Hidden Track

It’s been a while since MMW’s home base of NYC has gotten some love, so we were very excited to find this piece of news on the band’s website… Medeski Martin & Wood haven’t forgotten about New York City! Shortly after the the new year, MMW will announce 3 shows to take place in three […]

The great Animal Collective leak saga continues with the news that the email from band member Brian “Geologist” Weitz was a hoax. Someone hacked Geologist’s email address and sent off that email. Last night, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter/Atlas Sound weighed in on the situation on his blog. We’re sure all of these stories on every […]

Jack Johnson and an assortment of musicians on his Brushfire Records roster pitched in to create a debut holiday album called This Warm December.

Hailing from UK-based shoegazing bands Mojave 3 and Slowdrive, singer/songwriter Neil Halstead recently branched off to focus on a solo album that he dropped this past July. Since signing onto Brushfire Records, Halstead has been racking up critical acclaim while touring extensively. For This Warm December, Halstead contributed an original, somber acoustic track entitled, The Man in the Santa Suit. Halstead shares his thoughts about the holidays and his memories of Christmastime in the UK…

Jack Spilberg: What do you want for Christmas?

Neil Halstead: Time with the family and friends

JS: What’s better, naughty or nice?

NH: I have to say naughty and nice is probably the very best.

JS: Which do you prefer, real or fake Christmas trees?

NH: Fake Christmas trees are less messy I suppose. When I was a kid we would have a little tree that my dad would dig up every year for Christmas, and then replant afterwards. That is probably the best solution. You’ve got to go big in the end though.

READ ON for more from Brushfire recording artist Neil Halstead…

Eagle Rock Entertainment’s Classic Albums series looks at the genius behind Pink Floyd’s game-changing release, Dark Side of the Moon. Friday [all times Eastern]: Live From Abbey Road: Suzanne Vega [Sundance 9PM] A Colbert Christmas: Elvis Costello [COM 11PM] Late Show w/ Letterman: Leona Lewis [CBS 11:35PM] Saturday: Documentary: Moog [Showtime Next 11:10PM] Austin City […]

Let’s check in with the irreverent mind behind Uncensored Interview’s blog, The Shark, for another installment of Uncensored Thursdays…

Never before in most of our lifetimes has the need to maintain employment been so dire. People are literally clinging onto their jobs for dear life, hoping the bloody recession axe slices just above their heads and takes out some other unfortunate douchebag.

I was walking by the unemployment office the other day when I noticed three hookers and a coke dealer waiting in line. You know things are bad when hookers are being laid off! Now who will suck the dicks of all of those greedy, coked-up Wall Street execs who piloted their companies into the ground? Certainly not their wives! It’s a sad, sad situation for America.

Last month I propositioned that being Indie means having a crappy job, but what is an indie kid to do when employment is unavailable at even the crappiest of crappy jobs? Even in a recession, bills still have to be paid, debt still has to be taken care of and new tight pants and newspaper-boy hats have to be purchased:

READ ON for the rest of this week’s Uncensored Thursdays…

If you ever wonder what sets apart the folks who successfully pave thier way through creative endeavors, Jesse Jarnow cut his teeth “beginning in 2nd grade, when he edited ‘2nd Grade News’ by writing it out longhand and Xeroxing it,” and worked on homemade ‘zines and school papers ever since.

His first published piece ran in John Dwork’s now defunct Grateful Dead fanzine, Dupree’s Diamond News, and his first regular gig began with the early days of jambands.com. Jesse Jarnow has now graced the pages (both pulp and processor) of Relix, Paste, the London Times, the Village Voice, the AP, Salon and many more. While it ain’t easy given his prolific output, you can try keep to up with his frenzied pace at the Frank and Earthy blog, his Frow Show radio program on WFMU or his Twitter feed. As longtime readers and fans, we’re excited to have Jesse at HT today to shed some light on the ins and outs on his life as a music scribe.

Ryan Dembinsky: More so than the vast majority of music critics out there, you seem to really strive to carefully construct your record reviews, no matter how long or short, often crafting elaborate sentences, including deep references and devising thoughtful comparisons. Could you walk us through the process of reviewing an album from start to finish?

Jesse Jarnow: Thanks! It’s a bit different each time, depending on how long before deadline I get a copy of what I’m reviewing. Ideally, it’s about a month. For albums I’m psyched about, I’ll first listen straight through on headphones. But, most new music I get goes into a thousand-or-so-song playlist that I run on shuffle most of the time. It’s a combination of everything I’ve gotten recently — music by new bands, random downloads, live stuff, outtakes, compilations, old stuff I’m just discovering… just, everything.

READ ON for more of our Writer’s Workshop with Jesse Jarnow…

Yesterday, after a couple of tracks from Animal Collective’s forthcoming album Merriweather Post Pavilion leaked, an email surfaced purportedly from Brian Weitz aka Geologist imploring their fans to assist in leaking the rest of the album. Well, according to a post on Stereogum Deerhunter front man Bradford Cox is calling the email “bullshit” after speaking […]

Former HT Blips featured artist Alby Cohen has spent the last few months working tirelessly at Rough Magic Studios in Brooklyn on a brand new batch of original songs. Cohen wrote, produced, mixed and played nearly every instrument on these tracks, but has also enlisted the help of some big guns such as Marco Benevento, […]

Jack Johnson and an assortment of musicians on his Brushfire Records roster pitched in to create a debut holiday album called This Warm December.

Zach Gill – Johnson’s keyboardist, solo artist and front man for the Animal Liberation Orchestra (ALO) contributed to the Brushfire holiday compilation with a solo track on the album and another one with ALO. Gill has been keeping himself busy lately touring with Mason Jennings after releasing an impressive new solo album entitled Stuff. Read on to see what Christmas is all about for Gill.

Jack Spilberg: What’s better, naughty or nice?

Zach Gill: Naughty is usually very attractive at first, but I’ve found that nice works a lot better in the long run.

JS: Which do you prefer, real or fake Christmas trees?

ZG: I like living Christmas trees the most. We have had the same tree for the last few years- she lives outside for most of the year. It is always exciting when we bring her inside for the holidays and decorate her up. She is tiny compared to standard Christmas trees though. If she ever grows too big to come inside we will plant her permanently outside.

JS: What was the best Christmas gift you ever received?

ZG: My parents got me a puppy (a beagle named Frisky) and tickets to see Huey Lewis and the News when I was nine years old. That was a good year.

READ ON for more of Jack’s holiday interview with Zach Gill…

Brooklyn’s Yeasayer has had quite an impressive 2008. The quartet continues to play to bigger audiences each time they return to a city thanks in large part to their fantastic debut album, All Hour Cymbals. Yeasayer’s world beat-infused psychedelic rock recalls the best of the Talking Heads and Paul Simon’s music with a dash of […]