Artist Spotlight courtesy of Makomore My first artist spotlight! Go easy on me. The night I found Shilpa Ray, I was the best kind of sad. Well, at the time, obviously, I wouldn’t have called it that. At the time … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Shilpa Ray

Lou Reed is a fascinating artist. His music broke rules, whether they be societal bound of acceptability or musical conventions. But above all else, Lou Reed is one of rock’s great storytellers. He invented characters with practically every song, all … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Lou Reed

Artist Spotlight courtesy of Man with Lute Vince Staples first song is his feature on Earl Sweatshirt’s unfortunate “epaR”. He was introduced to Odd Future on a trip to LA with his friend and cousin. Rapping wasn’t his main ambition, … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Vince Staples

Artist Spotlight courtesy of Nunez Happy Halloween boils and ghouls! Today we’re going to be jamming out some songs from the spookiest band of all time. From the depths of the terrifying hell that is New Jersey comes…… THE MISFITS!!!!!!!!! … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: The Misfits – The Danzig Era

I love Artist Spotlights and the enthusiasm we have for our favorite bands. We talk about what makes an album great, but I’m going to talk about pure live music. Crash Worship is an obscure live act from 20-odd years … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Crash Worship

How a short (5’2”), chubby human Muppet Paul Williams became an “all purpose ’70s celebrity,” (thanks for that one, Allmusic!) and why did he disappeared for about 30 years afterwards. Mr Williams was born in Oklahoma, son of an architectural … Continue reading Artist Spotlight – Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr Paul Williams

Around the turn of the millennium before Columbine and 9/11, one of the biggest pop cultural phenomena was Eminem, a rapper who wowed Whites and Blacks alike through tracks with curse-filled verses that verbally stomped on the backs of homosexuals … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Eminem (Part 1 of 2)

I admit it: I own a theremin. I assembled it from a kit that my brother and I bought online in the mid-90s, long before every dork who never got laid was posting theremin interpretations of the Super Mario Bros. theme … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Clara Rockmore – Progenitrix of a Thousand Theremin Nerdgasms

Coil was a transgressive band born of the fine English tradition of visionaries, weirdo magicians and perverse madmen. They took inspiration from people like William Blake, Austin Osman Spare, Alexander Shulgin, Ian Sinclair, Aleister Crowley, even William Burroughs (although he … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Coil

Buenos Dias, and welcome to the artist spotlight on Louise Wener and some blokes Sleeper. They were the apotheosis of bands with the star power chanteuse with , you know, some instruments behind them.‘Sleeperbloke’ became the term used for the guys at … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Sleeper

Artist Spotlight courtesy of Ynce Iche Hi, and welcome to my first (albeit repeatedly postponed) artist spotlight on the Avocado! I wrote it all today without editing, both because I’m a damned fool and because I’ve had a shit week. Luckily, … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Crywank – Narcissism As An Art Form

I must’ve been a little nuts when I took this on, John Prine’s career has flirted around the edges of “mainstream” popularity and he can rightly be described as an American treasure. He’s been able to carve out his own … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: John Prine – Happy Birthday John Prine!

Why would anyone want to write about the Counting Crows? They’re neither obscure nor particularly interesting, right? Well, I’ll grant you the first one. For a long time, they were pretty unescapable. But I think they are more interesting than … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Counting Crows – Just Hear Me Out

I’ve always thought of Ladytron as rainy-day music. Not as in, you stay inside and curl up on your sofa with a blanket, a novel, and a warm cup of tea. More like, it’s raining but you’re out in the … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Ladytron

Nickel Creek have been together for over 25 years, if you include their hiatus. The band is made up of siblings Sara and Sean Watkins and their family friend Chris Thile. Vocals are sung by all, Sara plays the violin, … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Nickel Creek

This article is the work of commenter Man with Lute. A$AP Rocky is fun. That’s why I like him. His music is fun. It exudes fun even when the song also exudes the flavor of too much cough syrup and … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: A$AP Rocky

Buenos ding dong diddly dias. I’ve used ‘Eres Para Mi’ in two previous spotlights for Ana Tijoux and Mala Rodriguez. This time I’m focusing on Julieta Venegas herself. Here’s her solo take She’s not a bad rapper, as well as … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Julieta Venegas

Sometimes you have to remind yourself, listening to Rodrigo y Gabriela, that you’re only hearing two guitarists. Not a drummer, not an 808, not a bunch of samples. Not a hurricane, though you might be forgiven for thinking that. Here’s … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Rodrigo y Gabriela

Bruce Springsteen (and the E Street Band to get really technical about the gist of this write up). I’ve been listening to him dating back to my childhood. My mother was a big fan. So if you end up hating … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Bruce Springsteen

Who better than a machine to tell you about Kraftwerk, the band who became one with their machines? Originally formed formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, Kraftwerk pioneered what electronic music might, could and did become. The … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Kraftwerk – Rise Of The Machines

Let’s start where I started with Mirah. If you can, I’d like you to put headphones on for this track, so you can hear everything — every intake of breath, every vibration of the string quartet, even the slow decay … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Mirah