St. Vincent
Annie Clark has yet to write a bad song. The strikingly beautiful (just check out either of her LP covers or do yourself an even bigger favor and go see…
Music
1832 posts
Writing on music at The Rumpus!
Have you heard Richard Swift?
Sometimes, it doesn’t take a whole lot to recognize talent. I stumbled across Richard Swift’s 2005 debut The Novelist/Walking Without Effort because the b/w cover of the double disc reminded…
Sufjan Stevens In Rainbows
Fans of organization, mathematics and music will enjoy the work of graphic designer Jax de Leon. For his senior project at SUNY Purchase, de Leon submitted Sufjan Stevens’ album “Come…
Punk Rock Explained
I have an admission to make. I’m one of those people who changes the subject whenever punk rock comes up. Don’t get me wrong. I like the music. But I refuse…
One Man, Two Musicians
Kevin Gift is a classical pianist. In some circles, however, he’s known as electronic musician Wendel Patrick. This is no ordinary stage name, however.
Terra Naomi
Terra Naomi, a friend of The Rumpus, just released a new song, Vicodin, online for free. Professionally trained in opera at the University of Michigan, the Internet propelled Terra to…
The Definite Article
The Juan MacLean finally have a new album out. A much-anticipated garden of electronica songsmithing, The Future Will Come is tremendous, careful, and sleek; it will blow your little mind-feet!…
Dictionaroke, and Other Sing-alongs
Nancy Friedman writes: Dictionaraoke: A musical form in which an instrumental (karaoke) version of a song is accompanied by online dictionary-pronunciation audio files.
Can’t Tell Me Nothing
The Rumpus doesn’t really do Kanye West. It doesn’t hate him and it doesn’t love him. It just doesn’t go there. But when the self-proclaimed “voice of this generation“— in…
The beat goes on – Remembering Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones, one of the most influential jazz drummers, most known for his work with John Coltrane, died this week five years ago, on May 18th, 2004. Adam Mansbach, who…
The Piano’s Been Drinking Decaf
I’ve heard lots of wild rumors about the musician Tom Waits over the years. The best one was that his career was an abysmal failure until he was stabbed in…