Rachel Lux

The Avett Brothers The Carpenter Death and winter play heavily on The Carpenter, the Avett Brothers’ seventh studio album (and second with producer Rick Rubin, for his American label). And while these themes are quite weighty, the execution at times is uncharacteristically flat—polished to the point of extinguishing the raw emotion that defined the band’s past releases. No traces of scr ... Read M

Nearly three years have passed since the release of Only Revolutions, and Scottish band Biffy Clyro are more than ready for fans to hear new music. AP caught up with frontman Simon Neil to discuss the band’s early-2013 release (and their sixth studio album), Opposites—a double album that not only takes chances with modern music-consumer habits but sonically, as well (think: mariachi bands and kazo

Wavves Life Sux EP You’re never gonna stop Nathan Williams. At least, that’s what the Wavves frontman continues to proclaim on the follow-up EP to 2010’s King Of The Beach. Where that album’s title track saw the singer repeating, “You’re never gonna stop me” from being the ruler of all things beachy, Life Sux sees him just as defiantly challenging anyone to stop him from meeting Dave Grohl. (We’re

DAYTROTTER—the innovative website that takes touring bands, puts them in a studio surrounded by vintage gear, records the action and then posts the tracks for free download—are no stranger to pioneering ideas. A few years ago, they found themselves with an original idea: What would happen if they took a few of their favorite bands and built a tour around playing in barns? Well, the ...

It’s been more than three years since Las Vegas rockers THE CAB released their debut full-length, Whisper War. Plagued by lineup changes in the past and delays with their label, Fueled By Ramen, the band recently announced they severed ties with FBR and also let go long-time drummer, Alex Johnson. Now,... Read More ...

(Photo: Daniel Silbert) If you’re a Warped Tour regular, than you probably know DIA FRAMPTON better as the lead singer of sister-act indie-rockers Meg & Dia. However, if you were just introduced to her on the inaugural season of NBC’s The Voice, you know her as that chick who totally rocked the Kanye West cover en route to becoming the show’s runner-up. Either way, AP check...

This week, the Academy Is... announced that longtime guitarist Michael Guy Chislett and drummer Andy Mrotek have parted ways with the band. Frontman William Beckett checked in with AP from Los Angeles, where he’s writing with guitarist Mike Carden, to talk about the changes, assuring fans that there is no “big, sexy story.” And while... Read More ...

In the wake of the announcement of his departure from the Academy Is..., drummer Andy “the Butcher” Mrotek says the last few days have been emotional but also a relief. AP caught up with him in California, as he prepares to move back to Milwaukee to fill out the Animal Upstairs’ lineup with friends from home. He filled us in ... Read More ...

Maniac Mania One part Wham!, one part Prince and a whole lot of pop-tastic inhibition are the main ingredients in Mania, the full-length debut from Maniac, the brainchild of former Matches frontman Shawn Harris and Something With Numbers vocalist/guitarist Jake Grigg ...

Ryan Adams Ben Kweller The Avett Brothers Ben Folds Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band And most recently, Band Of Horses These are just a handful of the shows (all of which being some of my favorite bands ever) that were more or less ruined, intruded upon or less pleasurable than they should've been due to the inexplicable number of frat dudes (and the clueless drunk girls who tend

I Fight Dragons are described as a "chiptune" band, which means they make some crazy beats or something using Nintendos and Game Boys and other fun stuff (like my super-technical definition? yeah, that's what I thought). I was never much of a gamer, so "chip" mostly just makes me think of lunch. Ho ...

GLEE starts again next week. Tuesday, Sept. 21, to be exact. Effing finally. I can not wait for all the drama, Kurt's spectacular wardrobe and Sue Sylvester's venomous one-liners. (Oh, Sue. You're my fave.) And of course, the songs. Oh, the gl ...

In my four-plus years at AP, I've done quite a few interviews. And while most of the time these interviews are professional and straightforward, sometimes odd, surprising or downright funny things are said into my tape recorder. I recently did an interview that had a few of my coworkers laughing out loud when I shared the transcript, which got me to thinking... ...

Okay, clearly, Stars have been around way too long (and I'm too into Canadian indie pop bands such as Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire) for this to be a First(ish) Listen of the band as a whole. But, this past weekend, while I was driving back to Cleveland after spending the weekend on a lake in Michigan, I absorbed the quintet's new album, The Five Ghosts, for the first time. I'd ha ... Read

I have been totally digging Sweden's own version of Bob Dylan for the past six months or so. Kristian Mattson (aka the Tallest Man On Earth) is one of those singer/songwriters that I don't listen to all the time, but whenever I come back to him, it's all I want to hear. I first di ...

In AP, we've told countless stories about bands who have built their careers from scratch, working hard, never giving up and eventually realizing their dreams. Merging their talents with timing, perseverance and a little bit of luck, bands who might've slipped into obscurity have gone on to sell millions of records. Well ...

Okay, so, in interest of full-disclosure, this particular blog entry should really be titled “46th(ish) Listen” or something more along those lines. Let’s be real here: I wasn’t this late to the Mumford & Sons party. However, I’m all about giv ...

In June, I was fortunate enough to travel to Los Angeles and Orange County to interview Something Corporate for AP's next cover story. While chatting with Andrew McMahon, I learned we had a couple things in common: 1) we both love Hendrick's gin & tonics (thanks, Andrew, for introducing me to my favorite summer-time drink ever) and 2) we are both facing our 10-year high school reunions this

So, you know how there's those bands that you keep hearing you should listen to, but for whatever reason, they just never seem to work their way out of the stack on your desk and into your player? Yeah, I've missed the "early boat" on quite a few really good bands because of that, so I'm trying to be better about it. I have a 5-disc CD c ...

So you know how some things that shouldn’t go together totally do? Like chocolate and bacon. And ice cream and bacon. And, well, pretty much everything goes with bacon. But peanut butter and jelly is too obvious. Anyway, a music version of this phenomenon is most definitely Sleigh Bells. Take ...