Since 2008, we've used our eMusic Selects program to spotlight our favorite unsigned bands, releasing their albums exclusively to eMusic members and giving you a first look at bands whose music and vision inspires us. We're proud to say that bands like Best Coast, High Places, Yellow Ostrich, Julianna Barwick and others are all graduates of our Selects program. We feel just as excited about the latest members of our Selects family, The Yellow Dogs.… more »
Want to get a snapshot of last year's best music? In our Best of 2011 radio station, you'll hear songs from the artists who provided our 2011 soundtrack. No matter what your taste -- indie rock, jazz, doom metal or avant-folk, you'll find it here in eMusic's Best of 2011 Radio. more »
Four years ago, I flew from Portland to New York to see my favorite band, New Zealand's garage-pop trio the Clean, play three shows at a glorious pit called Cake Shop. The openers were Crystal Stilts, a Brooklyn group with no records out whose moody and noisy music pushed all the right buttons. I quickly befriended the group, especially guitarist JB Townsend and his then-girlfriend Frankie Rose, whose own band Vivian Girls were soon-to-be favorites.… more »
Getting bogged down in the specifics of the familiar-yet-particular sound made by Brooklyn's Crystal Stilts often leaves critics describing the trunk and tail of an elephant and concluding that it's a whale. You can hear whole record collections in their songs — the Joy Division lows of Brad Hargett's evocative vocals, the pumping highs of Kyle Forester's Dunedin Sound keyboards, the gnarly Jeffrey Lee Pierce reverberations in JB Townsend's guitar, but attempts to reduce them… more »
File Under: Ragged, guitar-based indie pop; jangle-'n'-reverb forever!
Flagship Acts: Beach Fossils, Wild Nothing, the Fresh & Onlys, the Girls At Dawn
Based In: Brooklyn, New York
When I first meet Mike Sniper, he's drinking Patron Silver at an Oyster Bar in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. From any other record executive, the scene would be typical to the point of almost seeming mundane. But Sniper is the founder of the tiny, ragged Brooklyn indie Captured Tracks, a label that prizes… more »
