Spoon’s been trawling mostly the same waters for more than 15 years now. Singer/guitarist Britt Daniel writes sparse, lean songs that straddle the intersection of Motown rhythm, Lou Reed cool and punk catharsis. His songs are almost a new kind of minimalism. They’d be groovy, but just as you start [...]
The concept of “good taste” in music is pretty much on its way out. Good riddance. Among those making terminally uncool and shamelessly good music is Texan Alan Palomo, AKA Neon Indian. Palomo flies in the face of the standard rock logic that commands “Play loud, break rules and be [...]
MGMT has Kurt Cobain Syndrome. After Cobain’s band Nirvana exploded in popularity, their frustrated frontman wrote and recorded the abrasive In Utero in effort to regain underground credibility. On Congratulations, MGMT takes a similar stance—“Hey, we’re not sellouts!”—and a similar left-field turn towards their artsier and more abstract roots. In [...]
Junior Melanie Leng approaches the stranger’s door, textbook and magazines in hand. At 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, she’s up earlier than most teenagers. She’s still a little nervous, even though she’s done this almost every week since she was six. Maybe the person who opens the door will ask [...]
