We’ve gotta hand it to 2008, so far so good. Since January, we’ve come across some fairly amazing albums, and with new releases from Deerhoof, Of Montreal, The Cure and many others on the horizon ( and not even mentioning the Walkmen’s amazing new You & Me, kinda sorta unofficially released last week), the rest of the year seems just as strong, right?
Well, not so fast. While browsing through a few upcoming release calendars, we’ve come across our fair share of land mines lurking in the cabbage patch. Buyer beware!
To help you navigate the glut of new releases, we’ve identified five common trends that we sure as hell are steering clear of….consider it our field guide for avoiding the worst of what 2008 has yet to offer. Read more…
The fine folks over at The Boston Phoenix made a list: 50 Bands, 50 States. Here’s what they did - to celebrate the 4th of July this year they declared the best band, best solo artist, and best new band from each of the 50 states in the United States of America. It’s a nice list they made, but it got me thinking. Read more…
We’ve got to hand it to the Dodos. Not only have they made one of our absolute favorite records of 2008 (which coincidentally ended up saving our lives at one point), but they were also good enough to sit down and chat with me after sweating through a ridiculously hot set at Siren on Saturday afternoon (say that five times fast). Behold Meric, Logan and Joe as they tiptoe our investigative journalistic high wire to answer 10 particularly burning and/or inane questions and become the first band to get officially Countdown’d! Read more…
Boy, I’m really letting you see behind the curtain here. There’ll be no question as to what my favorite albums are anymore, they’re (mostly) all spelled out for you nice and easy right here. Keyword: favorite. I didn’t set about trying to discern the “best” records from each year; rather, I’ve followed in Maura and Jeff’s (and others) footsteps and created a list of my favorite albums from every year I’ve been alive, as per DYFL’s instructions. Read more…
Glenn Collins’s infamous 1988 New York Times article, which trumpeted at least a few years too late the entry of hip-hop into America’s musical mainstream, begins with a sentence so corny in its attempt to adopt the emergent street slang of the time that it’s hard to read without your eyes tearing up. The article, entitled “Rap Music: Brash and Swaggering, Enters The Mainstream,” leads with the statement “Rap is so stupid def, it’s bum-rushin’ the mainstream. It’s housin’ ‘em all - word, homes. Translation: Rap is so incredibly fine, it’s breaking down the doors of mainstream society. It’s bringing down the house - and that’s the truth, friend.” Read more…
The holiday gods did a damn fine job making sure the 4th of July fell on a Friday this year. Now, instead of awkward mid-week recesses or anticlimactic Monday get-downs - both scenarios cruelly bookended with bleary retreats back to the cubicle - we get a perfectly placed day for grilling, chilling, chanting U.S.A. and enjoying us some music. Hooray America! And like the fast food options available to us throughout our great country, this week offers supersized portions of music-related goodness to those brave souls choosing to remain in the five boroughs. So, for this week’s Countdown, may we suggest some holiday week plans? Read more…
Welcome to the first installment of Countdown, our weekly rundown of randomly pertinent issues, ideas, trends, events, and anything else tangentially associated with music. With summer having officially kicked off a few days ago, what better way to start this feature than with a highly subjective list of ESSENTIAL summer records? Read more…
Give me your ears all over, one by one, and let us swear our resolution: here lies the new EAR FARM, all are welcome. It is not finality, or the end result of months of hard work, but rather the beginning of something entirely different for us here at EAR FARM; and hopefully, for each of you too. Read more…