By Keith Harris, eMusic ContributorThe Whigs have always been a straightforward lot. "Staying Alive," the first cut on the Athens, Georgia, rockers' fourth album, is eight minutes long, giving Parker Gispert, Tim Deaux and Julian Dorio time for a… more »
By Austin L. Ray, eMusic ContributorA lot has changed for Atlanta rocker Jesse Smith in the last four years, both for good and ill. He got married, but also lost friends to cancer (ATL punk staple Bobby Ubangi) and drugs… more »
By Nils Bernstein, eMusic ContributorOne of the firstU.S.indie bands outside ofNew YorkorL.A.to gain some degree of international attention, Pylon crossed the jittery art-school shimmy of Talking Heads with the angular, beat-driven post-punk of Gang of Four, minus the politics.… more »
By J. Edward Keyes, Editor-in-ChiefFile Under: Everything from moody, churning instrumental post-rock to hammering metal, powered by emotional combustion. Flagship Acts: Caspian, Gifts from Enola, Eksi Ekso, Herra Terra, Beware of Safety Based In: Athens, Georgia If there's a single quality binding… more »
By Andrew Perry, eMusic ContributorIt's the mark of a truly great band, when, nine albums in, they're still spiriting up incredible music which somehow redefines them. So it is with Drive-By Truckers, and their latest full-length, Go-Go Boots. Variously resident… more »
By Douglas Wolk, eMusic ContributorEvery James Brown show began with a hypeman introducing the star of the show, rattling off a list of his latest hits and heroic epithets: "Mr. Dynamite! The amazing Mr. 'Please, Please 'himself! He's universally… more »
By J. Edward Keyes, Editor-in-ChiefConventional wisdom about R.E.M. holds that the group's best records were made in their early, indie years and that their work for Warner Brothers, though commercially successful, was creatively fallow. And, like much conventional wisdom,… more »
By John Morthland, eMusic ContributorEven as a teenager, Ray Charles was an old soul. He never cut rock 'n 'roll, instead beginning his career with the trio cocktail blues of Charles Brown and Nat King Cole. And when he… more »
By Michelangelo Matos, eMusic ContributorThe player and the poet; the funk-faithful homeboy who raises pit bulls and the slightly spacey guitar-wielding dandy who takes movie parts; the championship singles act whose albums work best as whole units: What about… more »
By Michelangelo Matos, eMusic ContributorTen years ago, Kevin Barnes would have seemed like the least-likely-to-succeed satellite of the Athens, Georgia-based Elephant 6 troupe, a loose collective of bands and artists that became a mini-phenomenon among indie-rock fans in the… more »
By Michelangelo Matos, eMusic ContributorIn pop music, nostalgia can be as much a spur as a harness. Take Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, who, over three albums — including the new 100 Days, 100 Nights — and a fistful… more »