Polly Jean Harvey’s biggest strength is her restlessness: She’s been an abrasive punk, a wailing blues siren, eerie glitch-pop sorceress, and solo pianist. Executing each with such ease, the chameleon makes every turn sound exactly like what she should be doing. ![PJ Harvey and Seamus Murphy](/content/images/…
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Rough Trade: How a Record Label Defined an Era
Having barely survived a few tumultuous decades and outlasted more than one era of popular music, London’s Rough Trade label now finds itself successful and surprisingly unabsorbed into the corporate apparatus of the majors. It also shares a name, a history, and a set of values not just with…
R.E.M.’s ‘Out of Time’ Turns 25
Put on R.E.M.‘s 1991 album Out of Time— a post-collegiate 25 years old today — and in less than three minutes you’ll be transported to a time when fans could take a band being on the radio as a serious betrayal. “Now our children grow up prisoners,…
South By Southwest 2016 Preview
As always, Austin, Texas’ gargantuan South By Southwest festival is too big for you — even if you eschew the opening four days of movies. (Don’t think that will be easy just because you’re a music fan; screening this year are The Art of Organized Noize, Goodnight Brooklyn — The…
Miike Snow: Giving Pop the Cold Shoulder
Here’s a question that can tell you a lot about an artist: What’s your day job? Until you hit the big time — which these days is the point when you no longer need to have a day job — the work you do for food and shelter tints your…
The 1975’s Sprawling, Ambitious ‘I Like It When You Sleep’
Like its debut, The 1975‘s I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful, Yet So Unaware Of Itopens with a minute-plus self-titled overture — a slow welling of synths and Matt Healy’s Mancunian purr. But this time out, the track “The 1975” is heavier, more dramatic…