Paul DeMerritt

In any genre of music, there is a very fine and delicate balancing act between embracing influences and introducing something purely original. Very few bands have the ability to pull it off at all—most end […]

Various works of science fiction provide the backbone of an upcoming two-part art show that pays tribute to classics like Doctor Who, writer Douglas Adams and Star Wars, plus video games like Mega Man and […]

In any commentary of Animal Collective alumni Panda Bear’s mu­sic, it has seemed almost obligatory to draw comparisons to the Beach Boys visionary Brian Wilson. At first I had the feeling that such associations were […]

Arcade Fire is a band that knows what it means to live in the 21st century. They know what it means to be paranoid by their television, to bask in the empty glow of streetlights […]

When I first discovered that music extended further than 97.1 and Good Charlotte, Tokyo Police Club was one of those initial bands that truly captivated my musical tastes. After a strong series of blogger hype […]

Last year marked a strange transition in music, from Kanye collaborating with Bon Iver to Mountain Dew sponsoring Wavves. Indie as a genre has become virtually indefinable. 1. Broken Social Scene Forgiveness Rock Record Arts […]

In the current overstuffed yet fertile indie underground, it’s become the easier than ever for musicians to gain fame within the realm without having to undergo the necessary work of many musical forefathers. What this […]

Zeus’ debut LP Say Us starts off very deceptively. After a few min­utes I was very quick to pass it all off as another classic rock-influenced band that sounds only slightly differ­ent than actual classic […]

When the husband-wife duo of Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore de­cided to buy a sailboat and escape to the ocean for a year, they had no intention of restarting their musical careers. Something about the […]

Unfortunately, 2010 has been a sadly unmotivated year for independent music. Fledgling bands such as Best Coast and Wavves have been riding on massive torrents of praise from Pitchfork Media for their beachy fuzz-pop and […]