FANZINE | All Writers (Music)

Adam Ganderson

Tom Fischer is Dead (but still giving interviews)

04.07.08

Though he may blog now at a site called fischerisdead, Hellhammer founding member Tom (Warrior) Fischer, one of the originators of the black metal sound, is still very alive and talking. Adam Ganderson catches up with Fischer on the cusp of the launch of a book about Fischer's short lived, legendary band.

Ben Bush

Interview with Neung Phak (AKA Mono Pause etc)

08.05.05

Ben Bush catches up with Peter Conheim and Mark Gergis of the experimental semi-faux Asian pop group Neung Phak, Mono Pause, and other enigmatic musical projects

Brandon Stosuy

Interview with Carl Newman

07.21.05

From the New Pornographers to A.C. Newman, Carl Newman is one of rock's most fiery and proficient talents. Brandon Stosuy finds the Canadian in San Francisco and talks to him about everything from burritos to Borges.

Brian Howe

Ignition, Orbit & Landfall: A Liars Synopsis

10.18.07

Brian Howe writes the LP narrative thus far of one of Brooklyn's defining bands, Liars, a group defined by their undefinable music. Liars (now spread between L.A. and Berlin) are starting to make some sense. With a driving, almost pop-oriented new album that's more coherent than anything they've done prior, Liars have once again fooled us all. What's in that name anyway, Liars? Has it ever sounded so sweet?

Chelsea Martin

Josiah Wolf: Jet Lag (Anticon)

03.10.10

On the most recent WHY? album frontman Yoni Wolf sings, "I know saying all this in public oughta make me feel funny/but you gotta yell something out you'd never tell nobody." After five years as a backing multi-instrumentalist in his brother's band, Josiah Wolf, a classically trained drummer capable of some incredible riffs, is speaking his mind in his first solo album. Through a multitude of overdubs, Josiah played all of instruments on this sonic exploration of the dissolution of his 11-year marriage. Chelsea Martin, author of Everything Was Fine Until Whatever, interviewed Wolf and finds much to praise in the album but wonders whether the anxiety over the novel being supplanted by the memoir has its parallel in music.

Grant Weber

Dinosaur Jr. - Farm

06.27.09

While Beyond may have thrown everyone for a loop that one of the nastiest divorces in rock history was suddenly caput (it was like Burton had returned to Taylor again, and the chemistry was off the charts) - Farm, Dinosaur Jr.'s latest shows maybe there's no surprises anymore, except that Mascis and crew keep proving louder, stronger and lovelier that they are one of rock's greatest bands...ever. Take out them earplugs son, let the damage wash beautifully over you. Grant Weber reviews.

Jason McBride

Interview: Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene

09.09.05

Jason McBride talks to Kevin Drew, one of the members of Broken Social Scene about Tolkien, Goonies, first sex and heroes.

Mark Asch

Hallelujah and Hail Satan

04.25.08

It's not unusual for a rock musician—like Robert Johnson playing the blues—to have sympathy for the Devil. Mark Asch takes us to the crossroads, where Black Sabbath, The Mountain Goats's John Darnielle, and the Man of Wealth and Taste himself commune.

Mark Gluth

Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer

07.19.09

Quebecois maestro Spencer Krug of the indie avatars Wolf Parade and Frog Eyes also heads up the narrative minded (and now pretty much band-like) unit Sunset Rubdown, which has just released its fourth album, Dragonslayer. Mark Gluth, keeper of the blog Joyful Thing and author of the upcoming book The Late Work of Margaret Kroftis from Akashic Books' Little House on The Bowery series, reviews.

Michael Louie

The Rambler

11.17.05

This piece is coming a little late, but Mike Louie and I have been in transit, not unlike the members of the Bay Area supergroup Universe, aboard the goodship Rambler - with their utopian portable star music for the masses.

Mike Powell

John Cage's 95th

09.20.07

...birthday that is. Mike Powell attended a memorial for the legendary composer at NYC's Kitchen this September 5th. While he forgot to bring us back any of Yoko's flowers from the event, he did deliver us a nice reflection on it.

Nick Sylvester

The Braffing of Daft Punk or...

08.19.07

Editing Nick's piece, I had to ask him what "Braffed" meant. He replied in an email that "to be Braffed is a sideways reference to Garden State and Zach Braff and 'The Shins will change your life' line - any overly dramatic preordained significance given to a piece of art's power to transcend." Alas, this piece is Sylvester's response to some Braffing he read concerning a recent Daft Punk show.

Richard Parks

Review: Richard Greene's: "Shufflin"

07.21.05

Richard Parks, a classic languages and bluegrass music enthusiast who often describes himself (incorrectly) as a drunk 5 year old girl, reviews the work of one of his friends and favorite artists, Richard Greene, fiddler extraordinaire.

Ross Simonini

Forget the Hits: Here is Animal Collective

01.31.08

Ross Simonini will walk a mile (or drive all the way to Utah) for an Animal Collective show. Why? Not to sing along to the hits, because the AC homies don’t play those. But they do give their all nonetheless, and always something new, on the petri dish canvass some call a stage.

Thom Donovan

Arthur Russell Revived: Hold On To Your Dreams

10.25.09

We've seen a major reexamination, recently, of the work of the late, esteemed, multifaceted musician Arthur Russell, through a biopic film, a record label dedicating to releasing unreleased, rare and reissued material, and a new biography in the bookstores; the poetic brilliance of Arthur Russell is alive and well for a new generation. Thom Donovan looks at the entire scope of the Russell revision on the heals of the biography by Tim Lawrence, Hold On To Your Dreams.

Tim Kabara

Nautical Almanac and the Baltimore Noise Scene

10.13.05

Baltimore native Tim Kabara defends his town and the music that makes it stand out.

Timothy Cushing

Only Connect: Some Modern Folk

09.12.08

There's a folkload of new folk springing forth again in America, a renaissance you might say; as it happened in 60's with Guthrie and Dylan and Baez and so on, so it is again, if however tweaked. Timothy Cushing looks at a sample of these new musicians that he, a musician himself, particularly connects with: the Avett Brothers, Ian Thomas and Langhorne Slim. Art By Danny Jock.