serves dinner and verse to the Phoenix ’s poet .
In rock ’n’ roll, it was possible to live in Harvard Square, be a musician — a local musician — and be able to pay your rent and find restaurants where you could eat and buy food and survive, and feel that there was a sense of . . . future, with hope and opportunity.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 08, 2010

Gorillaz | Plastic Beach

Virgin (2010)
Although this is their first album without an indie-chic producer, the fake band with fake cartoon characters known as Gorillaz stay the course as a very real post-Blur conduit for Damon Albarn's quasi-apocalyptic, '80s-daydreaming, neon-pop habit.
By ZETH LUNDY | March 16, 2010

Pluck and determination

Joanna Newsom's masterful Have One On Me
People have always thought that Joanna Newsom was indulgent. At first, it was about her voice — the kind of nasal yelp that usually keeps a performer from getting on stage at all. Then, on her second album, it was about her vocabulary and her instrumentation.
By RICHARD BECK | March 09, 2010

Into the groove

Funkatronic kick out the hybrid-fueled jams
The 2010 Best Music Poll nominees announcement is fast approaching, but we do know all of the '09 victors will return to defend their titles, including jazz/funk reigning champs Funkatronic, who are looking for a three-peat.
By CHRIS CONTI | April 12, 2010

Review: Rogue Wave at the Paradise

Rogue Wave, live at the Paradise Rock Club, March 1, 2010
On the first stop on their first tour in almost two years, Rogue Wave bounded onstage with what can only be called sheer delight, greeting the crowd like old friends they were pleasantly surprised to run into.
By ALEXANDRA CAVALLO | March 05, 2010

Gil Scott-Heron | I’m New Here

XL (2010)
It's always easy to forecast others' doom, announces Gil Scott-Heron near the end of his first album since 1994.
By MIKAEL WOOD | February 23, 2010

Turkish troubadours

Okbari get all lovey-dovey
I owe just about all my Turkish music knowledge to Okbari.
By SAM PFEIFLE | February 24, 2010

Shaking through

Off the Couch
High-powered indie-punk at AS220
By PROVIDENCE PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | February 24, 2010

Sun Gods in Exile at SXSW, and more

Sibilance
Tough news to hear about Nick Curran, the one-time Nick Danger, who left Portland for Austin.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | February 17, 2010

Yeasayer | Odd Blood

Secretly Canadian (2010)
Yeasayer have created a decadent, densely produced mess of a second album.
By JONATHAN DONALDSON | February 09, 2010

The Low Anthem visit the Low Countries

Sibilance
Plus Brown Birds and Toughcats
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | February 10, 2010

Loaded weekend

From Ready Ink to Alec K. Redfearn
The Chelsy Lau Band head to Cat’s in Pawtucket with guests She Rides, Red Lanterns, and The Organ Beats; and more.
By PROVIDENCE PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | February 10, 2010

Quiet storm

Allysen Callery returns with Hobgoblin’s Hat
The only aspect of Allysen Callery's talents more impressive than her nimble, nylon-string finger-picking is her unmistakable voice.
By CHRIS CONTI | February 10, 2010

Smoothed out on the R&B tip

Mary Bee and David Gonzalez’s Fiesole
"Seeing Mary Bee interact and talk on a daily basis is totally different from hearing Mary Bee sing — it's like night and day," writes producer David Gonzalez.
By CHRIS CONTI | February 05, 2010

Bring on the major leagues

Fairhaven are officially on the hunt
There ain't enough lighter fluid in your Bic to keep pace with Fairhaven's piano-driven anthems on their full-length debut Origins.
By CHRIS CONTI | January 27, 2010

Beach House | Teen Dream

Sub Pop (2010)
Before I talk about Beach House's third album — the top dreampop album of 2010 until further notice — I should reveal that I had the big gay whirlwind romance of my life under the influence of a steady stream of Beach House Mania at SxSW three years ago.
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | January 19, 2010

Los Campesinos! | Romance Is Boring

Arts & Crafts (2010)
Toward the end of "In Medias Res," the first song on Los Campesinos!' third album, Gareth Campesinos (the entire Cardiff septet have adopted the surname) asks, "Is this something that would interest you?"
By RYAN STEWART | January 19, 2010