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Music Features

Dar Williams goes Greek

Modern mythology
Like the spinners of ancient myth, singer-songwriter Dar Williams has long used storytelling as a way to interpret the world around her.

By: DEIRDRE FULTON | May 30, 2012

Amy Allen travels to Neptune

Shooting for the stars
There were a couple directions Amy Allen could have taken to follow up her 2010 pop-lovely debut EP, Honey, released just as she headed off to the big city for college.

By: SAM PFEIFLE | May 16, 2012

Foam Castles emerge with a Bonanza

Into the spotlight
If summer is the stuff of memories, then the music of Foam Castles has a way of helping to make them.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | May 16, 2012

[R.I.P.] Adam Yauch and the Beastie Boys

Revenge of the Nerds
ADAM YAUCH, a/k/a MCA, was likely inspired to pen those words, that appear in a tossed off couplet in the middle of what would wind up being one of the band’s final singles, by his immersion in the world of illness.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | May 08, 2012

Beautifully brooding, bleating new wave from Future Islands

Heart on fire
Romance is terrifying. It is second-guesses and regrets, passion manifested in polar extremes, and an ongoing search for certainty.

By: | April 25, 2012

Huak bring old punk traditions out of history

Reviving the past
When people play a genre of music that predates them, sounds nothing like other bands in town, and is all but guaranteed to make them no money, people take note.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | October 05, 2011

Why there won't ever be another 'Big Four' - and why that's a good thing

The state of metal
In April, thrash metal's self-billed "Big Four" — Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax — played a one-off American show in the middle of the desert in Indio, California.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | August 24, 2011

The 50 best new bands in America

Our annual state-by-state search for your new favorite summer jamz
Our annual state-by-state search for your new favorite summer jamz

By: PHOENIX STAFF | July 12, 2011

Get ready to ramble: 21 shows you need to see before September

One solid summer
Every summer, in addition to swarms of mosquitoes and fanny-packed tourists, New England hosts a massive invasion of live music.

By: PHOENIX STAFF | June 17, 2011

Steve Martin to give Portland the Bird

Steep and deep
Things that are important to understand going into Steve Martin's bluegrass performance, backed by the Steep Canyon Rangers, at Merrill Auditorium: 1) The music is dead serious. 2) So is the comedy.

By: SAM PFEIFLE | May 12, 2011

Dead Man's Clothes find their way in Austin without a map

South by Southern Maine
The official list of performers at the 2011 South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, last week only made mention of three artists from Maine: Lady Lamb The Beekeeper, Jonathan Edwards, and Patrick Hodgkins (of Empress Hotel from New Orleans).

By: BRYAN BRUCHMAN | March 25, 2011

A talk with legendary producer and musician Martin Bisi

‘Tired of recording’
Since opening BC Studio in Brooklyn in 1979, Martin Bisi has recorded dozens of records on the fringe of the avant-garde scene, including early Sonic Youth, Michael Gira's Swans and Angels of Light, and the cabaret breakout debut record from Boston's Dresden Dolls.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | February 23, 2011

Dropkick Murphys remain Boston's most treasured punk success

The tightest ship in the business
Dropkick Murphys are the best tourist trap in this city. Maybe in any city. Maybe in the world.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | February 28, 2011

Spose, the major labels, and the new music biz

Did he make it?
Nine months ago, this town was celebrating the success of rapper-from-Wells Spose: huge hit single, top of the iTunes charts, major-label deal in his pocket, big-time national debut album on the way.

By: SAM PFEIFLE | January 12, 2011

Upcoming albums: The winter of our deep content

The winter of our deep content
There was a time when winter in Portland was pretty sleepy, with bands holing up to practice and write while the snowflakes flew. No longer. The album-release schedule is now equally robust year-round, and there are big shows just about every weekend through to spring.

By: SAM PFEIFLE | December 29, 2010

Indie hip-hop dominates the winter scene

Staying chill
There's this funny idea in the music industry — or at least in the hip-hop slice of that glorious enterprise — that it's uncool to release an album in January, February, or March. Artists and label dicks just love talking about how they're "waiting for the second quarter to drop."

By: CHRIS FARAONE | December 29, 2010

The year's top 10 local albums, and five EPs to boot

With Confidence
I'm not sure when local music has been better. If there is any problem with our little scene here in Portland, it's that there's more talent than there are fans to support it.

By: SAM PFEIFLE | December 22, 2010

4 New Obscure Music Subgenres of 2010

Revisiting a year of tags, trends, and tribulations
Artists may not like to admit it, but genres are and always will be invaluable for discussing music.

By: REYAN ALI | December 21, 2010

Review: The many tentacles of Jason Spooner's Sea Monster

Get kraken
Jason Spooner is an amalgamation of John Prine and John Mayer — great songs and great hair, all in one package. Their aesthetics are similar, too. Sure, there are important and wounded songs in the bag, but these guys aren't afraid to have a good time, either.

By: SAM PFEIFLE | November 16, 2010

Music news in brief: Bieber bullied, Kayne weird, Black Keys Pea'd

The Big Hurt
It's been a rough month for our biggest stars: Weezy's in solitary, TI's going back to jail, and now that rascally Biebs has run afoul of the mounties for scrapping with a 12-year-old kid who has since filed a formal complaint.

By: DAVID THORPE | October 27, 2010