“When he was a teenager, the Mountain Goats founder never expected to make it to 21. He has since become one of this century’s best songwriters. The lessons of his survival, life, and work feel endless.”
indie rock
Posted inArts & Culture, Media, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
The Underground Magazine That Helped Shape Portland, Oregon
Before Portland was a known entity, a group of volunteers and one charismatic editor published an indie arts magazine called Snipehunt. This is its story.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Grimes and the Changing Face of the Music Industry
In the newest issue of The New Yorker, Kelefa Sanneh wrote about Grimes, real name Claire Boucher, whose history in underground experimental music led her to making homemade electronic bedroom pop. Last year, Pitchfork named her song “Oblivion” the best song of the decade to date, and as she’s preparing to release her second proper album, […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Sound of Pavement’s Early Days
Some of the best songs on The Secret History, Vol. 1 come from the summer of ’92, when the band went to London to appear on John Peel’s BBC Radio 1 show. Songs like the moody ballad “Secret Knowledge of Backroads” (which later appeared on a Silver Jews EP) and the Pixies-esque “Circa 1762” show […]
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Moderately successful indie rock groups like Grizzly Bear have found it difficult to earn a living that would place them solidly in the middle class: For much of the late-twentieth century, you might have assumed that musicians with a top-twenty sales week and a Radio City show—say, the U2 tour in 1984, after The Unforgettable […]