“Brian Buchanan almost died on White Lake. The singer-fiddler-keyboardist for Enter The Haggis went out into the middle of the lake to finish up some lyrics during the recording of the band’s sixth studio album, the aptly named Whitelake, and tipped the canoe half a kilometer from shore. The ice had melted only a week before,..

“The title of LEE BAINS III AND THE GLORY FIRES’ debut album comes from Bains mishearing an old hymn as a child. In the soft accents of his elders around Birmingham, Alabama, “There is a balm in Gilead” sounded a lot like “There is a bomb.” It fits, really…

“When it came time to record Delta Spirit’s third album, the band members knew one thing: It was time to shake off the stylistic labels that have shadowed them since they formed in San Diego, CA, in 2005. Though lyricists Matt Vasquez and Kelly Winrich were grateful for the warm reviews that their previous albums…

“If you start a band with me, I’ll get us signed and on the road within a year”…… Not only did the determined, confident and tenacious 22-year-old Brandi Carlile come through with her promise to twin bothers and initially reluctant band members Phil and Tim Hanseroth,..

“The roots revival of the last few years has primed listeners for a new generation of rustic, heart-on-the-sleeve music—the kind that nods to tradition while setting off into uncharted territory. The Lumineers walk that line with an unerring gift for timeless melodies and soul-stirring lyrics. Born out of sorrow, powered by passion, ripened by hard work, The Lumineers have found their sound when the world needs it most.”…

“New Wild Everywhere is the follow-up to Great Lake Swimmers’ critically acclaimed, Polaris Music Prize shortlisted and Juno nominated 2009 album Lost Channels. Their fifth album in just under a decade, this new collection of 12 tracks reveals a depth and maturity previously only hinted at by lead singer and songwriter Tony Dekker. Featuring the touring band from Lost Channels (with long-time collaborator Erik Arnesen on banjo and guitar, along with new addition Miranda Mulholland contributing backing vocals and violin, Bret Higgins on upright bass, and Lost Channels drummer Greg Millson), New Wild Everywhere thematically picks up where the previous album left off, exploring transcendence in the natural world to describe the universal themes of love, mortality and escape”…

“Primal hardcore thrash vibes, ya’ll gotta sit with this Natural History! A spasm of styles and directions, showering sparks from a half-melted mad thickness — welcome to the fold, boys!”…

”Did you ever, as a kid, want to crawl into the speakers?” asks Nada Surf singer-guitarist Matthew Caws. “I did — here was OK, but there was much better.” And that’s pretty much what Nada Surf is all about — Caws, bassist Daniel Lorca, and drummer Ira Elliot are in love with the way rock music can transport you to a new and wonderful place in a beguiling rush of beats, chords, hooks and words. And they do it 10 times…

“Hallelujah The Hills have released two albums on Misra Records, toured with the Silver Jews, co-written a song with Triumph The Insult Comic Dog, collaborated with author Jonathan Lethem, helped orchestrate “The Monitor” by Titus Andronicus, relentlessly nagged Devin Davis to record a 2nd album

“Meshell has changed. So has her music. It’s more peaceful, freer. Her new album, Weather, cloaks itself in the colours of autumn, full of in-between shades and hues and with a certain mildness to it. The singer has let her feelings carry her along. Meshell has never…

“Cory Branan is a natural-born storyteller. As with any of his musical and literary pedestal sitters, from John Prine and Leonard Cohen to Raymond Carver and Gabriel García Márquez, his seemingly conversational, painstakingly crafted anecdotes benefit from a hard-eyed stare at hydra-headed experience….

“Cult Minneapolis rockers Hockey Night split up a couple of yearsbback, and for a time mainmen Scott Wells and Paul Sprangers continued to operate under that moniker. They altered their musical orientation, got signed to DFA, and recorded an album with LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy …

“2012 is shaping up to be The Sights’ best year yet. They’ve already supplied the music for two Chevrolet ads, and this summer will bring a new single (“Eso No Está Bien Pequeña/Like Two Little Kids”) as well as the release of their seventh effort, Left Over Right. On it, Baranek is joined by Jarrod Champion (keyboards/vocals),..

“Led by singer-songwriter Scott Terry, Red Wanting Blue is proudly based in Columbus, Ohio, but might as well be America’s local band. For years, the group had been hiding in plain sight as Terry went about logging thousands of miles on the road throughout the nation’s heartland,..

“The first time I heard any of this music, Steve was giving me a lift home after a Nat Baldwin show. We were going up Allen Street in Manhattan, and I’d finally convinced him to play me something from the new album. “This is going to be the last song,” he said, and put on “Luna.”…

“On Gift Horse, their second album for Vanguard and fifth studio effort overall, Stephen Kellogg and his bandmates- Kit “Goose” Karlson (keys, bass, vocals), Brian “Boots” Factor (drums, vocals) and Sam “Steamer” Getz (guitars, vocals)-bring the rich legacy of American rock & roll into the present tense…

“The best songs of North Carolina’s Bowerbirds have always seemed eternal. Coruscated by Beth Tacular’s bird song and Phil Moore’s environmentalist empathy, “In Our Talons” (off Bowerbirds’ Hymns for a Dark Horse) was, at its core, a quest for solidarity in a world of closing shadows…

“Stepdad was forged in an unrelenting bath of summer heat on Chicago’s south side in 2009 by songwriters/producers/college dropouts/solid bros Ryan McCarthy and ultramark on the foundation of their joint worship of Roland Orzabal and Brian Wilson. After a few quick months, the still nameless duo was sitting on a small mountain of songs. The name Stepdad was arrived upon by a random phrase generator and adopted without regard for the impending banality of rehashing that story during interviews…

“Twenty five years after winning a Best New Artist Grammy and launching one of contemporary music’s most diverse and collaborative careers, Bruce Hornsby is still, blissfully, making joyful noise—and finding clever, expansive ways to chronicle the dynamic musical snapshots along the journey.”…

“The Van Allen Belt creates dreamy electro-orchestral psych-pop that churns and swells around the exquisite vocals of Tamar Kamin. The band has been endorsed by Julian Cope, opened for Stereolab & Atlas Sound in NYC at The Fillmore and in Philadelphia at The Trocadero, and has played with Givers,…