Beach Day are sort of like a musical episode of Three’s Company produced by Phil Spector.  Beach Day are a trio hailing from “Hollyweird,” Florida… a retro-vibing town whose quirk would seem to be the band’s biggest influence (It’s been described as resembling an R. Crumb drawing.)  Kimmy, Natalie,...

Earlier this week I got a chance to hang out with (recently “featured” band) Blessed Feathers, who told me all about the Wisconsin music scene… something they have recently departed from, currently dedicating themselves to an ongoing life on the road.  However they remain quite fond of the scene,...

Even though she’s seemingly “all growed up,” Rachel Trachtenburg, of the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, is still Supercute!  Well… she’s in Supercute!  Supercute! is Trachtenburg’s latest musical project, a brilliantly juvenile, tongue-in-cheek, tie-dyed take on a girl group, which Trachtenburg has described as “psychedelic-indie-bubblegum.”  This June sees the release...

This Thursday sees the first in a brilliant string of weekend shows at our very own Johnny Brenda’s: Little Green Cars on Thursday (the 21st), San Cisco and Chaos Chaos on Friday (the 22nd), Sky Ferreira on Saturday (the 23rd), and Kate Nash and Supercute! on Sunday (the 24th)...

My favorite album of 2013 is, without a doubt, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside’s Untamed Beast (on Partisan Records).  The band’s sophomore effort is a blend of classically great musical movements almost too brilliant to even fathom its existence… okay, so maybe it’s not quite as revolutionary as The...

“There are loads of really cool sister bands at the moment – Haim and First Aid Kit – there’s something to be said for blood harmonies,” Emily Staveley-Taylor tells me.  Emily is one-third of English sister trio The Staves (along with Jessica and Camilla).  I had just asked her...

Blessed Feathers are definitely my kind of people… The duo share a 10-year-old cell phone and have to make a trip to the nearest library if they want internet access (Okay, so I’m told that management forced them to get a new cell phone for SXSW… but they still...

“At night, 6th street kind of feels like the Apocalypse, like there are no rules, anything can happen.  It’s madness.”  Katrina Jones is musing about her inaugural trip to SXSW.  Katrina is the pianist, backing-vocalist, and one-fifth of Vancouver’s The Belle Game, an indie pop outfit that manages to...

“I’m a synth singer/songwriter… whatever that entails,” says Ariana DiLorenzo, mastermind behind Ariana & the Rose, who was recently kind enough to take some time out of her day to discuss her debut album with me.  Ariana and the Rose’s 6-song, debut EP, Love Me, Love Me Not, will...

The tale of Tristan Prettyman that occurred in the half a decade between her last LP, Hello, and her third, and latest, Cedar + Gold (released last October) sounds like a thing of blockbuster cinema and New York Times bestsellers.  A bit bored with the life of a successful...

Disregarding the Elvis Presley musical…“Blue Hawaii” would seem to reference some utopia/dystopia… That, combined with the fact that the band’s upcoming, sophomore effort, is titled Untogether, should make them a musical wet dream for existentialists and social scientists.  Montreal male/female duo Raph (whom you may know as a member...

Is it just me, or has a recent wave of child-star-turned-cool-adults made the designation of “child star” at least slightly less lame?  Alexz Johnson is currently best known for writing brilliant pop tunes with a soul that resembles, in equal parts, that of the Motor City and Nashville… (She...

There was an excellent double billing at Milkboy Philadelphia on 1100 Chestnut St. last Thursday night, February 21. The headliner was Broken Anchor, an atmospheric retro influenced indie rock band from Los Angeles debuted along with Stone Cold Fox, a dreamy folk inspired band from Brooklyn. Broken Anchor has recorded music on...

“I’m challenging myself to be myself as much as possible,” Kacey Johansing tells me.  The San Francisco musician is describing for me her current approach to performing live.  However, the sentiment would also seem to ring true to her sophomore LP, Grand Ghosts, which she is self-releasing next Tuesday,...

Like so many great electro-pop duos, Sally Shapiro first came together while singing Christmas carols… Okay, so maybe their backstory isn’t so common… But neither are their methods.  Sally Shapiro is one lovely and anonymous blonde chanteuse (who prefers to just go by Sally Shapiro) and producer Johan Agebjörn,...

Calling to interview a musician and being told that they’re currently looking at your site is a bit like calling a potential date and being told that they’re currently checking out your sex tape… Okay, so that may be a little melodramatic, but it certainly adds pressure.  However, Kendall...

Marriages began about a year and a half ago, with Emma Ruth Rundle, Greg Burns, and Dave Clifford of post-rock outfit Red Sparowes.  Their debut EP, Kitsune, produced by Toshi Kasai, was released last May on Sargent House.  While the band has seemed to most regularly find themselves sharing...

My Gold Mask are many of my favorite things: cold, dark, quite sexy, but, conventionally speaking, also quite scary.  My Gold Mask is vocalist Gretta Rochelle and guitarist Jack Armondo. Their Leave Me Midnight comes out next Tuesday, February 19th.  The album is hauntingly dripping with eroticism.  It bolsters...

“I love Heart.  Heart is like the ultimate sister babes… This new band, Bleach.  I’m a huge fan of theirs… The Staves.  They’re awesome… The Jackson 5.  Oh my god, the Jackson 5 are the shit,” proclaims Alana Haim.  I have just asked her to reflect on her own,...

Anna Nelson has recently left behind her singer/songwriter roots for a musical world of fantastical whimsy.  In 2012 Nelson teamed up with writer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Andy Toy for Moxi, a band that makes songs that often resemble postmodern, electronic fairy tales.  With the help of producer Bobby Hartry,...

“Philly… I like Philly a lot.  I don’t know Philadelphia that well… I know Philly cheesesteaks… They are quite good,” James Iha tells me.  I’m more than a little jaded when it comes to being a music critic and getting to regularly talk with musicians I find to be...

The story of Lady Lamb the Beekeeper began about five years ago at a DVD rental shop in Brunswick, Maine (That does sound a bit like the opening line of a postmodern fairy tale, doesn’t it?)  Lady Lamb the Beekeeper is Aly Spaltro, who recently re-located to Brooklyn to...

“It is awesome!” proclaims MorganEve Swain when I ask her how to characterize Brown Bird’s upcoming album.  The album is called Fits of Reason and it’s set to be released April 2nd on Supply & Demand Music.  Brown Bird is a duo comprised of Swain and her partner, David...

I think Madison may be my biggest musical crush of 2013.  Madison is a NYC, platinum blonde, electro pop princess, who I’m kind of surprised doesn’t have the entire music world wrapped around her pinky finger.  However, she has received praise from the likes of NME, Interview Magazine, and...

The sound of Twosomeness, the sophomore effort from Pascal Pinon  (comprised of Icelandic twin sisters Jófrídur and Ásthildur) could best be described as, “woodsy and wise.”  The album is out this Tuesday, February 5th, on Morr Music.  The indie “folk” duo are quite whimsical and organic, but there is...

NYC’s Walking Shapes are still a bit of an enigma.  Founded by Nathaniel Hoho and Jesse Kotansky, formerly of riotously rocking indie poppers The Click Clack Boom, along with Dan Krysa and Christopher Heinz, Walking Shapes released the song “Pusher” last month, via YouTube.  The song doesn’t clarify much...

My favorite new musical friends made in 2012 have to be Lily and the Parlour Tricks… The Brooklyn six-piece that have the heart of a tortured poet, the soul of a 1960s R&B diva, and the style and swagger of a postmodern Cleopatra… They’re just fucking fantastic.  They take...

The sound of Ex Cops is hard to pin down.  It’s something in-between what could be described as delicately playful post-punk and postmodern, electro-twee.  They like sunny harmonies… but they also like the fuzzy stuff.  At the heart of Ex Cops is Brian Harding (formerly of Hymns) and Amalie...

A year ago I had a discussion with Los Angeles’ He’s My Brother She’s My Sister about glam rock, Fellini, and Beckett… amidst other things… it was pretty cool.  HMBSMS are usually characterized as some combination of traditional folk, 60s psychadelica, and spectacles of glamour… They’re quirky, to put...

Chain Letters is certainly made to soundtrack black and white saloons as sleazily noirish events begin to unfold in every corner.  Chain Letters is the sophomore effort from husband/wife duo Chris Senseney and Stefanie Drootin-Senseney, better known as Big Harp, and it is out January 22nd on Saddle Creek. ...

“I’ve never been as moved by a work of art as a really fine film,” Carlos Hernandez tells me.  Carlos is the frontman (vocals, guitar, synthesizer) for Brooklyn’s Ava Luna. Last month Noisey premiered the longtime-in-the-works music video for the title track of their debut album, Ice Level (released...

Triple Hex are one of those bands who just seem to have listened to all of the right music throughout their lives.  They have the funky primal swagger of The Stooges (and frontman, Dave Hex, doesn’t exactly sound a million miles from Mr. Osterberg), coupled with the soul of...