The Rumpus Interview with Karl Briedrick of Speck Mountain
The core duo of bliss-drone-space-twang group Speck Mountain formed when Karl Briedrick went looking for a singer for his Brooklyn-based band
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Posts by: Katy Henriksen
Diamonds and Rust #1: Nostalgia, Form and Noise
“We both know what memories can bring, they bring diamonds and rust.” –Joan Baez
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Sharon Van Etten Curates a Night at Cameo Gallery
Something special happens when a phenomenal musician like Sharon Van Etten curates a show for an intimate space like Williamsburg’s Cameo Gallery, described by Sharon as “small and unassuming.”
Featuring Washington D.C.’s She Keeps Bees and Chicago’s Speck Mountain, this is truly a celebration of musical friends.
...moreAn Oxford American Update
Rumpus Essays Editor Roxane Gay recently posted about the troubling situation at the Oxford American in which Mark Smirnoff, the founding editor of the Oxford American, and managing editor Carol Ann Fitzgerald were fired amidst hushed circumstances, linking to Smirnoff’s deeply personal and detailed account of his ouster.
...morePussy Riot Link Round-Up
Three women of the feminist punk collective Pussy Riot are on trial in Russia for hooliganism, which carries a charge up to seven years in prison, following their arrest in March after a performance of what they’ve called a ‘punk prayer’ critical of Vladmir Putin in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, one of the most famous Orthodox cathedrals in Moscow.
...moreA New Song from Ariel Pink
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti may not have a new album dropping until August 21st , but here’s a taste from Mature Themes.
It’s a blissful 3 minutes and 12 seconds of retro vocal harmonies and jangly hooks reinvented ala Ariel Pink, exposing a decidedly upbeat sound that we’ve never heard from the band before:
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The Rumpus Interview with Jeremy Thal of Briars of North America
Jeremy Thal, who serves as a band leader for Briars of North America, is one of my oldest friends. We took Suzuki violin lessons together in Madison, Wisconsin, and our first instruments were fruit roll-up boxes with rulers taped on them.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Geoffrey O’Connor
Aussie Geoffrey O’Connor, has been the lead of the band Crayon Fields, a Melbourne-based indie dream pop act since 2001. He recently released his solo debut Vanity is Forever, which is decadent in infectious dreamy synth lounge hooks.
Best Music Writing Goes Indie
Do you love the Best Music Writing series as much as we do?
Series Editor and music critic extraordinaire Daphne Carr has just announced that the venerable annual collection will no longer be published by Da Capo Press, so she’s started a campaign to raise startup funds for a brand new music journalism focused indie press!
...moreAlbums of Our Lives: Joni Mitchell’s Blue
Joni Mitchell’s Blue may have been released one summer seven years before I was born, but it’s a winter album that conjures memories of me, my mom and my little sister.
The Rumpus Interview with John Wesley Harding
John Wesley Harding has been making really sweet tunes since 1988. His 12th release The Sound of Your Own Voice, which came out in October, features a star-studded group of musicians including members of the Decemberists, Peter Buck, Laura Viers and Roseanne Cash.
Ellen Willis Came Up with the Term Pro-Sex Feminism
“It seemed to me that most contemporary rock magazines were propagating an artless scorecard-genealogy version of criticism, treating music in isolation from other art, culture, and political realities. And I had certainly never read Bangs, whose irascible, rambling rock-crit from the 1970s many considered to be classic examples of the genre.
...moreThe Minutiae of Humpback Whale Calls
Musician and philosopher David Rothenberg recently sat down for a public lecture with Laurie Anderson at the venerable Explorer’s Club in New York City.
In their conversation they discussed a wide variety of topics including the minutiae of the calls made by male humpback whale, whether or not music is a language and on exploring the edges of human culture through music.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Bill Callahan
Bill Callahan’s Apocalypse is a sparse album of epic proportions, a celebration of American music, specifically what he describes as “that rich period in the ’70s when all the styles were converging in a loving way.”
The Rumpus Interview with Sean Rowe
The Rumpus Interview with Lia Ices
Musician Lia Ices’s sophomore album, Grown Unknown, will be released by Jagjaguwar January 25. Her debut, Necima, was released in 2008 by Brooklyn label and recording studio Rare Book Room.