Thursday, May 24 2012
Bringing the Bass Up Front: An Interview with Stanley Clarke
With the re-issue of all seven of Stanley Clarke’s solo discs in a career-spanning box set, we talk to the legendary bass player about his career, writing classics like "Lopsy Lu" and "School Days", the ideal balance of heart and virtuosity and the value of live performance, warts and all.
Wednesday, May 23 2012
Poppy & the Jezebels: Dig the New Breed!
They’re four girls whose debut single, released on a good old fashioned independent label, was also the first song they ever wrote at just aged 13. They sound like little else right now -- except the swell of Generation LOL rising up to take on the charts. They’re Poppy & the Jezebels and they’re from Birmingham.
Tuesday, May 22 2012
They’ll Be Your Emmylou: An Interview with First Aid Kit
These Swedish sisters are barely in their 20s, but now with their second album acknowledging country's storied past, they get big help from the likes of Mike Mogis, the Felice Brothers, and Conor Oberst. The ladies sit down with PopMatters to tell us all about their wonderful journey ...
Monday, May 21 2012
Carry On: An Interview with fun.
They have the biggest song of the year thus far, were in a Super Bowl commercial, and were even covered by Glee. Yet what you don't know about fun. is that what'll surprise you the most, as this is not the first rodeo these guys have been on ...
Friday, May 18 2012
She’s a Rainbow: A Tribute to Donna Summer
Wynonna, Ziggy Marley, Liza Minnelli, and more than 20 other artists, songwriters, and producers explain who they "love to love" as PopMatters studies the remarkable four-decade career of Donna Summer.
Thursday, May 17 2012
The Queen and Her Crayons: An Interview With Donna Summer
Donna Summer has sadly passed away at the age of 63 and we offer this fabulous 2008 interview by way of tribute. Stay tuned tomorrow for more.
Alternate Universe: The Physics of the Shaggs
The Shaggs may have been terrible, but their music offers an escape to the place before rules were written, and a taste of an entire alternate universe of music.
Punk Rock’s Pet Sounds: An Interview with Bomb the Music Industry!
They made one of the best punk albums of 2011 -- which is largely due to the fact that it sounds like no punk album you've ever heard before. Throw in the fact that they put out all their albums for free on their own donation-run record label, and you start to see why Bomb the Music Industry! is a force to be reckoned with ...
Tuesday, May 15 2012
“English Songwriters Spend Most of Our Lives Wishing We Were American”: An Interview with Keane
Horror movie directors. The Vaccines. Forming a country-based side-project despite not being all that much into country. This is just a day in the life of Keane pianist/songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley, and for his second PopMatters sitdown, he tells us all about the band's latest back-the-the-basics album Strangeland ...
Wednesday, May 9 2012
“It Can Be Whatever I Want It to Be”: An Interview with Bahamas
PopMatters chats with Toronto-based Afie Jurvanen (Bahamas) about his booming hometown artistic scene, recording "quiet music", and making records he wants to hear.
Monday, May 7 2012
Troublemen: An Interview with Electric Guest
A happenstance acquisition of Danger Mouse's bedroom has lead the Electric Guest to achieve national acclaim, a Danger Mouse-produced album, and a dynamic new sound that people are swooning over. The duo sits down with PopMatters to tell us all about it ...
Together We’re Stronger: An Interview with No-Man’s Tim Bowness
The British art-rock duo No-Man, consisting of Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson, has long toiled in semi-obscurity. But thanks to the success of Wilson's other band, Porcupine Tree, No-Man is finally beginning to receive its proper due on the eve of its new release, Love and Endings.
Friday, May 4 2012
No Concern of Yours: An Interview with Punch Brothers
He's been in Grammy-winning bands, has worked with some of the best producers in the world, has a documentary coming out about him, and more -- but Chris Thile still doesn't see what the big fuss is about.
Thursday, May 3 2012
Seeing the Light: Inside the Velvet Underground
With exclusive new interviews from Velvet Underground, this is a captivating account of one of the most influential groups in rock history.
Tuesday, May 1 2012
Don’t Give Up on “Us”: An Interview with the Maine
They had one of the most public major-label blowouts in recent memory, but the journey from being a songwriter-assisted pop-punk act to a fiercely independent group unafraid to throw a country song into their latest disc is a wild ride, and the Maine tell PopMatters all about it...
Monday, April 30 2012
Perfection in the Flaws: An Interview with Here We Go Magic
Here We Go Magic’s third album brings a new kind of clarity to Luke Temple’s agitated, rhythmic pop aesthetic, giving each element of the sound space to resonate. Temple credits Nigel Godrich with helping the band focus on essentials, showing them how to strive for perfection while tolerating occasional flaws.
Thursday, April 26 2012
Listening Ahead: Upcoming Releases for May
With summer just around the corner, May boasts a loaded record release schedule that’ll fill up your iPod with plenty of new music for that vacation that can’t come soon enough.
Musical Chairs: An Interview with Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s
As the leader of Indianapolis’s Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s, Richard Edwards is a songwriter who knows what he wants. The result has been one of the more varied and interesting discographies to be found among modern indies.
Tuesday, April 24 2012
Tomorrow Will Be Kinder: An Interview with Greg Wells of ‘The Hunger Games’ Soundtrack
The superstar producer just helped helm the mega-selling Hunger Games soundtrack, and tells PopMatters all about its creation, including how he never actually knew about the series until right before he started working on the music.
Monday, April 23 2012
‘But That Doesn’t Make It Any Less Scary’: An Interview with Cursive
PopMatters' Drew Fortune catches up with his former babysitter and Cursive frontman in this interview about concept albums, angst, and why happy songs are hard to write.
