The folk rock band Thao & The Get Down Stay Down originated in a town familiar to most University students — Falls Church, Va., or in other words “NOVA.” The group has since moved past its Commonwealth roots and is now based in San Francisco, but still remains relatively unknown after the release of their full length album We the Common.
There are few things more entertaining than a prodigious mandolin player. Chris Thile, mover and shaker of the Punch Brothers, is one such musician.
Life Is But a Dream, a new HBO documentary exploring the journey of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as an artist, wife and mother, is a rousing and inspiring success story sure to appeal to both die-hard fans and new converts.
Even in a crowd of so-called hipsters, I entered the floor of the Jefferson Theater Feb. 4 with a sense of smugness unparalleled by any other concertgoer there.
When Ben Thornewill, the vocalist for the Philadelphia-born, Brooklyn-based trio Jukebox the Ghost, abruptly stopped playing piano mid-song during the group’s Feb.
By 10:30 p.m. last Thursday, the Jefferson Theater was ringing loudly with the sounds of the quintessential sweet spot of a bluegrass concert.
I have learned time and time again to never expect much from an awards show. This rings especially true for the Grammys, and I have reached the conclusion that their only redeeming quality is the occasionally spectacular performance by a well-seasoned or breakthrough pop artist.
Tegan & Sara occupy a precarious niche in commercial music — they aren’t mainstream but neither are they alt, hipster, post-funk or any other of the slew of labels available to musicians today.
In the four years between Local Natives’ debut album Gorilla Manor and 2013’s Hummingbird, the band noticeably underwent a lot of growth, both musically and emotionally.
Valentine’s Day is the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of Hallmark holidays. Some prefer the smooth layer of chocolate, while others dive in for a delectable rush of peanut butter, but there are always the naysayers who can’t handle any strain of the sugar rush.
I sometimes find it astounding that a few short minutes of deliberately placed melodic notes and well-chosen words can so easily capture emotions universal to mankind.
Until last Wednesday night, I thought I was the only one raised on Citizen Cope’s “Sideways.” It was the first track on the first mixed CD that my first boyfriend gave to me.
If you were expecting to hear new material — or even beloved classics — on Destiny’s Child’s 2013 compilation album, Love Songs, you will be sorely disappointed.
As the opening half of Super Bowl XLVII dragged on, the only thing keeping me even mildly interested was Beyoncé’s looming halftime performance.
You’ve probably heard of Yo La Tengo. From the early ‘90s to the mid-2000s, the band’s name, if brought up by one of your Bohemian musicophile acquaintances, was always followed by the hackneyed hipster-ism “You’ve probably never heard of them.” You probably truly haven’t heard, however, that during the height of the band’s career, Yo La Tengo’s blend of noise-rock, lo-fi production, sensitively structured songs and occasional forays into whimsical pop repeatedly earned it the moniker of “quintessential critics band.” Nevertheless, the band’s performance at the Jefferson Theatre and the release of its January album Fade have given audiences the sense that the band’s heyday has passed and it has ceded its position in the sideshow spotlight that is the “Indie scene” to hipper and more hipster acts.
Until True, there has been little opportunity to appreciate Solange Knowles’ talent. It was her older sister Beyonce who emerged as the star and a pop culture icon when the golden age of Destiny’s Child ended.
“Monback,” once an abbreviation for “come on back,” now can be heard during fans’ encore chants at venues such as the Norva and the Jewish Mother in Hampton Roads.
Comebacks. They’re what diehard fans of countless artists dream about, usually to no avail. After keyboardist Drew Stavola left Mutiny Within and Roadrunner Records dropped the band for failing to achieve high-enough record sales with its debut album, vocalist Chris Clancy left because of financial difficulties and the group went on hiatus.
A$AP Rocky is a textbook case of a budding musician in the Internet age: His series of music videos on YouTube in 2011, including “Purple Swag” and “Peso,” garnered attention from record labels and led to a $3 million contract with Polo Grounds/RCA Records.
This Christmas, as I was thrust into the past by an assortment of old-school gifts, I found myself in the good company of blink-182.
