AltWeeklies Wire
A Hawk and a Hacksaw Does Eastern Europe with an American Accentnew
Jeremy Barnes first heard Bulgarian women's choirs while driving through West Texas in 1996, and he was hooked. He moved to Hungary two years ago to live among and learn from some of the area's masters but has always sought to interpret traditional styles through the contemporary lens of his American background.
New York Press |
Amre Klimchak |
01-08-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Vagabond Opera Sings Outside the Boxnew
It isn't uncommon to be let down by something that comes along calling itself "opera," only to find out that it either has nothing at all to do with opera, or that it's basically a musical. But the Portland, Ore.–based Vagabond Opera actually lives up to its name.
New York Press |
Ryan Tracy |
01-08-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Vagabond Opera
Elliott Murphy's Second Actnew
The literate rocker comes home for a rare U.S. appearance.
New York Press |
David Freeland |
12-11-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Elliott Murphy
Ben Vida brings His International Noise Convention to Brooklynnew
Like a musical conjurer, Ben Vida coaxes a remarkable array of instruments to take on lives of their own and reveal their extraordinary songs. For his third full-length record under the moniker Bird Show, Vida continues his obsession with an exotic assortment of music makers.
New York Press |
Amre Klimchak |
12-11-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Indie Rock Capo Damon Che on Don Caballero's Longevitynew

Though Don Cab is said to have pioneered the mathematical, clean-guitar-tone approach that became an indie hallmark in the wake of the band's groundbreaking early work on Touch and Go records, few of the band's peers pursued Che's muse in quite the same fashion.
New York Press |
Saby Reyes-Kulkarni |
12-04-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Dresden Dolls' Amanda Palmer Goes Out On Her Ownnew
Palmer released her album this September and has been on the road promoting it ever since, intentionally leaving little time for The Dresden Dolls. "We're taking a break," Palmer says. "We both need some space."
New York Press |
Christine Werthman |
11-20-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Brightblack Morning Light Makes Music Off the Gridnew
The band's latest album title (Motion to Rejoin) refers to the back-to-the-land movement, and Nathan "Naybob" Shineywater and Rachael "Ra Ra" Hughes fully embrace the philosophy, having lived off the grid on a New Mexico mesa 9,000 feet up for almost three years, with four solar panels powering their home recording.
New York Press |
Amre Klimchak |
11-13-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Decemberists Take a Working Vacationnew
For The Decemberists, some of the indie-pop world’s most talented practitioners, "time off" this year has meant tackling the grand and unwieldy genre of rock opera.
New York Press |
Amre Klimchak |
11-06-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
New Dad Sam Prekop on the Sea and Cake and His Newbornsnew
This is Prekop's first time back on the road since the birth of his twins, and as much as a handful as two newborns surely are, Prekop admits that leaving them behind for a few weeks will be a touch difficult.
New York Press |
Brian Heater |
11-06-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Love is All Tries to Keep the Embers Burning with its Second Albumnew
With A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night, the success of the previous album was in the back of the band's mind. "It's an impossible task to make a second record after the first one has been well received."
New York Press |
Christine Werthman |
10-09-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tegan and Sara are Back in the Habitnew

Narcissism and novelty are not what have compelled the two biological halves Tegan and Sara to navigate their entire adult lives in an eponymous folk pop band.
New York Press |
Robyn Hillman-Harrigan |
10-02-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Tegan & Sara
Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip is on the Best MySpace Date Evernew
Hip-hop might have been born in the Bronx, but its newest generation of superstars is coming straight outta Essex, U.K.
New York Press |
Billy Jam |
09-25-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
In a Dark Room with Future Islands, Our Man Sees the Lightnew
Future Islands are riding a synthesized post-wave and might help to subside the sarcastic tides (a black water, too often mistaken for irony by a culture that disguises brazenly ugly sentiments with gushes of its artistic merit) cascading into the strands of hipsterdom.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
09-25-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Future Islands
Brooklyn-based Singer Maiysha Refuses to Dumb It Downnew
Though she participated in numerous school musicals -- she was the lead in a production of The Wiz when she was 12 -- her musical career didn't truly begin until after she graduated from Sarah Lawrence, where she studied vocal performance, creative writing and race and gender studies.
New York Press |
Ernest Barteldes |
09-11-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Maiysha, This Much is True
Reunited Beachwood Sparks Burn Brighter Than Evernew
Hiatuses, as it turns out, sometimes fade as well, and when your former label asks really nicely whether you'd be interested in getting the old band back together to help celebrate its 20th birthday, those initial catalysts for dissolution sometimes seem less clear.
New York Press |
Brian Heater |
09-11-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews