News
More Top Stories
Best New Music
On The Crying Light, Antony Hegarty remains fascinated with the transitions and overlaps between birth and life, life and death, this world and the next, but he expresses them in more universal, more direct, but no less rapturous terms than he did on his New York-tinted breakthrough I Am a Bird Now.
Anticipated to an almost ridiculous degree, no one looking forward to the latest Animal Collective record-- out tomorrow on vinyl and digitally, and on CD in two weeks-- will be disappointed. Everything that's defined the band to this point has here been refined and amplified into a record that captures the group's quirky and forwardly expressive style.
Reviews
On The Crying Light, Antony Hegarty remains fascinated with the transitions and overlaps between birth and life, life and death, this world and the next, but he expresses them in more universal, more direct, but no less rapturous terms than he did on his New York-tinted breakthrough I Am a Bird Now. [Best New Music]
[Marc Masters]
Will people host tasteful, upmarket dinner parties during the economic recession? Thievery Corporation hope so.
[Mark Pytlik]Rounding up the rest of Herman Dune's 2008, the anti-folk duo's second EP and first LP find it getting by on naïve charm, affecting wonder and innocence even in the face of great tragedy.
[Stephen M. Deusner]As do mathy post-hardcore bands, Seattle-based These Arms Are Snakes deploy winding time signatures, grinding guitars, and strained, often obtuse lyrics. Here on their third full-length, they also manage a few left turns.
[Jason Crock]L.A. underground rock institution follows a recent upswing that began with 2002's Lil' Beethoven with a joke-filled album that explores the collision of dignity and indignity.
[Douglas Wolk]Fri: 01-16-09
Thu: 01-15-09
Wed: 01-14-09
Tue: 01-13-09
Forkcast
- Video: Fleet Foxes: "Mykonos" / "Blue Ridge Mountains" (Live on "Saturday Night Live")
- Pitchfork.tv: One Week Only: Joy Division
- Pitchfork.tv: The Safes: "The Sky Is Falling" [Video Premiere]
- Video: Q-Tip [ft. Amanda Diva]: "Manwomanboogie"
- Video: Daft Punk vs. Adam Freeland: "Aer Obama"
- Video: The Edge, Brian Eno, and Daniel Lanois: "You Don't Miss Your Water ('Till Your Well Runs Dry)" (William Bell cover)
- New Music: NewVillager: "Rich Doors" [MP3]
Features
Interview: Animal Collective
As they prepared to head out on tour in support of their tremendous new record Merriweather Post Pavilion, we spoke to Avey Tare, Panda Bear, and Geologist of Animal Collective about their long history, their relative lack of musical chops, early Pavement singles, and the critical importance of album sequencing.
[Mark Richardson]
Column: Poptimist #20
Why is Kanye West, the biggest star in hip-hop, trying to sound like a robot? To answer that, Poptimist wonders what being a robot might mean and why pop music has a cybernetic impulse.
[Tom Ewing]Interview: Hauschka
Currently on tour in Europe, Volker Bertelmann corresponded with us by email, discussing how his new album took shape, the relationship between image and music, and how childhood memories can often provide the best material when composing.
[Mia Clarke]Interview: Kranky
We celebrate 15 years of Kranky, a Chicago label that has carved out a hard-earned niche, building a roster of artists that tend toward drifting ambience, by talking to founders Joel Leoschke and Bruce Adams.
[Marc Masters]Guest List: Truckasauras
Ryan Trudell of Truckasauras gives us some details about his custom-patched Game Boys, encourages taking in the Pac NW's natural scenery, and divulges which kind of truck a Truckasauras would sell. [Interview: Tyler Grisham]
[Ryan Trudell]Interview: Abe Vigoda
We spoke to two members of Abe Vigoda about how the Smell's recent deluge of press has affected the club's vibe, the band's relationship to the character actor of the same name, and the origins of some of their bizarre guitar sounds.
[Ashford Tucker]