Music
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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 her live) singer-songwriter began her career touring with the likes…
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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 me of an author photograph for one of those old…
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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 on Feel the Illinoise” to rigorous deconstruction into graphical layout.…
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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 to memorize the name of the Sex Pistols’ first bassist,…
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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.
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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 fame. Three years ago, Naomi’s YouTube music videos went viral…
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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! The Juan MacLean is touring with The Field (What’s the…
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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.
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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 an interview for the release of his book, no less…
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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 is recently well known for his novel Angry White Black…
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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 the throat in a bar fight, changing his voice —…