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Punk rock redux

Try reimagining early punk as some physically intense and massively popular athletic contest.
Blood on the Wall pump out the nostalgia
By NICK SYLVESTER | April 01, 2008

Bradford Cox reminds me of my man Polyphemus — not just the one Odysseus conned in the cave but the one posted up in the countryside and pining in song for the sea nymph Galatea.
Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox takes a solo shot
By NICK SYLVESTER | February 19, 2008

Pop in a hard place

The norms Black Dice resist are significant and strong and worth resisting.
Black Dice’s Load Blown
By NICK SYLVESTER | January 10, 2008

FARC

You’ve probably heard of two of the “indie” hip-hop artists below, even if they’re bypassing trad distribution models and just giving away their music.
Stuff you've never heard and "Fuck A Record Company"
By NICK SYLVESTER | November 19, 2007

Far into the Future

Almost every Tuesday night, New York DJ/producer Tim Sweeney live-mixes disco, house, electro, and offshoots and recombinants thereof.
Tim Sweeney's nighttime playlist
By NICK SYLVESTER | October 08, 2007

Chicago-based experimental

Rarely is one label responsible for so many of the year’s best releases.
The year of Kranky
By NICK SYLVESTER | September 24, 2007

Culture clash

If there were two golden rules worth following for this reviewer gig, they’d be never conflate an artist’s backstory with her product, and never read other people’s reviews.
M.I.A. confronts American pop protocol
By NICK SYLVESTER | September 05, 2007

The dark side of the rainbow

Does the simple fusion of audio to video count as high-quality entertainment?
The new medium of the YouTube mash-up
By NICK SYLVESTER | August 29, 2007

Not better off dead

Three years ago, London’s Art Brut debuted with a punk-rock song called “Formed a Band.”
Art Brut find their way in the post-punk world
By NICK SYLVESTER | June 12, 2007

Sonic couth

Music is more or less a mess of tensions. Deerhunter, "Wash Off" (mp3)
Deerhunter and Seefeel bring the right noise
By NICK SYLVESTER | June 04, 2007

In anticipation of summer

Here are four reminders of what this summer holds for the lot of us.
Summer songs for regular people
By NICK SYLVESTER | May 22, 2007

Subtle stars

In the gaps between words are the things that really intrigue me,” sings Maxïmo Park frontman Paul Smith on “Girls Who Play Guitars.”
Separating Maxïmo Park from the pack
By NICK SYLVESTER | May 21, 2007

Blowing up

I’m guessing most people know this by now: album sales continue to tank.
The ringtone champs
By NICK SYLVESTER | April 23, 2007

Production lines

The guy builds songs.
Timbaland’s shockingly bad Shock Value
By NICK SYLVESTER | April 09, 2007

Technophilia

The year being 2007, had I started off telling you this new Gui Boratto album is “intelligent dance music,” you’d have stopped reading right then and there.
Brazil’s Gui Boratto embraces IDM
By NICK SYLVESTER | March 27, 2007

The down side

This is the same kind of self-alienation that dominated Funeral , except now there’s no tunnel, no back seat, no time for wishful thinking. Arcade Fire, "Black Mirror" (mp3)
Finding the heart of the Arcade Fire
By NICK SYLVESTER | March 06, 2007

Guest lists

What small, private lists like this remind us is that big, honking institutional lists are largely fictions, mirages of a consensus that no longer exists, if it ever really did in the first place.
What 30 of the Phoenix 's music critics liked this year
By PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | January 02, 2007

Pointed pop

Beyond the technophobia, and the pomo paralysis, and the communications-breakdown undertones, the Knife's Silent Shout ’s other devastating reminder is that all recorded music is a lie. Blade runners: Our interviewer goes around, over, through, and un
The bemused machinations of the Knife
By NICK SYLVESTER | November 14, 2006

Metal mixes

Without naming names, I have to say I’m not crazy for all this Franco-filter-metal dance music that’s been making so many indie-dance party playlists lately — lots of overdriven guitars set incongruously to boilerplate four-to-the-floor beats.
Let's dance
By NICK SYLVESTER | August 29, 2006

House party

U’d rere Skye is the Morcheeba chick, who could have been a pretty hip/cool high school chorus instructor ($25/hour) if she hadn't right-place, right-timed herself as trip-hop's last girl scout.
Matthew Herbert, August 23 at Irving Plaza
By NICK SYLVESTER | August 29, 2006

Pop goes a Neptune

Pharrell is a fascinating rapper when he lets himself go — so why does In My Mind blow so hard? Listen to the best of the Neptunes throughout the years
Pharrell Williams raps his way into a corner
By NICK SYLVESTER | August 24, 2006

The street scene

Without getting into the history and the morality of mixtapes, it’s worth mentioning that Pharrell isn’t the first rapper who’s scored more artistic points with a mixtape than with a sanctioned label release. Pop goes a Neptune: Pharrell Williams raps
The magic of the mixtape
By NICK SYLVESTER | August 22, 2006

Pharrell's greatest hits

From Wreckx-N-Effect to Fam-Lay
Fourteen years of rumpshaking beats
By NICK SYLVESTER | August 22, 2006

MySpace celebrity

No charm, little grace, what’s left of Alright, Still by the end are rich young Allen’s swipes at her poor, old, and obvious targets, horrific classism, the worst kind of celebrity self-obsession. Lily Allen, "Smile" (mp3)
Lily Allen’s Web-tastic career
By NICK SYLVESTER | July 31, 2006

Notoriously stingy labels

A bunch of labels still refuse the unedited, half-decently coded MP3 as a mechanism for publicity.
Get them while you can
By NICK SYLVESTER | July 25, 2006

The Daytrotter sessions

Since it’s just not good enough anymore to start a blog and offer stolen MP3s, a new site called Daytrotter is inviting indie bands to its ragtag studioand recording tracks for them, then giving away four “Daytrotter Session” songs for download.
A trip to Rock Island, IL
By NICK SYLVESTER | July 11, 2006

Hype writers

St. Elsewhere has songs about Inspector Gadget, Transformers, necrophilia, and various kinds of monsters. Fun fun fun. Fantastic Voyagers: your soundtrack to summer . By Nick Sylvester
Gnarls Barkley punch all the right keys
By NICK SYLVESTER | June 08, 2006

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