John Tarpley

Yes. At this year's Primavera Sound festival, the Afghan Whigs were in the middle of their afternoon set, reminding people why angsty '90s rock didn't have to be superficial and undercooked. It could be raw, literary, and visceral, in which case Greg Dulli is the St. Augustine or Ted Hughes of the alt-rock genre. While switching from guitar to piano, Dulli pecked a few minor chords out of the keys and started rasping, of all things, a song by an R&B singer half his age.

Read More

Listen, Glen Hansard is melodramatic, treacly, and earnest. Painfully earnest. Usually embarrassingly earnest.

Read More

If it takes guts to be this simple, Japandroids are on straight-up hero status. The high-energy two-piece have mined the vibes of Tom 'n' Bruce-styled classic rock, the punk energy of the Replacements, and, judging from the unrelenting bashing they're give their instruments, their little brother's Ritalin and Kool-Aid stash.

Read More

For the last few days, Frank Ocean has been the biggest thing in music, without question.

Read More

That's it?

After the end of his band Carissa's Wierd, one of the best bands to play during the millennial switch, Ben Bridwell founded Band of Horses, which, since 2004, have become one of the bands currently defining the cacophony of Southern indie rock. They've gone from Sub Pop Records also-rans to releasing 'The Funeral,' as incredible of a song as you'll find in the genre; they've found open arms in the mainstream after being nominated for a Grammy; and they've stirred up a little controversy along the way. (Remember them licensing 'The Funeral' to big, bad Wal-Mart? Bridwell's rant at the cell-phone videographer, captured -- duh --  on film for all to see?)

Read More

In the hands of anyone else other than Dave Longstreth, Dirty Projectors probably wouldn't be much more than a pile of eccentricities, an affected and ostentatious caricature of indie rock's tendency to be weird for weirdness' sake.

Read More

Fans of Matt and Kim will have to wait a bit longer until they get a chance to hear 'Lightning,' the new album from the joycore duo, in its entirety. But in the meantime, the DIY Brooklynites are teasing their latest album of sugar-coated piano-punk with 'Let's Go,' the debut single off of their upcoming fall release.

Read More

While Chris Brown and Drake are busy whipping bottles of Dom Perignon at each other's heads and Pusha T and Lil Wayne are raising beef like an Omaha cow farm, the indie rock world is seeing its own seeds of discord being sewn with Brooklyn trio the Drums dissing the recent trend of indie supergroups in the pages of NME.

Read More

So many free music downloads, so little time. There’s certainly a lot of great music being given away these days on MP3.com, but who has the time to track it all down? We do!

Read More

"What goes down comes up again/ Don't you worry 'bout me, my friend." In what has to be the best song about partying until (and after) you puke since, well, "Party til You Puke" by Andrew W.K., "Let

Read More