Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Get Their Zeppelin On For New Song

A few weeks ago Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers revealed they would be releasing a new album called Mojo this spring.  Somewhat amazingly, this fulfilled the final of three major projects that Tom Petty had listed wanting to do four years ago.  At the time I was skeptical he would actually put together a reunion […]

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2009 Pazz and Jop Poll Results

I know now that I am daily presenting my favorite 366 bands you have stopped bothering to look anywhere else for tips about new music worth investigating. But, nonetheless, you can find a ranked list of critics’ favorite 1,934 albums released in 2009 here.  For the (considerably shorter) rankings lists based on critical consensus of […]

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343. Garfunkel and Oates

No, I’m not saving spots on the top 366 by reviewing both Simon and Garfunkel and Hall and Oates as one oeuvre of cotton candy male duet harmonies stretching over three decades and two bands with completely different members.  Garfunkel and Oates are the comedy singers Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, who write extremely clever, […]

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345. Metric

Metric is the band fronted by Broken Social Scenester Emily Haines, whose incredibly captivating vocal performance on “Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl” is  arguably the highlight of the Broken Social Scene’s entire recording career.  Motivated by love for “Anthems,” I dug into Haines’s work with Metric and as Emily Haines & The Soft […]

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354. The Cranberries

The Cranberries’ song “Zombie” blew me away 16 years ago, when I was 16 years old.  Everything about the song is perfect—from the intense, angry drums, to the matter-of-factly rolling and grooving bass to the threatening chug in the rhythm guitars to the sad sound of violent fate in the guitar solo, all the way […]

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355. Soul Made Visible

Alright, full disclosure on this one, I was actually in this band about 16 years ago—in that the lead singer was one of my closest friends in high school and for a brief period we had the ridiculous idea that I could write lyrics and perform the vocals to songs that he played guitar on. […]

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Let’s Hear It For New York!

Oh how I love this glorious city.  I would live here my whole life if I could.  Below is a beautifully shot video and achingly catchy anthem from two real New Yorkers.  Several times in the last week I’ve watched it over and over consecutively.  My favorite thing about it is how authentically New York […]

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The Best 7 Minutes, 13 Seconds Of Tom Petty’s Career

I say this with no exaggeration: I have heard all the albums and hundreds of live concerts many many times and this performance of Refugee from his Take The Highway tour features the most perfect realization of one of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ most perfect songs. It has the fullest and most exciting and […]

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God Is In The House

As I’ve mentioned before:  As far as I go, no singer/songwriter better explores the theme of religion or better employs religious imagery than Nick Cave.  Very few people write either religious music or music about religion that avoids either preaching on its behalf or railing against it.  Nick Cave is liberated from any creedal loyalty […]

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Amy Millan Covers Death Cab For Cutie (And I Review “My Favorite Book” By Stars)

I could seriously listen to Amy Millan sing just about anything, so I don’t know if her new cover of Death Cab For Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” which you can stream here is actually any good (Pitchfork hated it and I often trust Pitchfork’s judgment more than my own), but I […]

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Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl

In honor of Metric’s appearance promoting their new album “Fantasies” on David Letterman just now, here is the song in which Metric’s lead singer Emily Haines first completely mesmerized me (and many others).  Her voice and performances are so completely alluring that I keep going back and listening to her even though her song writing […]

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