4.10.2012

While Bonnie Raitt was preparing, recording, releasing and touring behind her 15th studio album, Souls Alike, she lost both her parents. Her mother, Marjorie Goddard, died from Alzheimer’s on July 2,...

The story of Blue Like Jazz began in a confessional. Not the story in the best-selling book by Donald Miller—a quasi-memoir with the subtitle “Non-Religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality” that...

Life, in all its facets, is pretty great for Wayne Coyne. He still lives in his (ever-expanding) two-story house in Oklahoma City with wife Michelle, who met Wayne in the late ‘80s when he was a local...

First impressions are a bitch—especially for pop musicians, and even more especially for acclaimed songwriters who etch a distinct imprint on the critical and public consciousness. Just ask singer...

Hometown: PhiladelphiaMembers: Kenny Vasoli (vocals, bass), Greg Altman (guitar), Michael Mullin (vibraphone, keys, and trigger finger), Ryan Zimmaro (drums)Album: GoneFor Fans Of: Vampire Weekend,...

It’s entirely possible that Drew Goddard isn’t being completely honest when he says, “We certainly didn’t set out to make a meta movie.” He’s talking about The Cabin in the Woods, the Joss Whedon...

Writers are very particular about bylines. We throw in a middle initial here or replace a nickname with a more formal-sounding given name there to give our work an identity and establish that ideal...

I’m here to prove what critics have said about Kevin Barnes for years: the man is strange. It should be an easy enough task, right? With the extreme performances, the feminine makeup, and the bizarre,...

One of the greatest aspects of young or young-ish love is that it has just as much of a chance to go horribly wrong as it does to go decently well. There’s nothing about it that gives anyone any...

As far as supersonic rises to fame go, Jeremy Lin could stand to learn a thing or two from the Alabama Shakes. In the span of a year, the band has gone hawking their self-titled EP on the Nashville...

Tangled Up In Blue Grass: Finger-picking phenoms make sure everybody remembers them For anyone who thinks bluegrass is nothing more than a bunch of hillbillies making a terrible racket on washtubs and...

“I’m still gone and it’s all the same/ I’m taking notes and naming names…” snarls Nanci Griffith on the churlish, Pogues-evoking-the-Everlys “Hell No, I’m Not Alright” from Intersections, a more...

The Lumineers’ debut record is instantly gratifying—and not in the hasty, shallow way often found in pre-fab pop songs either.While some records take days or months to properly digest, there’s an...

It’s about a six-hour flight from the East Coast of the United States to Reykjavík, Iceland, the hometown of up and coming sextet Of Monsters and Men. And the band’s debut album is like that moment...

Do bands go on the road so they can play music, or do they play music so they can go on the road? Especially at a time when touring has greater financial potential than releasing albums, there’s...

Patron Saints for the Misunderstood?Most controversial rap group since N.W.A. drops challenging new album Disturbing. Hilarious. Vapid. Thought-provoking. Misogynistic. Empathetic. Odd Future is all...

Whit Stillman fans have had to wait a long, fourteen years since his last film, The Last Days of Disco. While diehard enthusiasts may be satisfied with his latest effort, Damsels in Distress feels too...

Feeling nostalgic for the late ’90s? Perhaps it’s because Titanic is sailing back into theaters this week—or the American Pie gang has reunited for its, uh, 13-year high school reunion. Jim (Jason...

Director Philippe Falardeau’s new film, Monsieur Lazhar, presents various lives with seemingly few similarities forced to deal with tragedy in ways that are remarkably and movingly similar. At a...

The Raid: Redemption is the type of hyper-violent action film that makes grown men wince (and then chuckle) and their girlfriends and wives wince, roll their eyes (and then wonder what is wrong with...

If you look closely enough, you’ll find that every Mad Men episode has some overarching theme to it, whether it’s a lesson we’re supposed to glean or just a general mood or feeling that hangs over all...

It’s not a given that Community‘s theme episodes will be its best ones, that they’ll consistently be television events that everyone’s talking about. But it certainly seems that way, and “Pillows and...

“What we have here, contrary to appearances, is an amazing opportunity.” -Boyd Crowder In the end, it all comes down to character. Character, as Heraclitus said, is destiny. We should know exactly how...

On New Girl, the only truly sustained “relationship” has been between Schmidt and Cece, a barely-friends-with-benefits understanding that has been hidden from everyone. But since last week’s episode...

We don’t blame you if the first season of AMC’s gloomy The Killing left you with a bitter taste in your mouth. The entire premise of the police investigation was to discover who killed Rosie Larsen....

A series of flashbacks lead up to a short, albeit important, closing scene in this week’s episode of How I Met Your Mother. It turns out every three years since 2003 Ted and Marshall (and subsequently...

Way is a game about people. It’s about friends and strangers, about family members, about anyone willing to take twenty minutes to explore the surprising results of a 12-week student project. A brief...

Another in a long line of disappointing Resident Evil offshoots.The Resident Evil series still comes with a lot of weight. While it wasn’t the first...

“A book so deep in the American vein, so deep in fact that it is by no means a sports book.” – David Halberstam, on Ball Four As the 2012 baseball season opens, the time seems right to revisit Ball...

GridrunnerPlatform: iOSDeveloper: LlamasoftRelease Date: 02/24/2012Price: $.99 Arcades have been “dead” for years now, left to dust in old pizza parlors and beach town boardwalks. But in a generation...

Built To Spill’s career has been an exercise in consistency. Over the past 20 years, the Boise indie rockers have churned out seven albums filled with melodic noise and hook-laden numbers. Along the...

No strangers to SXSW, Dinosaur Feathers returned to Austin to display their instruments—those Latin-inspired drumbeats and vocal chords that create a sonic tapestry overflowing in roots of the ‘60s....

Troubadour M. Ward’s new album, A Wasteland Companion, drops this week via Merge Records and leads off with the single “The First Time I Ran Away.” Directed by Joel Trussell (who also helmed the...

Over her almost 40-year-long career, Bonnie Raitt has solidified herself as one of the finest blues singers and guitar players of all time. She has also made her name as a songwriter, an activist and...