Multi-instrumentalist Annie Clark is only 23 years old, and already she has played guitar with the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’ touring band, opened as a solo artist—under the name St. Vincent—for the Arcade Fire, and released her debut album, Marry Me, on the esteemed Beggars Banquet Records. Clearly, she’s ahead of her time. A […]
Jenny Tatone
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One Boy and Two Ghosts
The Insatiable Hunger of Boy Eats Drum Machine
Jonny Ragel’s upbringing in a Portland neighborhood south of Mt. Tabor wasn’t particularly musical. His mother sang and his father dug good rock cuts. But there was nothing wildly out of the norm: no traveling family band, no specialty grooming, and no perfunctory training. Still, Ragel—who makes music under the name Boy Eats Drum Machine—grew […]
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Young Breezy
The Pure Intentions of Arthur & Yu
The songs on Arthur & Yu’s debut album, In Camera, weren’t recorded with an audience in mind. They came to life without a shroud of self-consciousness or tainted intentions. They were just practice. Yet somehow the lo-fi recordings became the public’s first introduction to the Seattle duet—thanks to Sub Pop founder Jonathan Poneman—who chose Arthur […]
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Feist Will Break Your Heart
Which Is Fine, As Long As She Keeps Singing
There are many curiosity-piquing tidbits to know about 31-year-old Leslie Feist: that she sang with Broken Social Scene; that her boyfriend, Kevin Drew, is Broken Social Scene’s main songwriter; that her best friend (and once roommate) is crude performance artist Peaches; and that she recently went from Toronto indierock darling to internationally-acclaimed solo artist. But […]
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The Basic Needs
Haunted, But Happy to Be Here
Jana Hunter was sure that the turn of the century would bring the apocalypse, that Y2K would spell the end for mankind. But, she told herself at the time, should life go on, she would secretly install speakers throughout Houston, Texas that would play her all-time favorite CD: a collection of Greek Byzantine liturgical songs […]
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Calculating Revelations
Air Is a Circle
Before Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin found worldwide success through the release of their critically acclaimed album Moon Safari in 1998, they spent their days at a French university studying architecture and mathematics, earning an education they couldn’t have expected would end in a famed musical career. Then again, it’s not impulsive music they make. […]
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Dreaming of Deerhoof
Musical Spirits Visit, Bring Gifts
DEERHOOF drummer/keyboardist Greg Saunier has been graciously receiving musical ideas in his head—mostly while in bed—for as long as he can remember. “I can remember being seven years old, playing outside and having whole soundtracks going in my head,” he says by phone from the San Francisco home he shares with wife and bandmate, vocalist/bassist […]
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Menomena Find Their Choir
The Trio Becomes 28 for One Night
“WE’RE JUST THREE PEOPLE,” Menomena’s Justin Harris said, sitting on a sinking couch in a warehouse practice space. “We’re not the Polyphonic Spree… or maybe we are now?” Maybe. After all, 25 vocalists wait in the room next door warming their chords alongside Menomena’s sweeping new songs, preparing for their big debut Sunday night at […]
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Loch Lomond Laments
And Finds Good Company Among a Section of Strings
LOCH LOMOND MASTERMIND Ritchie Young second-guesses himself most of the time. But on those rare days that bring self-confidence, he writes beautifully emotive folk/rock songs. “I don’t know how to do anything else,” he said recently by phone, his voice gentle and kind. “I’d rather do what I love and eat Top Ramen with ketchup […]
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The Hidden Cameras
More Than Golden Showers and Enemas
IF YOU’VE HEARD ANYTHING about Joel Gibb and his theatrical pop group the Hidden Cameras, it’s likely that the description included something about sex and sexuality. Mainly, that’s because Gibb is gay and he likes to write about sexual experiences in verse. And that has become the defining aspect of the Hidden Cameras, which is […]
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Better Than Life
Leningrad’s Total Revelation
Les Georges Leningrad’s drummer/multi-instrumentalist Bobo Boutin is walking around downtown New Orleans looking for a mailbox in the dark. He has important mail to send. At every stop along his band’s current US tour, the French Canadian sends a postcard home. He needs to assign greater meaning to his everyday life. And with carefully chosen […]