Norah JonesNorah Jones has never quite shaken off the wide-eyed ingénue persona of her debut, 2002's Grammy-winning Come Away With Me. But her new record Little Broken Hearts ― chock full of grown-up problems like messy break-ups, murder fantasies, and infidelity ― should shatter any...
Joel PlaskettJoel Plaskett is done second-guessing himself. The darling of Dartmouth's 2009 album, Three, was a boundless sprawl of 27 songs on three separate disks. Three years later, he's daring to show some restraint. Plaskett's latest release, Scrappy Happiness, consists of ten songs recorded...
Napalm Death's Mark "Barney" GreenwayFor over two decades, Mark "Barney" Greenway has been the frontman of Napalm Death, one of the UK's most influential and revered grindcore bands. He has also defined the group's message over the years with thought-provoking lyrical content rooted in political and philosophical themes. Napalm...
Donald Glover aka Childish GambinoWhen in his rap alter-ego Childish Gambino, actor-writer-comedian-musician Donald Glover dismisses the thought of being perceived as an actor with a side hobby. Still shooting episodes for NBC's cult sitcom Community (currently on midseason hiatus), Glover is looking at doing a feature film...
Megadeth's Dave MustaineDave Mustaine is one of the most iconic and universally recognized personalities in the realm of heavy metal. His music career has spanned 30 years and he is recognized as one of the most significant lead guitarists and metal vocalists of all time. His career began with a brief, but extremely...
William ShatnerWilliam Shatner has done it all, but even at 80 years old, he's constantly exploring new professional frontiers. Despite all this, there's no way he'll be enshrined in pop culture as anything other than Captain James T. Kirk. Star Trek and the fanaticism it generates is an enduring...
Ben FoldsAfter 18 years of tickling the ivories, Ben Folds could be forgiven for wanting to take a moment to reflect on his past. But it seems The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective, wasn't his idea. "It was a contractual obligation that I'd put off for some time," he says. "I don't think...
Today is the Day's Steve AustinFor nearly 20 years, Today is the Day have been making completely insane experimental metal. The band's front-man Steve Austin is known for a few things: he's a legend of extreme metal; he's Today is the Day's only consistent member in a band known for frequent line-up changes (more than 15 members...
Fiery Furnaces' Eleanor FriedbergerFor the last 11 years, Eleanor Friedberger has been sharing a band with her big brother Matt. As the quirky, prog-leaning pop duo Fiery Furnaces, the Friedbergers have had an incredible run that saw them release eight full-lengths as well as a double live album between the years of 2003 and 2009....
Bad Meets Evil's Royce da 5'9"The backpack rap crowd of the late '90s salivated for a full-length collaboration between devilish wordplay mates Eminem and Royce da 5'9" after the Detroit duo dropped the "Nuttin' to Do" single on independent Game Recordings in 1999 and Royce burned through a cameo on Marshall Mathers' classic,...
Fucked Up Damian AbrahamDamian Abraham is many things to many people. He is the vocalist for Polaris Prize-winning hardcore art weirdos Fucked Up, the host of a recently relaunched The Wedge on MuchMusic, an MC who dropped his first verse on D-Sisive's Jonestown 2, and one of the most fanatical record...
Thursday's Geoff RicklySince their breakthrough 2001 album Full Collapse helped commercialize a new generation of emo and post-hardcore, Thursday's trajectory has taken a creative shape that few could genuinely say was expected. The New Jersey group made label jumps from Victory to major Island and, most recently,...
Beth DittoIn the last few years, Beth Ditto's disco-punk outfit the Gossip have taken off, thanks in no small part to the success of their 2006 major-label deal-earner Standing in the Way of Control and 2009 follow-up Music for Men. The trio are currently in the midst of recording a fifth full-length record,...
The Dears' Murray LightburnAfter more than a decade of work, the Dears have proven themselves Canadian indie mainstays. But things haven't always been peachy for the Montreal troupe, as band differences in 2006 led to the eventual dissolution of the band's original line-up in 2007. Keen to move forward, the band have...
Social Distortion's Mike NessMike Ness is a punk rock institution. Hammering out some of the genre's most addictively melodic songs since 1978, the founder/guitarist/vocalist for Orange County, CA-based quartet Social Distortion has kept the spirit alive for much longer than most of his musical brethren. From humble,...
My Chemical Romance's Gerard WayMy Chemical Romance needed four years to follow-up their million-selling concept album, The Black Parade. That album, a rock opera that followed the death of a cancer patient and saw the band assume an alter ego called the Black Parade, was nothing if not ambitious. However, it took a toll...
Aloe BlaccSinger/rapper Aloe Blacc is best known these days as the man behind "I Need A Dollar," the theme song for acclaimed HBO series How To Make It In America. The theme song's notoriety generated helpful momentum for Blacc, dovetailing nicely into the ramp up for his most recent release, Good...
Corin TuckerWhen riot grrrl royalty Sleater-Kinney went on an indefinite hiatus in the summer of 2006, it seemed inevitable if not a bit untimely ― though riding high on a wave of love for their blistering, career-capping album The Woods, the band were at a crossroads of shifting personal...
Margaret ChoComedian Margaret Cho adds another hyphenate to her career this month with the release of her first all-music album Cho Dependent. Working in the comedy music world forged by the likes of Weird Al Yankovic comes naturally to the 41-year-old, who describes herself as a "longtime backstage...
