By J. Edward Keyes, Editor-in-ChiefIt's a gorgeous spring afternoon on the Lower East Side, and Laura Stevenson is talking about death. Not her fear of it so much as its inevitability — the fact that it's coming for all… more »
By Rachael Maddux, eMusic ContributorA question lurks in the background of Laura Stevenson's Wheel like a party guest invited out of obscure but unbreakable obligation: Once you realize you are going to die, what are you supposed to do… more »
By Richard Gehr, eMusic ContributorDescribing New York's Red Baraat dhol 'n' brass band is like those blind guys and the elephant, only in reverse: What you hear depends on what touches you. South Asians will immediately recognize Bollywood hits… more »
By Andrew Perry, eMusic Contributor[Charles Bradley turned heads and broke hearts with his 2011 triumph No Time for Dreaming. On the advent of his second masterpiece, the scorching, searing, Victim of Love, we invited Bradley and his bandleader and… more »
By Barry Walters, eMusic ContributorCharles Bradley is not the kind of guy to sing of love in fantastical terms; he's much too real for that. Bearing a voice streaked with the ravages of inner torment, this nomadic 64-year-old soul… more »
By Seth Colter Walls, eMusic ContributorNadia Sirota is the violist of choice for the New York contemporary-classical scene, and on Baroque, she follows up her astoundingly assured debut, First Things First, with fresh works from many of the composers who… more »
By Austin L. Ray, eMusic ContributorEach of the last three years has produced a new album from Brooklyn's The Men, and each of those albums has only increased the cultish glow of adoration for the fervent rock band, which has… more »
By Rachael Maddux, eMusic ContributorThe first two minutes of Lady Lamb the Beekeeper's Ripely Pine seem to reinforce the notion of fragile acquiescence that 23-year-old Aly Spaltro's stage name suggests. "Take me by the arm to the altar/ Take… more »
By Chris Roberts, eMusic ContributorAmped on adrenaline yet arch with geek-chic, the second album from New Yorker Darwin Smith is a hive of noisy activity. Its energy is relentless and infectious, echoing choppy new wave (Talking Heads) as often… more »
By Andy Beta, eMusic ContributorDespite nearly a decade spent in the industrial confines of their North Brooklyn neighborhood of Greenpoint, the sound that Mountains — a duo comprised of Koen Holtkamp and Brendan Anderegg — evoke is positively bucolic.… more »
By Justin Davidson, eMusic ContributorIt's a wonderful thing to be talented, versatile, 30-ish, well connected and living in Brooklyn, where your neighbors are likewise talented, versatile, 30-ish, and well connected — where you are, in fact, among their most… more »
By Christina Lee, eMusic Contributor[Rock history is full of albums that document breakups, but few of them are as ruthlessly recounted as the one that inspired Sharon Van Etten's devastating third album, Tramp. Beating her fretboard into a spear,… more »
By John Schaefer, eMusic ContributorUnless you have already seen and heard Roomful of Teeth live, there is little to prepare you for the effect of this avant-garde a cappella octet from New York. Well, actually, there's a lot to… more »
By J. Edward Keyes, Editor-in-ChiefAnyone looking for a shorthand to describe the devil-may-care attitude pervading Light Up Gold, the irresistible debut from Brooklyn band Parquet Courts, will find it 24 seconds into the first song, when Austin Brown first… more »
By Richard Gehr, eMusic ContributorThe Larson sisters met third Prince Rama co-founder Michael Collins while living in the world's large largest Hare Krishna community and attending high school in Alachua, Florida. The trio's self-described "Blink 182 rip-off band" evolved… more »
By Jayson Greene, Managing EditorRoc Marciano makes rap that you know well already, even as you're hearing it for the first time: His music exists to remind what NYC rap sounds like in the idealized bubble of your memory,… more »
By Laura Studarus, eMusic ContributorThe conceit for Brooklyn art-duo Prince Rama's sixth album goes like this: Life as we know it finally ends in the long-promised apocalypse. But lucky for us, Prince Rama has provided a glimpse into the… more »
By Douglas Wolk, eMusic ContributorOne of the most thrilling debuts of the year, Parquet Courts' Light Up Gold goes back to the first principles of punk that get forgotten every so often: speed, precision, brains and attitude. The group… more »
By Jane Seymour, eMusic ContributorOn their sophomore release, the Freelance Whales return with a tighter, more confident update on the organic blend of acoustic chamber pop embellished with electronics that marked their popular debut Weathervanes. The quintet still has… more »
By Richard Gehr, eMusic ContributorSporting fingerless black leather gloves, a sleeveless festival T-shirt, woven armbands, shell necklace, and a full grass skirt, Janka Nabay looked the perfect Afro-Brooklyn expatriate hybrid during his opening set for Syrian dabke star Omar… more »
By Laura Leebove, Deputy EditorBuke and Gase (formerly Buke and Gass), the duo named for their DIY instruments, a baritone ukulele and combination guitar-and-bass, make music that's melodic and industrial. They have a full-length and a couple EPs under… more »
By Kate Silver, eMusic ContributorDeath does not become Paul Auster but, in this memoir, it consumes him. In January 2011, one month before his 64th birthday, the author started this journal. In a lucid, second-person narrative, Auster contemplates being… more »
By Andrew Parks, eMusic ContributorRemember when Grizzly Bear was Edward Droste's solo project? Didn't think so. And that's okay; while the disconnect between Droste's bedroom-pop beginnings and the band's longtime status as a democracy – with Daniel Rossen at… more »
By Lenny Kaye, eMusic ContributorThe next to last time I saw the man who put the strum in Strummer, it was nearing afterhours at a Lower East Side bar in New York City, somewhere around the turn of the… more »