ChromeoIn their suit and do-rag, respectively, Chromeo's Dave Macklovitch and Patrick Gemayel might look like the kind of duo who'd take themselves too seriously to allow album-release excitement to show through, but they're not. Over the phone from Sweden, they're both utterly genuine, their excitement...
POP & ROCK: Beach House - Bloom
Norah Jones has never quite shaken off the wide-eyed ingénue persona of her debut, 2002's Grammy-winning Come Away With Me. But her new record Little Broken Hearts ― chock full of grown-up problems like messy break-ups, murder fantasies, and infidelity ― should shatter any...
Joel Plaskett is done second-guessing himself. The darling of Dartmouth's 2009 album, Three, was a boundless sprawl of 27 songs on three separate disks. Three years later, he's daring to show some restraint. Plaskett's latest release, Scrappy Happiness, consists of ten songs recorded...
For over two decades, Mark "Barney" Greenway has been the frontman of Napalm Death, one of the UK's most influential and revered grindcore bands. He has also defined the group's message over the years with thought-provoking lyrical content rooted in political and philosophical themes. Napalm...
When in his rap alter-ego Childish Gambino, actor-writer-comedian-musician Donald Glover dismisses the thought of being perceived as an actor with a side hobby. Still shooting episodes for NBC's cult sitcom Community (currently on midseason hiatus), Glover is looking at doing a feature film...-2---c.-of-Roadrunner--s.jpg)
Dave Mustaine is one of the most iconic and universally recognized personalities in the realm of heavy metal. His music career has spanned 30 years and he is recognized as one of the most significant lead guitarists and metal vocalists of all time. His career began with a brief, but extremely...
William Shatner has done it all, but even at 80 years old, he's constantly exploring new professional frontiers. Despite all this, there's no way he'll be enshrined in pop culture as anything other than Captain James T. Kirk. Star Trek and the fanaticism it generates is an enduring...
After 18 years of tickling the ivories, Ben Folds could be forgiven for wanting to take a moment to reflect on his past. But it seems The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective, wasn't his idea. "It was a contractual obligation that I'd put off for some time," he says. "I don't think...
For nearly 20 years, Today is the Day have been making completely insane experimental metal. The band's front-man Steve Austin is known for a few things: he's a legend of extreme metal; he's Today is the Day's only consistent member in a band known for frequent line-up changes (more than 15 members...
For the last 11 years, Eleanor Friedberger has been sharing a band with her big brother Matt. As the quirky, prog-leaning pop duo Fiery Furnaces, the Friedbergers have had an incredible run that saw them release eight full-lengths as well as a double live album between the years of 2003 and 2009....
The backpack rap crowd of the late '90s salivated for a full-length collaboration between devilish wordplay mates Eminem and Royce da 5'9" after the Detroit duo dropped the "Nuttin' to Do" single on independent Game Recordings in 1999 and Royce burned through a cameo on Marshall Mathers' classic,...
Damian Abraham is many things to many people. He is the vocalist for Polaris Prize-winning hardcore art weirdos Fucked Up, the host of a recently relaunched The Wedge on MuchMusic, an MC who dropped his first verse on D-Sisive's Jonestown 2, and one of the most fanatical record...
Since their breakthrough 2001 album Full Collapse helped commercialize a new generation of emo and post-hardcore, Thursday's trajectory has taken a creative shape that few could genuinely say was expected. The New Jersey group made label jumps from Victory to major Island and, most recently,...
In the last few years, Beth Ditto's disco-punk outfit the Gossip have taken off, thanks in no small part to the success of their 2006 major-label deal-earner Standing in the Way of Control and 2009 follow-up Music for Men. The trio are currently in the midst of recording a fifth full-length record,...---Danny-Cianfarra-s.jpg)
After more than a decade of work, the Dears have proven themselves Canadian indie mainstays. But things haven't always been peachy for the Montreal troupe, as band differences in 2006 led to the eventual dissolution of the band's original line-up in 2007. Keen to move forward, the band have...
Mike Ness is a punk rock institution. Hammering out some of the genre's most addictively melodic songs since 1978, the founder/guitarist/vocalist for Orange County, CA-based quartet Social Distortion has kept the spirit alive for much longer than most of his musical brethren. From humble,...
My Chemical Romance needed four years to follow-up their million-selling concept album, The Black Parade. That album, a rock opera that followed the death of a cancer patient and saw the band assume an alter ego called the Black Parade, was nothing if not ambitious. However, it took a toll...
Singer/rapper Aloe Blacc is best known these days as the man behind "I Need A Dollar," the theme song for acclaimed HBO series How To Make It In America. The theme song's notoriety generated helpful momentum for Blacc, dovetailing nicely into the ramp up for his most recent release, Good...
When riot grrrl royalty Sleater-Kinney went on an indefinite hiatus in the summer of 2006, it seemed inevitable if not a bit untimely ― though riding high on a wave of love for their blistering, career-capping album The Woods, the band were at a crossroads of shifting personal...
Comedian Margaret Cho adds another hyphenate to her career this month with the release of her first all-music album Cho Dependent. Working in the comedy music world forged by the likes of Weird Al Yankovic comes naturally to the 41-year-old, who describes herself as a "longtime backstage...
In their suit and do-rag, respectively, Chromeo's Dave Macklovitch and Patrick Gemayel might look like the kind of duo who'd take themselves too seriously to allow album-release excitement to show through, but they're not. Over the phone from Sweden, they're both utterly genuine, their excitement...
